Jobs seekers usually say that the application process begins even before the interview. Above all else, your resume is the first thing that employers see -- it helps employers assess if you're the right candidate for the position.
With a lot of applicants looking for jobs, your resume needs to catch the attention of your potential employers by standing out from the rest. This gives more pressure into having the best resume out there.
However, a question pops up: should you write your own resume or hire a professional resume writer?
What is a resume writer?
A professional resume writer is one that is skilled and trained to write, edit, and create resumes.
Most of all, resume writers have experience writing resumes for different types of clients and for different fields -- they know what the employers want.
Here are some things to consider when thinking about hiring professional resume writers:
Cost - As a job seeker, you might not have much in the way of spare cash. But if you treat hiring resume writers as an investment for your career, then the money spent to land that dream job may just well be worth it.
Outside opinion - Professional resume writers are trained to collaborate with their clients in identifying their strengths, weaknesses, skills, and accomplishments and how to best leverage these in the resume. Usually, most candidates have trouble in this part: they need outside opinion to bring out their best qualities.
Skills - Ask yourself: can (not should) you write your own resume? If you are more skilled in the way of numbers or just can't express that killer idea in your mind, then maybe you should consider hiring professional resume writers. However, if you have the skills and time to craft and fine-tune your own resume -- no sweat -- there are a lot of guides out there to help you.
Time - If you're on the field vigilantly on the lookout for your dream job, you might not have the time to create your own resume. In this case, hiring a professional resume writer could be the ideal choice.
If you're still considering the pros and cons of writing your own resume and having it professionally made, here are advantages and disadvantages:
Quality - Employers will judge you by your resume. Therefore, having a quality resume is a sign of a quality applicant. Grammatical errors are taken as signs of lack of attention to detail while long sentences could be taken as a sign of not being specific and concise. A small typographic error or a misplaced comma could be the difference between getting hired and your resume hitting the bin.
The pressure on resume carries doubles when you apply for jobs in fields such as sales, marketing, communication, and media.
Highlights flexibility - In this day and age, employers are becoming increasingly demanding. Applicants need to have more skills under their arsenal. Now, employees are required to make, file, and submit their own reports, letters, and presentations.
Good writing skills highlight your flexibility to meet these demands even if they aren't part of your specialty or field.
Insider info - Professional resume writers know insider info -- they know the current hiring practices. Trends in HR professionals are something these people know, and responding to these changes is crucial for your resume to even garner a second look.
Risk of a watered down resume – If you’re an incredibly skilled writer who understands how to create a powerful resume that will make employers go “wow”, then you can write your own resume. If you are like most people who struggle with coming up with just one good sentence, HIRE A RESUME COMPANY! Most individual’s resumes suffer from poor grammar to poor sentence structure. A professional resume writing company knows how to do it better then you because they create powerful works of art day in and day out.
Risk of lacking research – A great resume writer understands what employers are looking for because they do massive amounts of industry research. This is important in writing a unique and impressive resume and cover letter because it means your resume writer will include power words and buzz words that hiring managers are looking for in a job seeker. If you type up your own resume versus hire a resume service, the odds could be against you.
In the end, resume writing is up to your personal preference. If you want an incredibly powerful and polished resume in an instant, a professional resume writer is the way to go. However, if you don't mind researching spending hours and even days researching, practicing your writing skills, and having trial and error, you can attempt to write your own resume and cover letter. In the end, how much is a resume worth? How much will it cost you if you don’t land the job you want with the salary you need?