Should You Write Your Own Resume?

When I was growing up, my dad supported our family with a small auto repair shop he owned in Gardenville, Pennsylvania.  In this small town, I watched as many of his customers rave about how he was able to fix their car issue after they gave up trying to fix it themselves.  As a matter of fact, a large percentage of his overall business was repairing the mistakes his own customers made trying to fix their own cars. 

ResumeIf your brakes on your car need repair, do you trust yourself or your next door neighbor to do the job using You Tube videos as your guide? Are you sure when you hit the brake pedal that the car is optimized to stop exactly as the manufacturer has planned?

Writing your own resume is an accident waiting to happen. Your resume is the golden ticket to getting a great job with a maximum salary.  A poorly constructed resume guarantees that you may not get noticed for the jobs that you really want and qualify for.  Simply put; your poorly written resume is one of the big reasons you struggle getting employers to notice you!

Writing your own resume (or worse having a friend that does it for you) may save you money on the front end.  But in today’s world, professional resume writers understand exactly how employers read resumes and will make sure your resume is maximized.  Professional resume writers can make sure that anyone reading your resume (10 second scan) has to at least consider you for an interview (assuming you are qualified). 

Why can they do what you can’t?  Because that is what they do for a living.  Just like my Dad, they solve a problem by understanding exactly how to solve it with the years of experience.  They have the ability to showcase your skills and experience the way the employer wants to see it.  Resume writers know how to display your work history (even with many past jobs), your education and all your important information while getting rid of all the “wordsmithing” that sounds good but is just a waste of space. (If you have words like hardworking, problem solver, team player, trustworthy, motivator, etc., your resume needs work.)

Many of you may just google “resume samples” and get thousands of resumes to copy.  The issue here is most of these resumes are exactly what you don’t need!  Professional resume writers don’t showcase their resumes on the web!

What makes a great resume?  It all depends what you do, but simply stated a great resume is the one that:

  1. An employer can spend ten seconds looking at and quickly figure out what you do.
  2. How much experience you have doing your job the job the employer is hiring for.
  3. It screams, “Bring me in for an interview”. 

In the 15 resumes that I have reviewed just today, only 3 met this standard (and that is normal).  Your resume isn’t a book about you, it is your one and only chance to communicate with an employer on why you will add value to the job you are applying to. 

Many professional resume writers are certified with the CPRW (Certified Professional Resume Writer) designation.  If you hire a resume writer, ask them how long they have been writing resumes, do they write resumes for your industry and what are the costs (typically between $150.00-$850.00).  Also make sure that your resume writer will help you synchronize your LinkedIn, job board and any online presence you may have.

Getting a resume writer is a no brainer.  With one, you can get noticed by great jobs which typically pay more money.  A small investment up front will put thousands more dollars in your pocket! (reach out to me if you want a couple of great resume writers contact information).

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