Ask A Resume Writer These 5 Questions If You Plan To Hire One For Your Job Search

A resume writer can help your job application stand out to HR recruiters; here’s how to find one who truly knows their work.

‘Survival of the fittest’ – a popular phrase coined by the English biologist Herbert Spencer reveals the secret to thrive in any scenario; if we look into the current job market, every word of this phrase holds true.

In the current situation, job seekers cannot afford to leave open the window for a single mistake. Starting from job application and resume submission, to interview rounds, everything has to be perfect.

Right from submitting applications to clearing the interview rounds, this is up to the candidate; one has to show their own calibre. However, job-seekers often neglect one important aspect of the process; they tend to ignore a simple piece of paper which has the potential to speak about a candidate way before they face the interview rounds.

This paper which is known as the resume, is a document used by persons to present their backgrounds and skills. What if the HR person at the other end gets an untidy, poorly formatted, and a grammatically incorrect draft that lists all your responsibilities but misses highlighting your key contributions?

Going to a resume writer?

Preferring to not take any chances, nowadays, people are becoming aware of the importance of submitting a professional, well-drafted resume. To ensure that, people are seeking help from resume writing companies or from individual writers. There are many resume writing companies that promise to write the perfect resume for you. It definitely holds true for a few companies that deliver what they promise but there are many companies in the market that actually tend to make fake commitments.

After studying the market and gaining an understanding I have noticed that people often tend to choose resume writing companies rather than resume writers. For resume development, a person always verifies the company’s age, its market value and strength. But they often forget about the writer who is going to develop the critical draft.

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To help jobseekers choose the best writers, I have answered a few basic questions that they can simply ask the writer or the company and then decide whether to hire them or not.

What is lacking in my resume?

If the reply is Content, Layout and Presentation of the resume – simply reject the company and the writer.

You can easily search on Google and improve your resume’s content and layout. Why would you pay a huge amount for some word formatting and content copying and pasting? A good writer would explain to you step by step each section, educate you on how he or she would modify the areas so as to attract recruiters and also how they can mould your highlights and bring out the value that you have offered so far.

Anybody can fill a resume with content but a resume writer would always utilise the content provided by the candidate and bring out the crux of the resume.

How would you show my skills?

If the writer chooses to write about your skills in the personal skills displayed section – please make the section yourself, anyone can do that very easily.

A genuine writer would always be prepared for this question. He/she would know very well to scan your responsibilities and understand your job profile and then map your skills as per the role that you have played so far and the job you are targeting. The writer would always take time to prepare this section since this is a vital part of the resume; he/she would spend time to fetch out the necessary skills and sum up your entire profile in a few tab points.

What are you planning to do with my career highlights?

If the writer suggests making one section after the responsibilities or would advise you to summarise it in a text box – please ask him/her for better options or simply spend some time and add that section on your own.

A resume writer would always seek for more highlights since he/she would know this is the part in the resume that would actually differentiate you from the rest. The writer would know how to bring out the value and display the impact that you have achieved and how it has benefitted the organizations that you were associated with.

The resume writer would also take some time to study your profile and then ask you relevant queries because he/ she would know about the key result areas of a profile.

What would be my resume format?

If the writer or company suggests giving you a format as per the latest industry-standard or as per the standard guideline of that particular company – please never choose that company or the writer.

Every person is unique, with a distinctive set of capabilities and hence, every resume is different. No writer or company can predefine the format of a resume. A good writer would always take ideas from the internet or references and prepare a layout that best suits the candidate’s profile. He/she would always follow the basic writing standard as per different companies but would never commit to give a specific format.

Do you know anything about my profile? Have you prepared similar resumes before?

“Yes, I have more than 5-6 years of experience in preparing similar kinds of profiles and I have prepared dozens of such resumes. – Please don’t believe the writer or the company that makes such a commitment.

Trust the writer who says that he/she has an understanding of the job type, but would still conduct an in-depth research of your job profile and would agree to study all the intricate details. As I said before, every profile is unique. At times, years of experience doesn’t matter but knowing what to do right does matter.

To conclude, every single penny earned by you is precious and your resume is important. Please don’t hand your future to any writer or company; rather, spend some time and search for that one writer who would wake the soul of your resume.

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First published here.

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