Now that there are more unemployed recruiters out there than gainfully employed ones, they’re taking stabs at Professional Resume Writers. Some unemployed recruiters and HR professionals, and life coaches struggling for clients have even begun to supplement their income by writing resumes. So, in defense of all the negative comments out there, I’m posting my In Defense of Certified and Professional Resume Writers comments.

1. Two Words, Certified and Professional — For those of us who have taken the time to better educate ourselves in the field of job development, recruiting, and career coaching, we have chosen to specialize in a niche market; Resume Writing. Many of us with the words Certified and Professional to our credentials earn a minimum of 10 CEU’s a year, most of us earn triple that, better educating ourselves.  I agree, thanks to a growth in our industry, there are many Certifying organizations, but the good thing is that all of them require a review of the resume writer’s work, and we do meet specific standards. It’s obvious to even the novice professional resume writer whether or not one has used a template, and recognizing such would be an automatic, failure for certification.

2. Pricing: Many people argue that our prices are too high and that $400-$800 dollars is a sham. Well let’s say I make $550 from writing a resume and the job seeker lands a position that pays him $7,000/month. Interesting…I have to continue to seek out new “jobs” at $550 a pop while the job seeker’s job is over.  What’s more interesting is that your typical recruiter would make 20% of that $84,000 a year salary, making their cut $16,800. Why is everyone picking on the resume writer who lives client to client for charging a mere $550.00? If you ask me, we’re the least greedy of them all.

3. Personal Branding: Let’s face it, not everyone works at a Fortune 500 company. The majority of the employers in this wonderful country of ours are entrepreneurs who had an idea, developed it, and turned it into profit. I’ve worked with clients who had incredible talent and accomplishments but didn’t work for a “household name” company. Does this mean they have anything less to offer? Should I slight them because they don’t fit into a specific box?  I was recently working with an HR Executive who’s resume screamed strategic development, even contained the words strategic development in the top 1/3 of the first page, and a recruiter who didn’t bother READING anything other than the bold print, had the audacity to tell this client that they didn’t see any strategic development in the resume. My client was exasperated with this recruiter who actually called himself a professional.  How many CEU’s have they earned in their field in the last year? I bet, less than 25!  To all recruiters out there who only look at resumes for 5 seconds, be proud that I’ve made your job easy. I’ve put all the key information where you’ll see it.

4. Let’s call a truce: Look, I like recruiters. I have several friends and professional contacts who are recruiters. What their real gripe with Certified Professional Resume Writers is that we leave out all the negative stuff in an individual’s career. We’ve learned how to strategically hide the bad stuff and accentuate the positive. Recruiters should be thankful that Certified Professional Resume Writers can actually help them effectively market a candidate from an unknown company to a client. Why dump on us? We’re not the one’s charging 20% of an annual salary.

5. Recruiters and Professional Resume Writers should develop strategic partnerships rather than slam each other. I’ve developed several within my community. Recruiters could cut their candidate selection process time in half by talking with a local Professional Resume Writer and seeing if there’s anyone who meets their qualifications. Resume Writers love to see their clients get jobs, and I do everything I can to personally help mine. I actually network more for clients at a networking meeting than I do for my own business! How’s that for value add?

6. The competition: The competition on the internet for resume writing services is fierce. There are several frauds out there and I even went out of my way, for free, to try to assist someone who got ripped off by a company that profits millions off producing crap work. It made me angry that this firm charged her three times what I would have. Any search online regarding that particular company was listed in fraud and rip off reports.  That’s why when someone is considering have a resume written professionally, they should always look for minimum qualifications. I’ll even provide a few tips.

A. Check for CREDENTIALS and MEMBERSHIP from reputable non-profit organizations such as Career Directors International, National Resume Writing Association, Career Management Alliance, or Professional Association of Resume Writers. These are the most reputable and legitimate organizations. If your resume writer is not a member or credentialed from at least one of these organizations, keep looking. If a company says that they have certified professionals on staff, but requires exorbitant deposits and up front fees, keep looking. In defense of this, most Professional Resume Writers do require fees up front, however, you should be talking directly to the resume writer and you should have an idea of the strategy and process they use for the resume development. Are they personable, will you have an interview or telephone meeting with the writer, will they provide revisions as part of the initial service? Those are the kinds of things you should ask.

B. What kind of response do you get? I’ll admit, I can’t always answer my phone, but I do return my calls. Most of us in this industry are sole proprietors and we live by our reputation, service, and word. Ask us questions about the kinds of clients we work with, what are our specialties, and turn around time. Please don’t expect a turn around of 48 hours, it’s just not possible. Those of us who take our craft seriously take time, gather as much information about you as possible, and work several hours on your project. It doesn’t happen in 20 minutes, not by the kinds of resume writers I’m talking about.

C. Ask if they have works that are published. Please don’t think that if they haven’t been published in resume writing books, that they’re no good. I know many colleagues who are great resume writers, they just haven’t been able to find the time to submit works for books when people are soliciting for materials. Sometimes there are very tight deadlines for book submission and when our focus in on our clients, we just can’t meet them. I know that personally, I missed two deadlines last year because I had such a huge client load.

D. Ask when their last professional development was. If the resume writer you are talking to hasn’t participated in recent online training or at least a convention within the last 16 months, then find someone who has. Those of us who are Certified, Professional, and have thriving resume writing businesses take our education and training seriously.

So in defense of Certified Professional Resume Writers, understand that we are practitioners in a rapidly growing professional careers industry. We get lumped in with life coaches, executive coaches, recruiters, and fake resume writers. We are not magicians, we’re not super hero’s, but we do sometimes work magic and leap multiple barriers to employment. Our primary goal is to further advance individuals careers and if we have to charge between $400-800, or even more to do it, then so be it. Be thankful that we’re not asking for 20% of your annual salary.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Resume Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.