If you are getting ready to start looking for a new job, polishing up your current resume or creating a new resume probably are at the top of your to-do list. You might be debating whether or not to write your own resume or hire the best resume writers. With so many choices out there, it can be tough to determine which resume company offers the best service, so we’ve provided you with a few helpful tips.
1. Skip The Cheap Companies
There are plenty of services out there offering $29, $39 or $49 resumes and, on the surface, this seems like a great deal. But, as the saying goes, you tend to get what you pay for and this is definitely true when you opt for a low-cost resume.
Generally, you’ll find that quality entry-level resumes start at around $85 and go up to about $100 and sometimes more. For a person with professional work experience, you can expect to pay at least $100 for a professionally-crafted resume. Resumes for top-level executives or very specialized fields probably will pay even more.
While a high price tag doesn’t always ensure quality, a cheap resume is almost always not worth the price tag. We’ve reviewed resumes from many websites, and the cheaper sites are almost universally a bad idea.
2. Look At The Work Samples
Most reputable resume companies will provide one or two work samples on their website. If they don’t, you can contact the company and ask for a sample. If the company refuses, this is a huge red flag, and you definitely want to move on and select another resume company.
Obviously, if the sample provided is less than stellar, you will want to select another company. It’s important, however, that you look beyond the resume design and really take a look at the content. Flashy designs can look amazing, but if the content is blah or doesn’t read well, this is really all a hiring manager cares about.
The best resume writers are more concerned with provided dynamic content than with a hip design. You always can transform the document’s design, what you are really paying for is quality content so keep that in mind as you look at the work samples.
3. Don’t Be Persuaded By A Great Website
We’ve reviewed resumes from many resume companies, and some of them had some amazing and attractive websites. The important thing to remember is that the website’s appearance has little to do with the quality of the product.
After all, the people who built the website are not the same people writing your resume. The website was designed by someone else, and while it might look lovely, you won’t be sending a picture of the website to the hiring manager. Never judge a resume company by its cover, so to speak, because, as we stated in the last point, the content of your resume is all that is truly important.
4. Read The Fine Print
The best resume writers tend to offer a guarantee with their work, but you need to read this guarantee carefully to ensure that you really understand what the guarantee requires and includes.
For instance, our top resume pick is Resume Writing Group offers a unique guarantee. If you use their advice and resume but are not hired in 45 days or less, they will refund the cost of your resume. To increase your chances of finding a great job, this company provides several pages worth of advice on the best ways to find great companies and how to market yourself.
If, however, you find companies that do not offer any type of guarantee, this is an indication that you have not found the best resume writers. After all, if they don’t stand by their work, do you really want to give them your money?
5. Check Out The Writers
There are literally dozens of resume writing companies out there, and many of them hiring part-time freelancers to create resumes. These are not really the “best resume writers,” because they tend to lack experience in resume writing, which is unique to other types of writing.
It’s important to select a company that has a full-time resume writing staff. A few of the best companies will even provide you with short bios for the people on their staff. If you can’t find this information anywhere on the website, it can indicate that the staff is constantly changing, and this definitely can affect the quality of the product that they provide to their customers.
Additionally, take a second to check and see if the resume company belongs to any industry organizations such as the National Resume Writers’ Association or perhaps the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches. These organizations set standards for resume writing and they also provide continuing education for professional resume writers so that they can keep improving their craft and keep up with changes in the world of resumes.
At Top 5 Resume Writers, we’ve researched many of the top resume writing companies and compared their services. To do this, we hired multiple companies to provide us with a professional resume for a “mystery shopper.”
We gave the same information to all of the resume companies and then reviewed the results. We found that most of the companies didn’t really write a great resume, they just listed the information the client gave them without sprucing up the text or strategizing how to present the job candidate to their best advantage.
Even worse, many of the companies presented us with resumes that contained multiple spelling or grammar errors, or both! This was a bit of a shock, to say the least, especially since it’s one of the main reasons why people hire a professional in the first place.
In the end, we found a few options that provided us with decent, error-free resumes and one clearly produced the best results, so they earned our top spot. Here’s why we selected Resume Writing Group as our choice for the best resume writers:
• Their resume was error-free.
• The writer didn’t just rehash the basic information, there was an obvious strategy regarding how items were worded and organized.
• The writer actually contacted us to ask for additional information and we appreciated this high level of customer service. (By the way, Resume Writing Group was the only company that took this extra step.)
• The resume was edited by the writer and an additional person, a professional resume editor.
• Resume Writing Group offered competitive rates. Their rates for entry-level resumes are some of the best you will find.
• Their work was guaranteed.
We truly believe that Resume Writer Group will provide you with the best resume writers, but if you do decide to use another service, we highly recommend that you use the advice listed above.
