Wondering if you should hire a professional resume writer? Whether you’re already employed, searching for work or looking to assess your skills, enlisting the help of a professional is always a smart move.
If you fall into one of the following groups, you could get a lot out of hiring a professional resume writer.
You’re Just Entering the Job Market
The job seekers most in need of a professionally written resume are entry-level candidates or recent grads, says career expert and professional resume writer Alex Twersky.
The main reason? University career services offices are too overloaded to provide the much-needed individualized attention, says Twersky.
And compared to the cost of a college education, what you’ll pay a professional resume writer is a relative bargain. “After investing over $100,000 in college,” says Twesky, “doesn’t it make sense to spend a few hundred dollars extra to ensure you are positioning yourself as best as possible for your first job?”
You’re Not Getting Any Interviews
If your job search isn’t yielding any interviews, it might be time to reconsider your resume. Through an eye-tracking study, The Ladders found most hiring managers spend four to six seconds looking at your resume—a lot less time than it took you to make it.
If you’re not skilled in understanding which information needs to be front and center on your resume, you might be getting passed over simply because hiring managers can’t find the relevant information in time.
A professional resume writer understands this constraint and works to make sure the right information is where it needs to be to get you noticed.
You Want to Switch Jobs
If you’re currently employed and looking for work, there are considerably less hours in the day to get your job search game on. (But if you’re a risk taker, here’s how to apply for jobs at work while minimizing the risk of getting caught).
With less time to put into your search, it helps if every minute is focused on snagging the job, rather than on tweaking your resume to a point where you think it’ll reel in interviews. “It’s a specialized skill that you can either learn to do yourself with lots of practice,” says Twersky, “or hire a professional.”
You’re Perfectly Happy at Your Job
You love your job, so why would you need a professionally written resume?
If you’re up for a promotion, you can use your resume to remind your manager of your accomplishments, skills and anything else they may have forgotten that would better leverage you for the new position. Here’s your chance to brag about the online class you took in project management, or the increase in site traffic for your marketing campaign.
There’s also the need to expect the unexpected. “Anything can happen,” says Twersky, “from your company experiencing losses that lead to downsizing, or you coming across a great new opportunity that you’d like to apply for.” In either case, why scramble to get your resume in shape when you could have kept it up to date all along?
