A resume’s primary purpose is to attract the attention of prospective employers and recruiters. An expert Resume Writer is likely to help you accomplish this. He/she possesses the ability to ask thought-provoking and behaviorally-based questions, uncover relevant data, and present that data in an aesthetically pleasing format that is enticing to the human eye while ensuring that key elements are also picked up by the “electronic eye”, i.e., Applicant Tracking System.
There are perhaps a hundred or so truly talented Resume Writers out of the several thousand currently employed by Resume Writing firms throughout the country. But there are only a handful of Resume Writing experts. You may be thinking that determining what distinguishes “good” from “expert” (and “poor”/”fair”/”decent”, etc., for that matter) is too personal, subjective, and opinion-prone to hold merit for serious discussion. And you would be correct in exercising a certain degree of skepticism. However, there are several ways to gauge a Resume Writer’s level of expertise, or lack thereof. They boil down to a Writer’s client success rate with employers and/or recruiter feedback. Is the résumé getting attention?
I recently was tasked with helping an established Financial Services Resume Writing firm recruit “elite Resume Writers”. This appeared simple at first — post a few ads, network a bit, and offer Writers above-market rates for their level of expertise. To my surprise, after vetting and interviewing many good Resume Writers, I narrowed my selection down to only 9 “experts”. Over many years, I’ve personally overhauled countless resumes that were written by professional Resume Writing firms where my clients had experienced little to no success in landing interviews once their “improved” resumes were delivered.
While I can methodically break down what constitutes a very good attention-grabbing, self-promotional marketing document (aka “resume”), the purpose of this article is to help you recognize an expert Resume Writer yourself: