Is a new trend about to emerge?
Vote now:
Who wrote your resume?
- You did it alone (86%, 173 Votes)
- Someone else (mostly) (8%, 17 Votes)
- A professional resume writer (6%, 11 Votes)
Total Voters: 201
My own case
In my post-army service French job search of 1999, sending out 15 resumes resulted in 7 replies the next day, so I was more than satisfied with the quality of that resume.
In my Internet Crash-era job search in Israel of 2001-2002, I sent out dozens of resumes and only received a handful of rejections replies- not very impressive at all. When I followed up, companies and recruiters confirmed what the media was saying- no one was hiring. Still, if I had done a better job searching for leads and targeting them, I could have found better job offers than the 2 in 8 months that I turned down.
Applying the lesson learned, during my last search for a job Israel in 2006, I was much more careful about how, how many and to whom my resumes were sent out. As a result, like in 1999, my rate of returns was much higher.
Although I had a lot of help from friends and family with translating my resumes from English to native-sounding French and Hebrew, I have always written them on my own. That worked fine twice, but I sure could have used expert help the other time to bring up my response rate.
What about you? Who’s writing your resumes? Vote now.
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--Jacob Share
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Jacob Share is the founder and SVP of 
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I’ve been in the workforce for 30 years and one time, while I was still employed (but not happily), a friend encouraged me to pay a “professional” to create my resume. Spent lots of money, received ZERO results.
Since then I have always written my own. My most recent was bitterly critcized a few months ago by a “Professional” US resume writing company who had offered to provide feedback free of charge. At the time I was happy being a freelancer and wasn’t seeking employment so I figured “why not?”
Amusingly a few months later I was solicited by a company who had seen my online profile and offered me a job (one that I had not applied for).
My take on this is that if you’re a professional writer or marketer or expert in your field, you don’t need to hire a “pro” to analyze your work history, skills and talents. Do it yourself and ask someone you trust to proofread.
Comment by Tehillah Hessler
Twitter: @thessler — June 11, 2010 #
As a job search Advisor I can say that in today’s market everyone needs the best resume in order to get the proper attention when sending it to a relevant position. The market has changed, there’s more competition on every single job. If you are sending your resume and getting no reply, then, something is wrong… Now, you can keep sending it and wait for a change, or, you can do something about it and use an expert. By the way, from my point of view even if you have an o.k resume, it can become the best resume with only a little effort and small changes.
Comment by Maya Bouhnik
Twitter: @Tips4Geeks — June 11, 2010 #
Tehillah- that’s good advice. Just because two people are professionals in the same field doesn’t mean they’ll see eye-to-eye on everything.
Maya- like Tehillah, I don’t think everyone necessarily needs expert advice, but I do agree that most people’s resumes can improve dramatically with even just a little bit of the right advice.
Comment by Jacob Share
Twitter: @jacobshare — June 13, 2010 #
There’s so much information available online on how to write a resume, that I don’t think you need an “expert” to do it for you. A little research can go a long way. I’m sure the experts are great – but the cost can be daunting and job seekers should be aware that they can do it on their own. Sometimes all you need is a critical eye – someone to say “That doesn’t look good” or “That doesn’t make sense” – and a friend can do that just as well as an expert resume writer.
I agree with Maya – you do need a stellar resume in this market – but you don’t necessarily need to pay to get one.
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— June 16, 2010 #
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As a career coach and having been an Executive Recruiter for 7 years, I have mixed feelings about writing someone’s resume. I see good resumes and I see bad resumes and most fall in the middle.
I don’t “write” resumes but I offer a service to make them outstanding. I also always say, “It’s not about the resume but it’s entirely about the resume.” I believe the effort put into putting a resume together properly, prepares the job seeker for the entire search process.
I give a free 10 pt resume review and I’ll tell you this, the worst ones, and I pull no punches are from the people that never even bother to send me a thank you for my input. I’ll guarantee they interview just a poorly as their resume reads.
Regards and happy searching,
Brad Attig
MyRetailCareer.net
Comment by Brad Attig
Twitter: @bradattig — June 23, 2010 #