Beyond offering superior word wrangling skills, resume writers should offer strategic thinking and visioning that supports their career transitioning client’s FUTURE. A recent Wall Street Journal blog post by Alina Dizik sparked yet another passionate conversation among careers pros and job seekers about ‘how’ to make a resume writing investment decision. You can read the WSJ post, HERE,  and the comments that were triggered, HERE and HERE.

I commented at the WSJ blog, and have cut/pasted my entire comment at the bottom of this post. The essence of my comment is that selecting a resume writer is an intuitive process and a conversation between writer and job seeker versus a tactical investigation. As well, my friends and certified resume writers Julie Walraven and Dawn Bugni also shared their pragmatic and persuasive opinions regarding offering (or ‘not’ offering) guarantees, why the writer specializes in career positioning strategy and the job seeker performs as the industry ’specialist,’ why confidentiality issues may arise if sharing past clients’ names as references … and more.

The highly ‘niched’ resume writing profession (after all, how much more niched can you be than writing ONLY career-focused documents selling to a very targeted hiring audience of decision makers, recruiters, human resource leaders, CEOs, COOs, CFOs, board members, venture capitalists … and more?) is akin to a personal marketing agent that helps job seekers break down barriers to job interview entry.

As well, a resume writer’s role is to build career messaging content that supports, lifts and helps carry the job hunter ‘through’ the interview process, leading to a job landing. No, the resume does not ‘get’ the job, but it is a KEY vehicle to transport critical career story points.

Following is the comment I made, in hopes to focus the careerist considering hiring a professional resume writer on the strategic aspect of resume writers’ acumen versus the tactical and defensive mode of garnering multiple references, layers of resume samples and proof of specific industry experience. This hoop-jumping aspect of how to hire a resume writer is interesting, but not necessarily one I advocate. Adding to the interesting aspect is that one of the examples in the WSJ article showcases a $100 resume purchase that resulted in a disappointing outcome. To this I simply respond, “You get what you pay for.”

All that said, my comment follows, hereto:

As with ANY service and/or product investment, performing due diligence before hiring a professional resume writer is critical to ensuring you are ‘driving your OWN career initiatives.’

I also agree that the number of resume writing companies has mushroomed, particularly with lower barriers to start-up entry for ANY new business based on the easy access to the Internet to market one’s wares (whether resume writing or widget selling). That said, a quality, focused and time-tested resume writing pro will offer just that, a verifiable record of client performance results and samples.

However, my concern about such articles as the “Five Questions to Ask” is a focus on intimacy with job seekers’ industry knowledge, requesting resume sample (after sample after sample) and calling upon a writers’ client base (often too early in the decision-making process).

Instead, in my 13 years’ resume chronicling, I’ve found the ability to cull meaningful, detailed and textured stories about a candidate’s unique value offerings that map to a target audience, and facilitating a two-way conversation is most critical. The job hunter is the industry expert; the resume writer is the resume writing and career strategy expert — a storyteller with a twist.

In other words, the resume pro is a talented journalist who effectively probes for the underlying gradations of one’s career journey: how s/he surmounted hurdles and impacted folks through influence, problem solving, cost containment, revenue shoring and profit boosting talents.

Beyond the tactical ‘asking the resume writer for online and offline resume samples, querying past customers and asserting that the writer knows your industry,’ therefore, I encourage job seekers to consider the writers’ strategic writing history and their ability to engage on that higher level — to show (not tell) in word conversations that they ‘get’ your strategic career movement and transition needs.

One resume client recently told me, shortly after he hired me to write his senior level sales management resume, that he hired me primarily because of my ability to sell HIM on ME. As well, my website, samples and client statements reinforced his belief in me.

Find a writer whose website presence and whose telephone acumen influence YOU to invest, and I believe, you are at least part way THERE– on the way, if not ALL the way, to a RIGHT hiring decision.

Instincts matter in these situations. Follow yours.

Best,
Jacqui Barrett Poindexter, Master Resume Writer
www.careertrend.net