Posted: 2/28/2007 11:44:53 AM EDT
| Anyone ever used this type of service, if so did it work out and can you point me in the direction of an online service center???? |
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Never used one - I normally go to Borders or Barnes and Nobles - bring a notepad and start reading the resumee books there. Once I have my notes I pick the book what holds the most samples I like and buy it - than I start writing my resumee. Books I liked for resume and job interviews where: 6 figure jobs / resume and Knock em dead. So I spend close to 60 bucks to get a decent job - not a bad investment. Send your resume to a head hunter and talk to the person in charge - and get here opinion - if you want to use an online service I still would go ahead and gather all the neccesary information and pre write my resumee - so they only go back to correct it - this is much faster and more efficent. just my 2c |
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I used to be a recruiter and I can tell you that I have a collection (somewhere) of resumes from resume "services". Any place that can make the resume of a retiring Marine Aviator, a 2nd Class Navy PO and a civilian new college grad look almost identical on their resume must really be working hard. With these days of easy word processing you can do your own basic resume, and then tailor it to each company. And you don't need fancy paper, fancy printing or formatting. In fact you need to concentrate on making it scannable if you send a hard copy. If it isn't scannable it will not be helpful at some companies. |
I do not fully agree with you. Yes, you can easily make a resume by means of word templates and or design your own. However, it takes lots of time and will not always produce desired results. I have a resume but I'm looking to add character and flair. I'm in a "specialized" market of medical sales. Anyway I found one today. |
What part don't you agree with? That I wasn't a recruiter? That I have a collection of resumes? (I used to give resume writing lessons at various places and they were examples of bad resumes) That YOU are incapable of writing a basic resume, and then customizing it to individual companies? (If so should you really be in sales?) That you need fancy paper? fancy printing? or fancy formatting? Unless you have a specific individual in mind, you don't need to fluff with fancy paper or printing. If you are sending to national companies, they are almost certainly going to be scanning it and databasing it and or otherwise making it available to offices or managers around the country. In those cases, they are'nt going to see any fancy paper, any fancy printing and off the wall formatting with lines and other fluff is liable to screw up the scanning. I'm sorry did I say templates? Your resume is designed to get you an interview. There are very few specialized markets that need specialized formats. CVs in higher educations and possibly Legal industries, but nowhere else. I sure hope you didn't really mean you don't want to spend some time developing your resume. You sure as hell better be damn interested in spending time on your resume. That's why templates aren't all that helpful. They want to know your relevant education. They want to know your specialized and general experience. They want to know if you have the combination of experience and education to understand their product and their customers. If you can't show that, no amount of character and flair will help. They have a pre-conceived notion of what they are looking for. You need to fit that notion. They don't want a picture, they don't give a crap about hobbies, they don't care about how many wives and kids you have, etc etc etc. Can you do the job? That's it. |
I used monster.com to write mine. I'm a techie, not a resume writer. My resume's job is to get me past HR folks, so that I can get some face time with the guy who's gonna hire me. Once I get to that point, I'm in like Flynn. It cost me $175, and they did a fantastic job. After reading it, I went "Hell, I'd hire me". 
