Do I Really Need to Hire a Professional to Write My Resume?
A professional resume writing service is an investment. Finding the right one and separating good from bad is overwhelming. You might be wondering what a professional resume writing service can do for you, whether it’s appropriate for someone at your level, or how to pick the right one.
If you’re an executive, it might not be as foreign a concept. You are accustomed to delegating tasks and projects that don’t fall in your wheelhouse. Because resume writing for senior executives is something that very often lands in this category, seeking out a resume writing professional is more common.
But what if you are an early career professional, a recent graduate, or returning to work after a long absence. Can a resume writer help you with limited experience? Yes, yes, and yes! While the challenge for the writer is different, this is a situation where having a clear personal brand is arguably even more important.
In this article, I’ll break down not only the different types of services, but also the pros and cons of each, and how to find the right service for your needs.
What Can a Professional Resume Writing Service Do for Me?
The obvious answer is that a professional resume writing service writes your resume, right? Well, yes…but it’s not that simple.
Resume writing services range from resume mills that collect your existing resume and send you a generic questionnaire, followed by delivery of a similarly generic resume, to highly collaborative personal branding experts who help you elevate your current experience to position you for new opportunities.
Just like choosing a contractor for your home, it’s important to understand the level of service you’re paying for, how much input you will have into the final product, how many revisions you will receive, and what is included beyond simply reformatting your existing resume.
4 Surprising Benefits of Using a Professional Resume Writing Service
Your Resume Can Help You Interview & Network Better
When your resume is carefully crafted to align with the jobs you are applying for, if can help you have better career conversations.
Often, an interviewer will be reviewing your resume for the first time when you are sitting in front of them. When your resume is customized and branded, the interviewer can more easily walk through your resume and ask you questions that enable you to share your value.
When you are networking, people are much more likely to help you if they know how to help. Clarity around what you’re great at and the environments you thrive in enables your contacts to make connections and suggestions that will help you get where you need to go.
Your Resume Gives You Confidence
One of the biggest challenges for job seekers is confidence. When it comes to interviewing, the harsh reality is that it’s not always the best candidate who gets the job, but sometimes the one that interviews the best. When your resume is branded, role-specific, and values-aligned, it gives you the clarity and confidence you need to articulate your fit for the role and seal the deal!
The old saying, the shoes make the man, aside from being super outdated, is really about confidence. When you feel good about the way you look (how others perceive you), you project that confidence.
Think of it like dating. When you’re dating, someone who is confident and projects an air of being comfortable in their skin is more engaging than someone who seems unsure of themselves.
The same goes for job-seeking. Your confidence helps a hiring manager the positive energy that you will bring to their team.
Updating Your Resume is Essential Career Hygiene
No matter what stage you’re at in your career, being ready to showcase your skills and advocate for yourself is an essential skill.
When you work with a resume writer who specializes in personal branding, be sure to select a partner who will conduct a personal interview. Going through the process of sharing your career story with a resume writer will help you organize your thoughts, establish a purposeful narrative, and help hiring recruiters and hiring managers clearly see your fit for roles you are targeting.
Even if you are not actively applying for a job, opportunities pop up at the most unlikely times and in the most unexpected places. This goes not only for external opportunities, but for internal ones as well. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that anyone else is as invested in your career as you. They are not tracking your achievements and you do need to highlight results for internal positions!
You might use slightly different messaging, leaning in to collaboration a bit more rather than words such as driving and delivered, but you absolutely will need to be self-promotional.
Hiring a Resume Writer Demonstrates Self-Awareness
This might sound counterintuitive, but hiring a professional to write your resume is a sign of EQ in many ways. Having the self-awareness to realize that while you’re great at many things, resume writing might not be one of them, demonstrates an understanding of the importance of delegation and other higher-level skills.
Executives know that they are only as successful as their weakest team member, so they go to great lengths to ensure that each member of their team is doing work aligned with their highest and best use.
If you found this article, you probably realize that resume writing might not be yours, so give yourself permission to find someone to do it for you, invest in yourself, and focus on the parts of job searching that you are the most qualified for – networking, career research, and putting yourself out there.
How to Find the Best Professional Resume Writing Service
The last time I checked, there were over 144,000 resume writers on LinkedIn. That’s a pretty astonishing number. When I started writing resumes over a decade ago, there was nowhere near a quarter of that number. A recent article estimates that the resume writing industry is over $2B! As you can imagine, just like any other growth industries, there are great services that truly solve problems for their customers, and others just looking to drive revenue quickly.
There are a few basic types of services: boutique services like me, larger resume writing firms, and resume mills. I’ll briefly outline the pros and cons of each; however, a full post dedicated to this topic provides more in-depth evaluation.
Resume Mills Are Low Cost and Fast
The benefit of a resume mill is, of course, the low price tag. But like anything else in life, the quality of the finished product reflects that. They churn out resumes as a fast pace, but your resume is typically outsourced to junior, less experienced writers. You might be surprised to learn that these very often are written by AI, low cost resume writers overseas, or some combination of both.
Large National Resume Writing Services Carry a Hefty Price Tag (and Overhead)
Larger firms that carry a heftier price point and offer direct contact with your writer will typically offer a higher quality product as well. One of the biggest drawbacks here is overhead; simply put, you’re paying for that larger infrastructure and your writer is getting a percentage of the fee you pay. Very often, that’s 40% or less, so they are making money by writing more resumes.
While there are several credible firms that do this work, there is always a risk of qualify control as the firm scales, onboards new writers, etc.
Boutique Professional Resume Writing Services Offer Top Quality, Sometimes Longer Wait Times
The old adage Good things come to those who wait is true here. Resume writers who are in demand work primarily through referral and can have long waiting lists or a longer turnaround.
While this may be less than ideal when you’re in a time crunch, Chat GPT or Google Bard can write a quick, generic resume quite well. This is not what you are investing in with an executive resume writing service or personal branding.
You are investing in time and experience that goes into crafting a powerful personal brand and highly customized resume. The results that come with this kind of in-depth process are usually worth the wait.
Hiring A Professional Resume Writing Service
The process of hiring a professional to write your resume shouldn’t be scary, but it also isn’t something to be done too quickly. Take the time to research your writer, ask for samples, and dig in to their process. This is an important step in your career and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Do your homework, trust your gut, and enjoy the process.
Need professional resume writing help? Contact me today.