TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
You get what you pay for. I have written resumes as a side business for years.
I get $150 to do a resume, and I am not making much money on the deal.
A place that takes your resume, charges you $25 and makes it look pretty -
is not going to get you far. I spend hours interviewing people, write a
first draft of a resume, spend a few more hours going over it with them,
write a second draft and continue this process until they get a top
flight resume that will get them an interview. The resume service that
takes your existing resume and kicks out pretty copy is not going to get
you anywhere.
My favorite story is of a guy who was refered to me, who had a masters
in sports therapy. He wanted to get a job in pharmacuetical or medical
sales. He had had his resume done by a "professional" service over a
year before and had gotten nowhere. He had been working for a
restaurant for 1 1/2 years because he couldn't even get an interview in
his chosen field.
After going over his resume with him, I noted that it looked great, but
didn't say much about his skills in relation to the field he was after.
I spend over 15 hours in interviewing and draft review with this guy and
went through 6 drafts before we came up with what I considered to be a
polished resume.
Two weeks after I finished the resume, he got an interview with a top
pharmacuetical company and landed a sales position. They started him with
a base salery of 35K plus commision, plus company car and expense account.
Priscilla Berry
psb> What is the generaly opinion on hiring someone to do a resume for you
psb> (i.e., getting it printed on nice-looking paper, etc.) Are the
psb> results worth it (in other words do you get the job?!)
psb>
psb> I vividly remember while working a temporary job a few years ago, I
happened
psb> to be in the office where the head of the project was going over
psb> applications. He pulled out one resume done on light blue parchment that
psb> was beautifully formatted and printed. He made the comment that it was
psb> the nicest looking resume he had seen in the bunch. He passed it around
psb> and we all said, "oh, yes, someone did a nice job on this."
psb>
psb> Then he took it back and tossed it in the trash!
psb>
psb> Jennifer in Phoenix
psb>