The Truth About Resume Writers
Barbara Safani has had enough of ill-informed and condescending critiques of the professional resume writing industry:
So please, if you have been reading the advice of people who are bashing the resume writing industry, take a moment to reflect on how condescending their advice is. You are an intelligent consumer. If some aspect of a resume writing service doesn’t sit well with you or you aren’t convinced that the person has a valuable service to offer, don’t use them. Become an educated consumer, ask questions, and shop around. At the end of the day it’s about the strength of the relationship between you and the writer and the confidence you have in their abilities based on your knowledge of the service.
The whole thing is well worth a read. It’s just plain lazy to lump an entire industry into one big blob and then insult the entire blob. Like anything else, there are good and bad resume writers and as a consumer, you’re perfectly able to make a good choice. If you’re currently working on doing that, here’s my advice on choosing a professional resume writer.
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Louise Fletcher
Yow! It sounds more like Barbra has some real thin skin. (and the fact that she won’t allow any comments doesn’t really strengthen her argument).
Unfortunately, because people have a condescending tone does not mean that they are wrong. They may hurt your feelings but that doesn’t make them wrong.
Yes you should have a good resume, and yes there are many many bad resume writers out there but writing poorly constructed blog posts doesn’t really help open the debate.
No, what makes them wrong is the fact that they’re wrong.
I’m not sure if it’s my ‘poorly constructed’ post you have a problem with or Barbara’s, but I notice that each time you comment on my blog, it’s an anti-resume writer comment so I assume you just oppose my profession in general.
Your biases aside, the fact is that there are many good resume writers as well as some bad ones. Barbara is one of the good ones. There are also a lot of crappy self help job search sites out there but that doesn’t make yours a bad one (I have no idea how good or bad yours is and wouldn’t include you in sweeping criticisms of the entire industry without knowing more).
Barbara:
The problem with what your saying is its not like you can take a resume back if you don’t like it. Just because a writer writes good in one industry doesn’t mean he or she can write well for another industry. The biggest lie resume writers tell you is they don’t need to know your occupation well to write a good resume. How can you possibly know what makes a resume competitive or not competitive with out UNDERSTANDING the job itself?
Jim,
Respectfully, I disagree that resume writers who say that are lying.
I am currently working with a web copywriter on a new website for my business. She knows nothing of our industry but she is doing an amazing job and writing copy I could never have done on my own. How? She talks to me and asks me questions and then she writes based on what I want to say and what I need to communicate. She translates my brand and my business strategy and my competitive advantage into words I haven’t come up with in 6 years of being in business.
My expertise about my industry + her expertise about web copywriting is a powerful combination.
I’m very glad I didn’t insist on trying to find someone who has written websites for resume writers before. I would have limited my options and never found Tiffani.
A good resume writer will pick your brain and use your knowledge to understand what’s important. he or she will also read job postings and do their own research. Then they’ll write a resume that hits all the sweet spots – and then when you revise with them, you have a chance to say what needs to be emphasized more or less.
But unless you’re a very rare animal, you won’t come up with a resume on your own that’s as good as one Barbara could write for you. Just as I won’t ever write copy as well as Tiffani can.