Why Do You Need a Professional Resume Writing Service? A Simple Guide.

Everything You Need to Know to Find the Right Service (or Write Your Own Resume)

If you’re a job seeker, answering the question of why you need to pay a professional resume writing service to help you write a resume is probably top of mind. It’s your career and you know you best, right? Also, the good ones are an investment. So what are you really getting for the money?

Can’t I just write my own resume?

While you absolutely can, writing a resume is really a unique exercise. You’re doing more than just telling someone what you do for a living. What you’re doing when you create a resume is crafting a compelling personal brand that positions your skills and experience in a way that connects the dots for a hiring manager that needs a candidate to solve a problem they are having.

What a great resume writing service does for you is to elevate your skills and experience, showcase them in a way that feels completely unnatural and can be pretty uncomfortable. You’re writing your resume to showcase your career in a way that someone else needs to see it. Sometimes, this can mean prioritizing or emphasizing your accomplishments in a way that prioritizes work that might not have been as meaningful or challenging, but is the most relevant for the opportunity at hand. 

How Do Professional Resume Writers Help You Tell Your Story?

Story is what helps us make sense of facts and place them in context. It is also what connects the more analytical left brain to the more feeling, creative right brain to create meaning. When you use stories, examples of how you’ve used skills in a specific environment. By highlighting the results they deliver, you are giving a hiring manager a window into what it would feel like and look like to have you on your team.

The stories are not novels…these are quick snapshots that you can elaborate on in a job interview. Each bullet in your resume should provide evidence of your ability to do the job. It be specific to the role you are applying for, using words from the job description and company website wherever possible. 

This carefully crafted approach to resume writing elevates a boring list of bullets to a series of curated YES statements. These statements are what get your resume past gateekeepers (ATS, recruiter screening, actual humans) and into the hands of decision makers.

How Does a Great Resume Help You in an Interview?

Your resume’s #1 job is to get you an interview. Think of your resume like the Facebook ad that showed you the great new t-shirt you’re now wearing. But beyond that, your resume is also a guide that helps an interview know what to ask you. When you’re writing your resume, you should be thinking about the conversations you want to be having.

When deciding whether something is important to include, professional resume services can help you immensely by holding up an objective mirror. They ask smart questions to ask what you would want someone to know about that particular project and then do the research to pinpoint the language that is most relevant to your target audience.

For example, if you’re a teacher, you might be inclined to talk about students and parents. But if you’re a transitioning teacher, you’ll want to focus on using neutral language like stakeholders or colleagues.

This transitioning teacher resume sample does a great job at highlighting transferable skills and experience from a career educator for transition into an outside sales or account management role.

Working in neutral language and focusing on what you want an interview to ask are key to the approach our professional resume writers take in identifying the right information and the right order of information on your resume. If you are writing you own resume, try to apply this type of lens to your writing.

What is the Best Format For Resume Bullets?

Like any good headline, your resume bullets are a teaser for the story. You want to grab the hiring managers attention, giving them the facts they need to make a decision to call you for the interview.

So how do you do this? My simple formula can help you turn what might feel like an ordinary project to you into an attention-grabbing headline that attracts hiring managers.

Verb (strong action verb)

Impact (what was impacted)

Quantify (how much)

By (how you did it)

In (add context)

For example:

Exceeded sales goals by 25% through consultative discovery despite 10% decline industry-wide.

Or, if you can’t specifically quantify, indicate the business benefit. Like this…

Improved retention, reducing unwanted attrition each year, via rollout of employee survey and feedback collection workflow in fast-paced customer service environment.

How Far Back to Go & What to Leave Off

For job seekers who are close to their careers, knowing what is important (and what isn’t) can be daunting! Does old experience really matter, how much is too much, and just how far back to go on your resume are all questions that job seekers struggle with.

Resume writing does have standards and guidelines, but a lot of the answers to these questions is really, “it depends.” No two careers are the same and no two resumes should be either. Whether or not to add or delete something from your resume will depend on the goals you are trying to achieve.

If you are a looking to get back into a field you worked in years ago, that experience might be super relevant. If you are, on the other hand, relatively new in your current field, you might want to truncate that early experience and just cull out the value to serve as a foundation for the work you are doing now.

A Professionally Written Resume Gives You Confidence

There is nothing quite like the experience of having someone who is an expert in their field do work for you. Just like a new haircut gives you confidence in your appearance, a resume gives you confidence in our career.

