Choosing A Résumé Writer - Who works for whom?

I won't enumerate my personal feeling why it is best to get a professionally prepared résumé for those seeking a position over $65,000 a year. After all I am biased.

Rather, I’d like to discuss what I heard from a professional I  recently met in a workshop who decided to write her own résumé this time around rather than trust someone she knew could do a much better job. 

This was nothing new to me. As a matter of fact I’ve heard this same train of thought from many people over the years; “after I paid them, the résumé company came across as if I was working for them rather than my feeling they were working for me. This was disturbing and I did not know what I could do?” 

I asked this VP what exactly she meant by this and this is what she said.

When I had my résumé written professionally a few years ago for my previous position, I asked the person I first spoke to if she is the person who would write my résumé. She said no. We will assign you to one of our best writers.

 

Once I paid and was assigned a writer, as a marketing professional I wanted to have some input into the design and format of my résumé and I was not 100% sold on the way the writer was approaching the project. I voiced this concern to her and she said “I’m the pro here and this is how we prepare all our résumés and this is how we’ll prepare yours. Trust me it will work.” 

I was not happy with the attitude but accepted that they were right and I was the novice. The result was it took me over 7 months of people telling me my résumé was the problem and my defending it until I landed a new job. 

To me this is no reason not to hire a résumé writer; rather it is a reason to go out and find a person who can offer you the respect and personal attention you deserve.

It may be true that most résumé writer are likely to know more about what needs to be done and how to do it than you do. However résumé writing is a collaborative art and you should be an integral part of the process. I’ll take it a step further, so should the people around you who you value and trust the most.

Recently I wrote what I felt was told was an ultimate marketing document for a client’s specific needs; it was extremely creative and at the same time laser focused to its target audience’s needs. What made this résumé stand out was my client had 3 of her most trusted colleges and mentors take a look at it and offer their insight and suggestions.  My client and I then discussed what they had to say and why, and then we incorporated their input and some industry jargon suggestions into her résumé and in the end all 5 of us agreed the final product was dynamic and on the money. (after 2 weeks it is too soon to judge results)

This is how a résumé can be written when you take a collaborative approach and are open to new ideas, constructive criticism and the fact that others know as much or more than you do about what sets your résumé  apart and what puts it smack dab in the middle of the stack. There are so many facets to writing a marketing document that tells a compelling story to the employer on ‘why you’ and not someone else is the candidate to interview and hire. My belief is 2 or more heads are better than 1 and a few extra  sets of eyes can see things that may have slipped through the cracks.

So when it comes to deciding who is best equipped to write your résumé remember the advice the Knight Templar gave Indiana Jones in pursuit of the Holy Grail; “Choose wisely.”

As always I am happy to critique US resumes (and professional overseas CVs) and LinkedIn pages at no cost if you email it to perry@perrynewman.com