All Résumé Writers Are NOT Created Equal

More and more, professionals are turning to the services of professional résumé writers to give them an edge in the extremely competitive job market. As a professional résumé writer in a city like San Francisco, I meet with a wide array of clients each week. I certainly see the value in the service I provide to my clients, who hire me based on my expertise as a writer and my previous experience as a recruiter. As I speak to new clients or prospects, I often hear horror stories about bad experiences these people have had with other résumé writers. Clearly, all résumé writers are not created equal. So, how do you choose the right résumé writer to meet your needs?

If you do a Google search for professional résumé writers, you’ll end up with hundreds, maybe thousands of ‘hits’ of writers vying for your business. As is the case with most service professionals, these writers will be offering very similar services at similar rates, so making the final decision may seem daunting and very much on par with a crap shoot. Here are a few tips that might help you to make the decision a bit more easily.

1. The résumé writer should be willing to talk to you and answer your questions. I don’t know how many times I’ve won the business of a client merely because I answered the phone or returned a phone call. Take the time to ask the writer questions about his or her experience and writing process. Make sure you are comfortable with the manner in which the work will be done.
2. Be sure the résumé writer you speak with will actually be doing the work. Many résumé writers use ghostwriters. If this is the case, insist on speaking to the person who is actually going to be doing the writing.
3. Check out the résumé writers credentials. Some writers are actually certified résumé writers. I am not certified, but I hold a human resources certification (PHR) as well as a degree in English. Whether certified or not, the writer you employ should have some degree of formal training.
4. Find out about support “after the sale.” Will the résumé writer be available and willing to make edits and updates for some time after completion of the project? I suggest working with a writer who has a policy for updating the résumé for up to a year at no charge
5. Finally, find out what sort of guarantee the writer offers for his or her work, but beware. Some writers will guarantee that the document they create will absolutely, positively result in a job offer. Such a guarantee simply is not realistic and is most likely a gimmick to get a client to spend more money. Nonetheless, the writer should stand behind his or her work in some manner. For instance, I guarantee satisfaction and will happily work with a client through as many rewrites as are required to come up with an exceptional end product.

In short, before hiring a résumé writer, you’ll want to be certain that the writer is skilled and offers good customer service. As a résumé writer myself, I consider myself a partner and resource in the career searches of my clients.

Exploring the Professional Summary

In January , I was invited to speak for the San Francisco Professional Career Network (SFPCN) a Meetup group that has been around for a couple of years now. This group was organized to provide support and advice to job seekers and career changers in San Francisco, and the efforts of the group have been quite successful. I was thrilled to be invited to speak to the group (for the second time) on the topic of résumés.
One of the questions that I’m asked quite often, and one that was echoed by the participants of the SFPCN Meetup, concerns the Professional Summary as a key section of a well-written résumé. In previous columns, I’ve addressed the Professional Summary as one of the three key elements I consider important in an effective résumé, the other two being summaries of core competencies and career highlights. I have not, however, written about why I think the Professional Summary is so important or what purpose it serves in the résumé.

First, let me say that the Professional Summary replaces the Professional Objective, which was once the opening statement of a résumé. The problem with an objective statement is that such a statement tends to be heavily focused on what the candidate wants, what he or she is “seeking.” Quite frankly, the employer doesn’t care what the candidate wants; the employer wants to know what the candidate can do and how well he or she can do it. The Professional Summary, on the other hand, is focused on what makes the candidate unique. In essence, the summary answers the age-old first question of the job interview, “Tell me a little bit about yourself.” It is the opening statement of the résumé and might be thought of as an expanded elevator pitch. The following is a sample summary:

Results-oriented, team-focused HR professional with more than 10 years of management and operations experience. Solid business acumen and ‘big picture’ outlook paired with understanding of the value of dedicated HR departments. Proven ability to promote visibility, approachability, and availability of HR. Exceptional interpersonal skills. Great sense of humor and professional attitude. Capable of displaying a sense of fairness and openness in coaching and counseling employees. Strong communication skills, organizational skills, and documentation skills. Proven effectiveness in increasing reliability of HR files. Accustomed to managing multiple time-sensitive tasks.

Comprised of seven to five lines of block text, the Professional Summary is the place to introduce the prospective employer to who you are as an employee. This is the place for outlining your “soft skills”—your ability to build consensus within a team, your problem-solving and troubleshooting skills, and your ability to cultivate and leverage relationships with strategic partners. In the summary, you might consider highlighting a unique combination of education and skills. Essentially, the summary is like the blurb on the back of the book jacket, compelling the reader to dig deeper and invest in reading the entire novel.

A good Professional Summary will define the job seeker’s career objective, but in a much more organic way. In fact, I would be remiss if I did not mention the importance of writing a résumé with a clearly defined career objective in mind. It is always of paramount importance to know what you hope to accomplish with the résumé. Having a career objective front-of-mind during the writing process ensures that your résumé has focus, and it will, indeed, inform the creation of the summary.

As always, I wish you the very best of luck in your career search. And, I highly recommend checking out the San Francisco Professional Career Network on Meetup.com. Groups like SFPCN are one of the very reasons I love living and working in San Francisco.

When It Comes to Bullets--Less is More!

Because I am a professional resume writer, I am often contacted by job seekers for resume writing tips or a quick resume review. As a former recruiter, I cannot help but look at the resumes I see from the perspective of a potential employer. When I was working in staffing, it was my job to make sure the candidates I presented to my clients were successful in landing a job. For the candidates I represented, having an effective resume was an essential factor in opening the door to employment. My current work as a Career Coach and Resume Writer has been informed in large part by preferences that I developed as a staffing professional.
One of my pet peeves in regard to resume writing is the over use of bullet points throughout the text. It is not uncommon for job seekers to write resumes in which literally every line is set off by a bullet. I suppose that many people have the mistaken belief that bullet points create ease in reading. Certainly this belief has resulted in a trend which has become a very common practice. In fact, some of my clients are so convinced that using bullets throughout the resume is the highly preferred format for a resume that I am hard pressed to convince them otherwise. Let me set the record straight about bullet points in a well-written resume. Less is more!
Bullet points have one purpose in a resume: to highlight important information. That's it. Used sparingly, bullets lead the reader's eye to the information the job seeker wants the potential employer to notice. As I have mentioned in other articles, an employer spends only 10 to 15 seconds in the initial review of a resume. If every line of information in a resume is set off by a bullet, the resume becomes a sea of bullets. If, on the other hand, bullets have been used to highlight key information, such as career accomplishments or core competencies, this important information suddenly jumps off the page.
Use bullets to highlight information like:

• Core Competencies
• Career Achievements
• Other Critical Information

If the use of bullet points is limited to key information, the rest of the resume is presented in block text or paragraph form. Now, I'm guessing that some of my readers are feeling a bit uneasy about the possibility that the text will seem too wordy or difficult to read. Let me assure you that most of us are accustomed to skimming text. In fact, I suspect some of you may be skimming this article. Employers do the same when they read a resume, and most can quite easily skim text that is presented in a block format. Of course, it is still important to make sure that information is presented in the most concise and streamlined manner possible. And, clearly delineating resume sections and using a format that is easy to navigate is always important.
I challenge job seekers to revisit their resumes and give it the 10-second test. In that very quick review, what stands out? Do the eyes easily fall on the information that you most want an employer to notice? Or, is the document busy with bullets? If the bullets are distracting and taking attention away from your best skills and accomplishments, take the time to revise the resume.