If you decide you can't compose a first-class executive resume, and then find someone who can. Do you repair your car by yourself, or do you hire a mechanic to do it for you? Do you paint your house or decorate your apartment the way a pro does? No one can do everything well. So, if you need resume- composition and/or job-search counsel, get it. Get the best help you can. Go to a professional resume writer who is competent, experienced, and willing to work for you as an individual. For your part, be willing to pay for this help and guidance. The cost of a good executive resume should be measured against the tens of thousands of dollars you expect to earn in the next few years. Perhaps even more to the point, an effective resume can be measured against the satisfaction you hope to achieve in doing work you enjoy for an organization you have selected.
A capable, sincere resume preparation practitioner offers you these things:
- An outside viewpoint that may be helpful
- The skill and experience you do not possess
- Time saving
- An understanding of the market
- A supportive attitude
- A broad knowledge of what not to say and do
- A second opinion on a draft you've already made
If you have no leads at all, start with the Yellow Pages for the city where you expect to have the work done. Look under "Resume Service." In Chicago, for example, you'll find as many as thirty-five to forty such listings. In Seattle, you will find thirty-seven, in Detroit, twenty, in Denver, forty-one, in Atlanta, thirty-six, in Omaha, eleven, and in Charlotte, NC, seventeen. Your public library often has out-of-town telephone books.
You should generally exclude the typing services, printers, and stationery stores that list themselves as resume services. You need a professional, not an individual who has typed one hundred resumes but composed none. Now you should consider whether or not the national or local chains are right for you. Some have up to ten offices in a major city. Is there a capable counselor in each office, or a salesperson? You'll know when you visit. Study the ads in the Yellow Pages. The largest ad may or may not represent the best service. Would you select a firm because it offers you "instant service" or "one-day service"? How about the "free resume" analysis or cover-letter brochure"? On the positive side, if an appointment is required to discuss the work, that may be a good sign. Sometimes the best service might have a counselor available when you walk in for the first time, right off the street.
What does a top-notch service charge? It depends on what they do for you. Are you buying resume composition only and planning to handle the printing separately? If so, buy one camera-ready copy, which must include a final draft review that you make. Do you want the service to handle printing for you? If so, what quality paper (in your case, a white or lightly colored 25 percent rag bond) and how many copies? Do you want job-search guidance? Fees for individual consultation and resume preparation may vary from $100 to $400 or more, depending on who does it, and, to some extent, the size of the city where the service is located.
What if you have no resume service in your town or can't get to a metropolitan area? Check with your local college or university placement department for possibilities or recommendations of services. If such a person offers to do your resume for you, you might want to ask what his or her experience has been in preparing resumes for managers or executives or professionals with a work background similar to yours. Failing that, you might consider the large city firms that handle resume preparation by mail. Write to several to find out what is offered and for how much. Then make your selection or decide to write it yourself after all. It might be a wise decision.