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I write professional and technical resumes as a side gig. I am far from the best, but capable and have had good results thus far with many satisfied clients. Most successful resumes are a simple single page Word document, capable of being attached to electronic correspondence, scanned, and free from frivolous images. The one I just finished was for a police officer here on Arfcom, who had slathered the top of his resume with pictures of badges and SWAT memorabilia. Do not do this. When he sent it to me, it was 3 and ½ freaking pages long. Do not do this, either. He listed every job he every had, right down to McDonalds from when he was 17 – he’s almost 40 and targeting a detective position at another department. Again, don’t do this. I compile all the information and research the targeted organization to personalize the resume to their HR department and specifically approach the applicant's skill set to match the position. This is the only way to do it correctly. “Generic” resumes that do not reflect a knowledge of the intricacies of the organization are usually tossed aside. Likewise, employers do not want to wade through irrelevant information, such as the McDonald’s experience for a senior law enforcement slot I exampled above. A well-laid out resume will contain 3 sections, all on the first page: Goal orientation, where the applicant informs the organization of his or her long-term intentions and aspirations… To maintain and further my service to the community in a law enforcement position, providing my employer an excellent representation of policy, professionalism, and relations; and to establish longevity, promoting the department’s best interests through dedication and quality of ethics. Relevant education and qualifications, a bulleted section highlighting pertinent skill sets and credentials required or useful to the position’s specific duties… 640-hour P.O.S.T. certification with Class A accolade for excellence and various distinguished awards commending personal and professional qualities. United States Army Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training. Meritorious citations for commitment to mission and leadership. State of Wherever registered firearms instructor. And related experience with contact information AFTER those individuals have agreed to be contacted… ABC police department, City and state. Nov 2004 to Feb 2007. Deputy Major Chief Joe Blow. 123.456.7890 Tenure at ABC included various law enforcement duties including jail operations, prisoner transport, civil service and processing, and road patrol. Tasked with media relations and OCR reporting to the State of Wherever Highway Patrol. Elevated to acting Deputy Lieutenant in reports and material evidence management and disbursement for meticulous attention to detail and exemplary ability to follow detailed instructions and preserve state’s evidence receipts for the county prosecutor’s office to include major felony crimes currently under investigation. Keep it clean and streamlined, and don’t try and oversell yourself. The average resume is scanned for less than 30 seconds, so irrelevant information will hurt your chances of obtaining an interview, as will failing to include necessary information pertinent to that particular position. This is but one of the reasons detailed research sets some resumes aside as attention getters, while generic ones are shuffled to files. Also, notice there are no personal references contained above. Employers don’t care to talk to your friends and family about your volunteer work at the church down the street. I also compose personal bios for organizations requesting such, which are getting more popular in the decision process for granting interviews. However, a bio should not be sent unless requested. These usually accompany the applicant during the first or second interview when the organization does not use an oral board. Use bold, italics, underline, and bullets sparingly. Never use fancy fonts, and keep text size at 10 or 12 and consistent. If y’all want some help doing your own resume, PM me and I’ll give you a hand. Or, if you want me to take a shot at it we can work something out. Again, PM me. If you have general questions, feel free to post them here so others can be empowered and HR professionals can critique my advice. If you are planning on using a dedicated, professional resume service, be prepared for price ranges between $175 and $350, depending on how much research the service puts into your particular needs. I don't charge anywhere NEAR that much because it is more a hobby for me, and I do alot more than standard services. I like the challenge and think it's fun. |
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One more comment - Objective lines, unless there is some concrete reason to include it, like indicating which of several similar positions, are generally redundant, and should be kept as short as possible or not used. Does anybody not want career advancement while advancing the goals of the new organization? In other words purely generic statements are unnecessary. Would you be sending a resume if you didn't want to be considered? Using law enforcement as an example, if the desired department was large enough to have say a Robbery/Homocide Division, a Sex Crimes Division, and a White Collar Crime Division, and you were more or less equally qualified to pursue a position in any, but you only wanted to work in the White Collar Crime Division, then say you are interested in that area. I would hope that your desire to work in an ethical manner could go without saying. Trust me, if I'm looking at resumes, I need a person or persons for my organization, who want to help us and them advance. I don't need a generic objective line when I'm doing my first review, I know what we are both looking for. That said, don't make it too specific, if you don't really mean it. Using the above example, if you would be willing to consider all 3 areas, but you are only aware of one and write your objective to that one, the receiving Captain in the Robbery/Homocide Division gets it, you're not quite what he is looking for, but he knows Ralph down in Sex Crimes is going to have an opening (maybe he hired the guy out of Sex Crimes for his opening?) so he likes what he sees and passes on the resume. But if that objective says Robbery/Homocide only or implies R/H only. He may not send it down, and even if he does, the Captain there sees R/H and figures you don't want his job. |