Are Professional Resume Writers Worth It?

Your resume is one of the most important things you have when it comes to finding a job. For most people, a resume and a good LinkedIn profile are the two main pieces that are needed when on the job hunt.

The tricky part to decide is if it’s worth it to hire a professional resume writer. Some people are capable of writing a resume themselves, or at least they are capable of using a resume template. However, many people are not able to create a resume from scratch and might be tempted to hire a professional resume writer.

So, is it worth it. Should you sign up for a resume writing course and use their guidelines or is it better to just hire a professional to write your resume for you.

Good questions and you should think about the potential benefits to both using a resume writing service and crafting the resume yourself.

What Are The Benefits To a Professionally Written Resume?

Most people would benefit from using a professional resume writing service. Simply put, resumes are hard to craft. The difficulty in writing and formatting a resume comes down to two main issues: content and design.

Many people are not good at creating the content part of a resume: job titles, detailed summary of skills, and a concise but comprehensive discussion of achievements and competencies.

Other people are not good at the formatting aspect. They are not good at creating a captivating resume that will catch the eye but also not be too glaring of a document. There is a fine line between creating a visually appealing resume that is attractive and clean looking and one that’s over the top and silly looking.

The benefit to hiring a professional resume writer is that they will be able to concisely explain your skills, competencies, and work experience while also formatting the resume and creating one that is visually attractive.

Many people who create a resume are not aware of how to go about doing one. They make simply draft up a resume on Microsoft Word and send it out. That’s a huge mistake. If the resume is not formatted correctly or has any margin errors, it can often times be a problem when submitting a resume online to a job post.

For professionals who work in corporate environments, a professional resume writer can help craft a beautiful resume that impresses recruiters and headhunters. A professioanl resume writer will know what words to never put on a resume, and conversely what words really catch the attention of headhunters and hiring managers.

For people who work in the trades such as nursing and medical work, a professional resume writer has additional benefits. People who work in social services, medical work, and other non-corporate environments often times do not have the educational background to enable them to craft a sophisticated resume. Glaring errors in tense, diction, and formatting are common in these fields.

A professional resume writer is going to be able to create a polished, professional looking resume that will not make recruiters and hiring managers flinch when reading.

Some trade schools and nursing schools will even employ a full time career counselor. As part of their job, they will write resumes for nurses and social service students so that they can use them upon graduating.

However, traditional colleges do not have career counselors who write resumes for students. So, many people enter the workforce without a properly crafted resume. This can be one of the reasons why you never hear back from recruiters.

Without a well put together resume, it can be impossible to get an entry level job. The fact is that many entry level jobs that are posted online are actually filled before they are advertised. The hiring managers tend to already hire friends and family and only post jobs to fulfill corporate requirements.

That’s one reason why it’s so hard to get that initial foot in the door at a company. Most jobs are found through networking.

Recruiters are part of that networking organization and it’s important that you utilize them during your job search.

This is yet another reason why it’s important to use recruiters as part of your job hunting process. A recruiter has access to jobs that are not posted on Indeed or other job platforms.

In many instances a company that is hiring for a role and truly wants to hire someone competent is going to use a recruiting firm. If they post the ad online using something like Craigslist, Monster, Idealist, or Indeed, then they will be overwhelmed by people who are not qualified and also non-responsive.

It’s simply easier for a recruiter to handle all of this work and directly present only the qualified people for the role.

And recruiters only want to deal with people who have well written resumes. If there are any grammar issues, tense issues, resume gaps, or strange formatting or design issues then the recruiter will pass them by. The only exception are nurse recruiters who, because of the nature of their work, are not as discerning when it comes to resumes.

So, if you are in the corporate arena, or even looking to work in a traditional administrative role, then it benefits you to hire a professional to review and revise your resume or even create one from scratch.

If you are in a non-professional arena: medical, non-profit, social services, or government work, then you are not as reliant on a good resume. However, it will always give you an advantage over other applicants if your resume is well written and does not contain egregious mistakes.

