Sometimes you just need to get a side hustle, and you need a resume to find one that will enrich your career. You may search for tips and samples and write your own CV. But a smarter way is to invest a bit of money and get a professional and cool CV piece from resume writers online. The web offers a wide array of these kinds of services and writers, but how do you draw your lucky ticket?
Basically there are two stages to it: first, it is finding a trustworthy writer, and second, it is learning about ways he/she works and what controls you have over the process.
How do you pick a writer?
1. If possible, rely on recommendations. Maybe your friends or people you know hired a writer and were pleased with the result. Or they know someone who hired one. This is a shortcut to your success.
Or else, google sites with testimonies and see what people say there. Beware that some testimonies may be paid ones and so they will do you no good. But what if no recommendations are available at all?
2. You’ll have to play it by ear. Google resume professional writers and see what comes up. The top ten on the list (excluding sponsored content) will be most visited sites and services so look through these options. Do not settle for one immediately. Put a few on your list by looking at their sites, at testimonies there, at samples they offer (and if they offer them), at prices and at feedback about these services found somewhere else.
3. Look at examples presented on their sites. Do they look impressive? Are they different and personalized or do they look like clones with different names put on them? Would you hire a person if you judged them by this resume? If the CV impresses you and samples are obviously tailored for every individual customer, then go for it.
4. Ask support personnel or mail directly the person whose services you plan to use a question about an interview with a writer. If this option is included and it goes by phone or Skype, then you’ve found a really professional CV writer.
How is that? Those who rely on fill-in forms with a standard set of questions will most probably produce a standardized resume with only slightly changed wording. It happens because they have a limited set of standard information about you. An interview in real time lets a writer get ‘the feel’ of you and ask things that characterize you, not somebody else. Equipped with this information, a writer will build your professional image and will do targeted marketing of you as a valuable employee who deserves attention and an interview with an employer.
5. Guarantees. This is an interesting question, because ultimately when you hire a resume writer you expect to get a job after mailing this CV to a desired employer. But it is not the task of writers to get you a job – it is your ultimate task to show up to interviews and to market yourself as a good worker. Good writers can only guarantee you a grammatically and technically correct resume; it should follow a standard adopted currently (because they change as well) and be accurate in regards to information that you asked to have included in it.
If a writer or a manager promises that you will get a job in no time at all after ordering a resume from them – run, Forrest, run from them!
6. And finally, the question of certification. You may want to employ a certified resume writer, but it is not a proof of quality. Levels of certification like CPRW, CARW or CERW from Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches only mean that these people took courses and passed tests. It does not mean that they will put efforts and passion into molding your professional portrait with care. It only means that they know in what order to place experience and qualifications.
Now more about what to ask from a writer you have selected. While talking to this person, clarify the following:
- Opportunity to check a draft and ask for corrections. You are entitled to it because you know best what you want to say about yourself and if it is visible in the draft.
- Keywords. Today applicant-tracking systems are more likely to decide if you suit a company than HR-managers are. Professional resume writers should know how to use keywords so that the machine picked you among the rest.
- The process of providing info about yourself. You may fill out the form (not the best way), have a targeted interview or use special systems a company or writer uses. They are algorithms that let you present yourself better (and even prompt you on how to stage an interview). But these systems take some time and attention, so if you do not have the opportunity to use them, discuss it with a writer at once.
- Changes in resume writing in the last few years. Is a writer aware of them? Replacement of an objective statement with an executive summary, change in title requirement and so on? This changed in the last few years, so a certified resume writer should be explaining to you what has changed, and not you doing the explaining to them.
- Price and package services. Do not choose too high or too low a price. Pick something in between. Ask if they include additional services like interviews mockups, LinkedIn page updates and so on. If yes, then the seemingly high price may not be that high after all.
