Anyone ever used a resume' service?
 

I'm looking at changing jobs in a couple months and I'm considering having my resume' professionally written.

At this stage in my life, I have a longer and more detailed work history and I'd like a clear, consise resume to present it all in the best possible light.

Anyone here have any experience with one of these companies? How much should I expect to pay?

Thanks!

Save your money. Write it yourself and post it here. I'm sure you will get some critique. :D

At the beginning of my career, I was a very bad writer and used a service. :mad:
With a little practice and review from business friends and relatives it will be fine. Remember unless you won the Noble prize or got your masters, don't detail the old stuff.

I was quoted $250.

I've done it once and no more since then... it was back in 1995 and I merely had 5 years of employment history... the thing that upset me the most was she refused to give me soft copies of the file after-wards so I ended up retyping everything myself eventually to post updates later on but I liked the format she put together for me. I don't remember what it cost at the time but I remember it was not cheap. Thing is this was before the Internet explosion and now I'd bet you could get lots of templates online and distill it to what you need and want yourself or maybe a trusted colleague can review and critique for ya. That would be my opinion.

In the 1990s I moonlighted as an editor of a resume service. They charged about 175.00- 750.00 and to be honest, it's rarely worth it, unless you get someone who interviews you and redoes several versions of the resume so that it can be sent to multiple sources and companies in anticipation of some amazing project where you have the inside track.

Most resumes suffer from the following:

- Lack of cohesion and focus, where the applicant expects that a fresh cover letter and a standard resume will get him noticed. Epic failure!

- Errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation and/or malapropisms ( like using "to" or "it's" when "too" or "its" are correct; or using words like "affect" instead of "effect", "axe" instead of "ask");

- Excessive trivia when a simple, to-the-point resume demonstrating results or value. That's what the hiring person is searching for;

An important note: I'm sure people will be willing to critique your resume, but the most important thing is to demonstrate value for the hiring "customer"

In most cases, they don't care what you want.

Think about it: Do you care about the life story of the counter guy at Mc Donald's or do you care about what he makes and what you buy? You are trading your services for money, the employer wants assurances he/she is making the right investment. They don't want to keep buying the burger, spitting out the first mouthful, getting their money back and looking for a meal somewhere else. A bad resume is like a bad burger.

These are the hard truths of resumes and hiring. If you want me to polish it, PM me, but provide plenty of info, so I can do a good job. Plus I need to know your goals. Your choice.

On occasion I get asked so sit on panels for hiring people.

Years ago I interviewed several hundred kids for apprenticeships. You could tell the ones that were prepared for the kids. If the document doesnt look and sound like you, it goes against you. Its one thing to get an interview, its another to get past that point, you have to look & sound like your resume!
When you see an original document that is clearly the applicants own work, they get a big tick.
I always used to modify my resume to suit the position I was applying for, slight wording changes can produce a document that is better targeted for a specific position.
I would go and talk to a friend that is in a management position in the field that you are looking at. Referees are good people to talk to about this.

I hope that helps.

Good Luck !!!

I'd say write it yourself but at least have it critiqued by friends and a professional before you send it out (The CT department of labor offers this as a free service, you might want to check and see if NC offers the same service)

back in the 1993 I got laid off from IBM. At that time part of their "downsizing package" was to send all of the personnel getting laid off thru a program/class. The class was about emotional handling of the lay off, how to go about finding another job, RESUME WRITING, etc. I went thru it although most of the class was spent with others "*****ing" about "how could the company do this to us?!" etc.

Anyways, after the class I went and spent $150 to have my resume "professionally" written for me. While going thru the process and working with the "professional", I realized that I was basically dictating to him what to write and I was spending $150 for a secretary.

I would definitely do it yourself. Who better to brag about yourself and sell yourself than YOURSELF.

just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll pull out the existing resume' and give it a tune up and see how it runs.

many free resources online, some great examples, don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just went through this , took me many weeks to get it where I wanted it. Make sure to have someone read it , you will be amazed when they look at you and say, "what is this , or what did you mean by this, oh and that is not spelled right