Article by Jon Gorgioski, Director of Alpha Resumes
If you are reading this article, you are probably thinking about engaging a professional resume service but may be overwhelmed by the myriad of options and different price points across the market.
When making your decision it is incredibly important to ensure you seek assistance from a professional who is appropriately experienced and qualified. I hear stories from far too many clients who initially opted for a “cheaper” option only to be disappointed, or even worse having to start the whole process again, wasting valuable time and money.
Having built and led one of Melbourne’s top resume writing businesses for more than eight years, as well as having worked extensively within communications and marketing, I understand the unique challenges that every client faces. I also understand the importance of building a unique resume that represents you as an individual and just how important this document can be in helping you secure an interview for your next role.
The choice you make will ultimately impact your chance of success or failure in your job search, so we are going to look at the pros and cons of each approach.
- (1) Doing It Yourself
- (2) Appointing A “Cheaper” Resume Writer
- (3) Appointing A Market Leading Resume Service (such as Alpha Resumes)
(1) Doing It Yourself
Writing your own resume can be fraught with pitfalls and dangers. Every day, I hear from people who have attempted this only to find that they have had little to no traction in securing interviews for jobs that they are suitably qualified for. Yes, I agree you will save money in the short term, but unless you understand the core requirements of building a successful resume the process could be very timely and may well extend your job search time considerably.
A critical factor to remember is that while you will save money initially, by not employing a market leading resume provider, you may also cost yourself money in terms of time and lost opportunities. Your future income may well be limited by failing to secure the employment opportunities you desire right now. You can read articles and resume guides but will likely come across a lot of conflicting advice and may well just find it all too hard.
How long should the resume be? What should you focus your attention on? What are employers looking for? Do you understand the role you are applying for? How many achievements should you include? How do you beat the ATS software that recruiters use?
These are just a few of the questions that you need to consider when you elect to write your own resume. If you cannot accurately answer these questions and write in a succinct and impactful way, then our advice would be to contact us.
(2) Appointing A “Cheaper” Resume Writer
So, once you decide that doing it yourself is not going to achieve the outcome you desire many people then attempt to find a “cheaper writer”. There are hundreds of them, many promoting themselves on Google, social media or freelancing websites. They tend to focus on speed and price, as opposed to a more personalised offering. They will also often use generic or outdated templates and often do not understand the intricacies of how Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) work.
What I know about such services is that they will allocate maybe an hour or so to write your resume or outsource your job to someone else. Most cheaper services will spend little or no time talking to you and won’t dive deep into your background to help uncover important achievements or milestones that shape you as an individual. In fact, many of them will just re-word or re-phrase what you attempted when you did it yourself, or paraphrase information they have collected from you in a questionnaire.
What I also know is that many of these services will have a representative who speaks to you in Australia, but then sends your task and notes away to a “writer” overseas who has little or no knowledge or experience of the Australian employment market. They often have very little commercial acumen and do not truly know what today’s employers and recruiters are looking for to ensure your resume “stands out”.
There are more and more of these services popping up, particularly post-covid and many of the people running such businesses come from recruitment or similar backgrounds, but that does not make them experienced resume writers, nor experts in developing a personal brand. To make things worse, I constantly hear stories of clients spending anywhere from $100 to $300 or more for a poorly written and impersonal resume. Money they will never get back.
As Norman Collins once said … “ Good work ain’t cheap, cheap work ain’t good” … If your “cheaper” resume writer was serious about helping you achieve the best result, they would generally need to meet with you for a detailed consultation, and then spend several hours of research and writing work to get things just right. On average, I spend 5 to 6 hours drafting a manager level resume, plus additional time consulting and editing. This means I can personally work with 5 to 7 clients each week to ensure that every client achieves the very best outcome possible. Resume companies offering cheaper services are typically churning out dozens of documents each week and this means that the quality controls are simply not there. At Alpha Resumes we work with a small number of individuals each week and will always focus on quality over quantity.
(3) Appointing A Market Leading Resume Service
The question you need to ask yourself here is: How serious am I about advancing in my career and getting a foot in the door? If you are genuinely committed to progressing in your career you need to engage the very best professional help.
Apart from being one of Melbourne’s top rated resume services, consistently for more than eight years, and in addition to having over 120 five-star Google reviews, many of our clients have already attempted the first two options and then came to us. What we do is work with you, not just for you. What does that mean?
We have developed a successful process that is unique and means we focus our attention on making sure you are successful. At Alpha Resumes our process includes:
- A Discovery Meeting: This generally ranges from 30 to 90 minutes where we really get to know you, understand your career journey and provide you with valuable advice on personal branding and succeeding in your job search. The person who you meet with is the person who will be drafting and refining your documents.
- The Crafting Process: This is where we spend significant time preparing for and writing your documents. Depending on your background and career level, we will spend anywhere from 3 to 6 or more hours writing your new resume and cover letter. Easy reading is damn hard writing, so we take the time to get things right.
- Review and Sign Off: This is where you review your documents, provide feedback and we continue to work with you until you are completely happy. If we need to arrange another consult to finalise any changes we will happily do this. After you sign off on your resume and cover letter, this is when we will update your LinkedIn profile if you have included this as part of your package.
Closing thoughts
Having written more than 2,000 documents since we launched, we are incredibly good at what we do. We are constantly honing our crafts and are committed to offering all clients the most contemporary documents and up-to-date advice.
The great news for you is that the feedback we receive from our clients is that they overwhelmingly receive interviews quickly after using our documents and walk away with renewed confidence. Our Satisfaction Guarantee also means that if, for some reason, you do not get interviews, we will re-work or re-write your documents because we want you to be successful.
Importantly, we still aim to keep the pricing of our services as affordable as possible. As the Founder and Director of Alpha Resumes, I am confident that you will not receive better value for money, nor a more personalised approach. Every client has my mobile phone number and can contact me at any time. So why not give yourself the best chance of career success and phone us today on 0430 195 859 or contact us to find out how can help propel your career to new heights.
