5 Reasons To Hire A Resume Writing Expert—Even If You Are A Good Writer
You’ve been meaning to update your resume. Really, you have. It’s just that getting everything—the language, the design, the flow—just right feels overwhelming, so you haven’t quite gotten to it. Sure, you could recruit help from a resume writer, but you’re not convinced it would be worth the investment. I get it: You’re a good writer, so paying someone to help you feels like it shouldn’t be necessary.
But is there more to it?
When you look at the very best resume writing experts, you’ll see that they can help your resume stand out from the crowd in more ways than just through excellent writing. If they’re worth their salt, they’ll typically be able to present your career accomplishments in ways that make hiring managers jump at the chance to interview you.
Here are five ways in which good resume writing experts can be worth much more to you over your career than the money you pay them—an investment that keeps on giving.
1. Understanding of Job Market Trends
Have you ever looked at an old sign or book cover and thought, “Wow, that looks like it came straight out of the 1980s (or 90s, or pick your own decade)”? Things in the HR world can change with dizzying speed, and an outdated resume isn’t doing you any favors.
It’s a gut thing. Recruiters and managers don’t put on their thinking caps and go, “This resume looks as though it hasn’t been updated for some time; therefore…”
No. It’s more like, “Ugh! Next.”
Qualified resume writing experts understand the current job market, including the general preferences of the HR folks. What speaks to them? What buzzwords make them feel like they’re communicating with an equal? Which ones turn them off?
What writing tone will be most effective in presenting your career? After all, being a good writer doesn’t necessarily translate into being a good resume writer. The latter requires a specific set of writing and marketing skills.
What kinds of design will catch their eyes and visually draw them to your resume?
What skills are in high demand at the moment? Which ones were worth highlighting 10 or 20 years ago but now seem like you’re stating the obvious? (Think Microsoft Word.)
Resume writing experts can analyze your career experience against the job market and craft the most appropriate resume strategy to help you stay current.
2. Discovering Your Hidden Skills and Accomplishments
One of the reasons many of my clients have been so successful in their careers is because they’re humble. Sure, they are incredibly skilled people who have worked hard to get where they are, but people are drawn to them because they don’t brag about it.
Which makes writing a compelling resume a real challenge.
Like them, you have skills you don’t even know. That proverbial fire you put out at the office last year? That process that went down from a consistent five hours to merely two because of your simple, elementary insight?
You were just doing your job, right? Nothing impressive about that?
That’s what my clients tend to think too. Until they learn that’s the exact kind of material that proves your value on your resume.
We resume writing experts ask lots of questions. Please forgive us. It’s how we show we care.
Those questions help us discover your unique talents and any concrete instances that illustrate them. If for no other reason, help from resume writing experts will elevate your resume through the inclusion of skills you may—and probably would—have missed.
3. Beating the Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
Oh boy. ATS.
If you were a busy recruiter or hiring manager reviewing dozens, maybe hundreds of resumes a day, you’d be oh-so-grateful for software that automatically eliminates 75 percent of the resumes submitted. [Source]
Seventy-five percent. Not so bright for you as an applicant, is it?
ATS filters don’t care if you’re the most qualified candidate. And, frankly, most of them aren’t smart enough yet to know whether you are. They simply scan your resume for specific terms and words (typically concrete skills) related to the job, and, if yours has enough of them, they let you through.
Otherwise, to the virtual discard pile it is.
Understanding the workings of ATS software is a large part of what resume writing experts do every day. It’s part of their job.
To be honest, learning about ATS software is not rocket science. You could certainly do it. But there’s an excellent chance that you have more important things to do with those many hours of research and staying up to date with the technology.
And then there’s adding those key terms to your resume smoothly. Let’s say you’re trying to include the term “accrual accounting” to your resume. For effectiveness, you want to include it several times. I’ve seen things like this before:
“Implemented accrual accounting within company, improving GAAP compliance (which prefers accrual accounting) and financial reporting through accrual accounting.”
That paragraph looks like it was written by the robots for the robots. But your audience, those with the power to hire you, are human. You need to cater to them while having enough keywords seamlessly integrated into your resume.
It’s a fine balance. Resume writing experts can be a tremendous help in getting your resume past the applicant tracking systems.
4. Proper Formatting
This is sort of a combination of points 1 and 3 above. You see, formatting is tricky (surprise!). A beautifully laid-out resume with properly placed color, sidebars, icons, and the latest hip fonts can be very eye-catching. We want eye-catching, right?
The risk with the highly stylized approach is twofold:
a. Highly stylized designs age more quickly. You want your resume to look modern without having to give it a facelift every couple of years. If you’re a graphic designer, this can work to your advantage. For most other professions, though, it gets in the way.
b. Anything other than a plain top-to-bottom format can confuse the daylights out of most ATS scanners. As they see it, the text of your resume can get so jumbled that the keywords stay unread—and so does your resume.
So, you see, resume writing experts understand how to make a resume look classy and professional so it stands out visually without the need of additional design elements. They also understand what looks current, what looks dated, and what’s just no-good design.
5. Stress Relief
Have you ever dealt with an issue all by yourself? Have you dealt with an issue with the help of a trusted friend or colleague? What difference did it make in the way you felt about your ability to solve the issue successfully?
I recently went to my doctor about some health issues that had seemed too small to bother with. After getting a professional perspective, I wondered, “Why didn’t I do this years ago?”
I hear that often from my own clients.
You’ve read so much about how to build the perfect resume, about how recruiters are ready to discard your resume at the drop of a hat, about how much competition there is in the job market. They’re all valid concerns.
Concerns that make you anxious about even starting to put your resume together.
Resume writing experts understand the variables involved. They can communicate to you what they need, take it away, and run with it. You can think of it as a delegation of a task that frees you up to focus on preparing for your next career step.
Isn’t it wonderful to feel that relief?
Find Your Confidence
Perhaps the single most valuable part of working with a resume writing expert is knowing that, at the end of your interaction, you’ll end up with a document you can feel confident about. No need to wonder, “Did I do this right? Will I get the attention I’m looking for?”
Confidence can make all the difference in your performance as you advance your career. It alone can be worth seeking out resume writing experts to help you develop a piece of writing (and marketing) that truly reflects you in the best possible light.
Have you worked with a professional resume writer in the past? Why or why not? I’d love to hear your experience either way.