Working with a resume writer should be a collaborative partnership, not a transactional experience. Done right, a resume writing partnership should include a personal interview, where someone takes the time to get to know you first, asks questions about all your jobs and your goals, and then develops a strategy and format best fit to achieve those goals.

Aligning Your Resume With Your Elevator Pitch

Instead of just listing everything you have ever done, your resume is a highlight reel. The selection, positioning, organization, and prioritization of projects and results from your career is what lays the foundation for your personal brand.

When you are crafting your elevator pitch, you should be able to link back to the summary section of your resume, where the top three achievements and signature strengths are prominent.

Your resume summary should highlight the key strengths you lead with in your elevator pitch. Here’s an example elevator pitch:

I’m a connector who brings people together to achieve strategic goals and have consistently delivered revenue and market share for blue-chip brands.

I’ve managed omni-channel campaigns in excess of $10M, conceptualized influencer marketing programs that achieved millions of impressions, and revitalized legacy brands to deliver revenue gains in excess of 110%.

Currently as VP of Marketing for Acme Corp, I lead a global team of 20 and have oversight of all internal and externally facing marketing and communications programs.

I am excited about this role because I would like to have a seat at the table driving marketing strategy to unlock growth for a consumer brand.

This client’s resume headline and sub-headline should be something like this:

Vice President of Marketing

Integrated Campaign Strategy | Marketing Communications | Influencer Marketing Programs

Your resume writer can work with you to showcase the best and most relevant version of you, from the headline at the very top of your resume to the education section at the bottom.

Additionally, resume writers know the rules that apply to unique education or career situations and can help you position all of your details in the most compelling light.

Your Resume Should Never Be Cookie Cutter

Your career is unique and your resume should be too! If you are trying to write your own resume and find yourself searching for resume examples and templates, STOP for a minute. Do you really want a pre-made template to tell this most important story?

You may love that Canva resume template, but try to remember that you’re not decorating a home. Instead, you’re telling a story of your 20-year career in two pages or less. On top of that, the reader is very likely in a crazy rush and looking for something specific.

What resume writers and career storytellers do is to identify what that hiring managers is likely looking for, how best to showcase that in your experience, and the best format and strategy to do that with.

What is the Best Way to Work with a Resume Writer?

Ideally, you’ll have contact with your resume writer or coach during a personal interview. If there is a team of writers working on your document, each person involved should have access to the recorded interview. There is way too much lost in translation to expect a top notch resume from a questionnaire or worksheet alone.

Once you’ve had the initial interview, it is best to allow ample time for delivery of a draft. Your resume is a written document, one that requires pre-work, research, drafting, and editing. Rushing this process only leads to lower quality.

Typical turnarounds range from 1 to 2 weeks and anything less than 3 days really just means someone did not take extra quality steps. Avoid the rapid results trap by working with a resume writing service far in advance of your need for a resume.

Once you receive the drafts, carefully review them and allow yourself time to digest. Get advice from trusted colleagues who know your field well. Mark up the document and take notes for your follow-up call. Work with the writer to understand their intent and any strategy behind decisions. From there, you can work through changes.

Should I Have Someone Write My LinkedIn For Me?

Your resume and LinkedIn profile are peanut butter and jelly. Totally different but better together. Having a professional write your LinkedIn ensures that you are telling the same story across all your career marketing materials.

Additionally, professional LinkedIn writers know how to optimize your profile to be found for jobs you are targeting. They also spend TONS of time on LinkedIn and can help you maximize your online presence to attract opportunities.

Your LinkedIn Profile Should be Similar, Not the Same

LinkedIn is a public and more informal format. Aim to be conversational, engaging, memorable, and personable. Use first person (I, me, my) and avoid heavy overuse of fluffy adjectives and buzzwords. Write concisely and in a more conversational tone.

Most importantly, remember that LinkedIn is a social media platform. Any information is public and should not include sensitive data. You don’t want to share alllll the things you share on your resume; rather, you are looking to strike a balance between piquing interest and giving away the farm.

LinkedIn should entice a hiring manager to start a conversation with you, so that you have the opportunity to share your resume as part of a broader conversation.

All Advice is Not Created Equal

In closing, remember that not all advice is good advice. Most people have a resume and have been in a jobsearch at some point in their lives. This does not necessarily mean they are qualified to give advice on the topics or that the advice is accurate.

As a career coach and resume writer, I’ve worked with over 3,000 clients. Experience is what creates mastery, not tangential knowledge. Ask questions, do your due diligence, don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations or samples, and trust your gut. This is a big decision and it’s important to work with someone you trust and feel connected with.