How Much Should You Pay for a Resume Professional?

The cost of a professionally written resume will vary greatly depending on how you source it. If you are using a cheap online method (such as Fiver) then you might only have to pay $35-50 bucks.

If you want a dedicated online resume consultant to review your current resume and craft an entirely new one, then that can cost you several hundred.

The price point on how much you should pay for a professional resume will vary greatly depending on what sort of service you choose.

The cheap end of the professional resume services will run you around $50 dollars. You can find these online at places like Fiver and other sources. The main thing to be mindful of is that these services will require you to provide much of the input, verbiage, and details. The resume writers will simply format it. So, in this sense, they are really a formatting service.

Once you hit the level where you are paying several hundred dollars for a professionally crafted resume, then you are going to get a whole lot more. The resume writer in this instance will hand craft the entire thing. They will ask you to either have a Zoom or Skype call to discuss your experience and then send them some details. From that point on they will create an entire resume from scratch.

In between there are other professional resume writers who will do more than a reformatting but won’t create the entire thing but instead do what is known as a punch up. They will take the bare bones resume that you’ve created and spruce it up and make it more grammatically correct and format it to look presentable.

Does The Industry You Work in Matter?

Yes, the industry that you are working in certainly matters. If you are working in the social service sector or are in the medical field, then resumes are not that critical to finding work. In most cases, a license or degree is all that is required.

Nurses oftentimes have resumes with mistakes, improper formatting, dates that are incorrect, and a host of other errors riddled throughout the resume. None of it matters, however, because hospitals know that nurses are not professionals who are going to be crafting emails, letters, or other high level administrative work. Nurses do trade work and assist staff with things such as changing bandages, cleaning patients, and taking vitals. None of this work requires anything more than basic computer skills.

Likewise, people who work as case managers or social workers in the non-profit sector, are often hired because the agency has a government grant and needs people to assist their client base in signing up for benefits programs. Case workers need to be more sophisticated and have a better grasp of computers and software than nurses, but it’s still a basic job which essentially involves making sure recipients of benefits programs and have filled out the proper government forms.

The main thing that a person working in either the medical or social service filed must ensure is that their resume has the proper contact info listed on it as well as the proper degree and certification.

When speaking about the world of corporate work, it’s a much different story. It is vital that there be no grammar mistakes on the resume, no spacing errors, and the format is proper.

Someone who is applying to work as a nurse in a hospital can submit a resume with spelling mistakes, poor grammar, and bad formatting. As long as the nurse has a nursing degree and a valid state license, they will likely be hired.

If someone is applying for a role as a public relations assistant, their resume must be perfect. The agency will likely interview dozens of people for the role and hold multiple interview rounds. Any single instance on the resume that causes the hiring team to pause could cause you to lose out on the job interview.

There are many reasons why your resume might not be getting you an intervew, and this is why it’s so important to spend time crafting a perfect document to use when putting yourself out there.

Should You Use a Professional Resume Service or Write Your Own?

That decision is one that you need to make on your own. If you are looking for retail work, and are in college or graduated from college and are not looking for executive level work then I would advise either Fiver, Canva, or some other cheap service.

There are even resume templates that you can use for free online. Just make sure to properly fill them out and make sure you are not leaving any of the sections blank. Some people who use resume template systems leave the areas for Phone Number and LinkedIn empty and their resume has no contact info.

If you’re looking for a higher level role, and you don’t feel confident writing your own resume, then it might make sense to invest in a resume writing service. You should be careful using an online ad if it’s not one that has a lot of reviews though. You want a resume writer who can craft a beautiful resume, knows what not to put on a resume, and will communicate with you about your concerns.

The best resume service will be one that can create a resume that looks professional, has all of the needed info, will get your resume past the ATS system screening options, and give you the best shot of landing a job. It should be impressive but not so unique that it makes people hesitant to call or email you for work.