Resume Writing Service – Pros and Cons

If you typed in “resume writing service” on Google today, you would get over 1.8million results.  Wow, what a big market!  Should you use a resume writing service for your resume?  Is this right for you?  Here are some pros and cons to consider.

Pros:

• Correct English: It’s always good to get another person to read your resume and make sure it is understandable and has no grammatic or spelling mistakes.  A resume writer can do that.  Of course, a friend can do that too.
• Fresh Perspective: A good resume writer can give you a new perspective.  Instead of incrementally enhancing your resume a bit at a time, a good writer can give you quite a different version from your current one.
• Un-attached marketer on your behave: We sometimes can be overly modest on our accomplishments or experience in our resume.  A good writer can really understand the job opportunity you want to apply, and put better emphasis / wording around your experience on your resume that best suits that opportunity
• Dedicated, discreet help: Job search is a personal thing and sometimes it’s hard to ask friends for feedback or ask them to spend a lot of time to help.  Hiring a writer makes sure you can get someone to help and it is kept confidential

Cons:

• Difficult to find a good writer:   How will you separate the “lemons” from the truly exceptional resume writing services? Every resume writing service on the web looks similar.   I haven’t found too many true, unbiased rating websites of who is good, who is not, and what to watch out for.    Testimonials are no longer good enough as they could be made up or they could be from people that are in complete different situations than you.   I have seen many state that they are CPRW – certified professional resume writer.  The certification cost $175 to take and provides at least some credibility.  It is unclear how much that will help you in your particular situation. To read more about CPRW click here
• Potential disconnect between your resume and interview: If your resume is completely rewritten, you need to make sure you understand exactly what it says and it still describes you.  The worse thing you can do is get an interview with a great resume and not get the job because you sound nothing like your resume in the interview.
• Can be expensive: Typical resume writing service are between $100 to $300.  That could be per job opportunity or type since you should have tailored resume for each job opportunity to maximize your chances.  Can you afford it if you are out of work?  What if it doesn’t help?
• Outsource a key job search skill: Once you start outsourcing resume writing to a third party, you may need to do it every time you job search.  You are no longer developing resume writing skills yourself.  Is this okay with you?  As the old saying goes – Do you want to learn how to fish one time or buy the fish each time?

I am not writing this to advocate using a resume writing service or discourage it.  Whatever you decide is okay as long as you understand the benefit and the risks associated with it.  For those who just need basic resume guidance, you can get it for free on my site – click here for free resume template; click here for 10 key tips to an effective resume.

I would love to hear your comments on additional Pros and Cons.  Or if you had used a resume writing service that is good or bad, feel free to share with us here!  Thanks and good luck out there!

– Lei