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Most people with less than 10 years of experience can cover it all in one page. As to writing a "persuasive description," where I come from, that is to be expected from baseline writing skills. The job market is irrelevant.
Seriously, do you think magic is going to happen by paying someone $15-30?
Ehh....ive seen some really bad resumes.....it can work magic.
1 page is awefully short unless you held only 1-2 jobs.
The one page resume is fine if you are just out of school and have less than three jobs. But if you look at the latest information about resumes on sites like Monster.com, most professional resumes are 2 pages long. Few people have your example of baseline writing skills and are able to describe their background effectively. MOST people should hire an professional to help write their resume!
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlygal
Most people with less than 10 years of experience can cover it all in one page. As to writing a "persuasive description," where I come from, that is to be expected from baseline writing skills. The job market is irrelevant.
Seriously, do you think magic is going to happen by paying someone $15-30?
For me, it's more about tightening up my current resume and perhaps have someone re-think the layout and provide a different perspective on some of the wording. Mine is two pages and I have 15 years of experience.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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I've had the benefit of having two different resume services prepare my resume. Both were free since my employers paid for them (along with outplacement services) when I got laid off. Honestly? Both resume-writing services were mediocre at best. Incidentally, the last one I used was within the past week. I was very disappointed.
My sister recently used a service and hers actually had a spelling error.
I've gotten jobs from my own resumes. I checked out some resume books from the library--the most recent ones I could find and I also looked at examples online. Ultimately, what I ended up doing is picking a current job title, then reading dozens of job ads for that position and creating a resume using the phrases and terms that were in the job ads. Yeah, it was time-consuming, but it works. I also have an updated, working resume at all times. Then it's only a matter of tweaking it before applying.
You might want to check with your public library for resume services. Our county library has a ton of resources for job-seekers. They also have a guy who actually wrote a resume-writing/job-hunting book come in once a weeks or so and he offers his services for free for the unemployed.
Yes, I have used one and would recommend it. After not needing a resume for many years, I thought my old one was just fine with some updating. Well in hindsight it was not even close to effective for the new job hunt. It was pricey at around $500 for a cover letter and resume, but besides being tax deductible, it was well worth it. I ended up making some minor modifications, but it put me on the right track. The important thing is to find someone with experience in your specific field as they will know the best words and so forth. the other thing is to find a company/person that interviews you to pull out the data. A good resume writer knows how to interview you and isn't just regurgitating what you previously had. in fact i didn't even let the writer see my old one so as to keep him fresh and unbiased. if you are serious about a job then you are on LinkedIn with an All Star profile and you will find many resume writers in the industry groups and news feed.
I would like to echo that 4/30 is great. I'm 4 for 161. I don't think there is a problem with your resume with this return rate. Keep plugging away.
My gosh, I have a neighbor with a master's degree who has applied for over 100 jobs - some of them entry-level positions and bank-teller jobs for which she actually dumbed down her resume, and she hasn't gotten a single interview. I think 4 for 30 in this environment is REALLY good.
As far as paying for a re-write, I would also suggest, as another poster did, just getting help from online sources. When my son applied for summer music festival spots and grad school admissions, he modeled his after one he found online, and it seems to have worked well for him. There's also good info out there on writing an effective cover letter. I'm guessing yours are already fine, but looking at some examples can't hurt.
I think you're doing well - good luck on finding something soon!
I read applicants' resumes. Doing it well matters. That means spelling(!!!!!!!), punctuation, capitalization, all those basic English rules.
I always write my own, but I'm a decent writer and I did have training. I don't know that you need to pay someone, though. There are a lot of people who will go over yours and make suggestions, even rewrite it for free. If you went to any kind of college they are likely to have some kind of resume support available to alumni. My old tech college does.
Otherwise if you didn't there are government job services that have the same thing.
As for 4 for 30, I guess that's not bad. I've never been one to do mass mailings of resumes, but then I have only ever applied for jobs I figured I had a good chance at.
One more thing about resumes: I don't spend more than 30 seconds to a minute reading one. It doesn't have to be a work of art, just solid. What's on it matters more than the way it is written. I've seen a lot of different styles and none of that matters, only what it tells me about the applicant's work history.
Last edited by mbradleyc; 02-28-2014 at 11:11 PM..
My gosh, I have a neighbor with a master's degree who has applied for over 100 jobs - some of them entry-level positions and bank-teller jobs for which she actually dumbed down her resume, and she hasn't gotten a single interview. I think 4 for 30 in this environment is REALLY good.
As far as paying for a re-write, I would also suggest, as another poster did, just getting help from online sources. When my son applied for summer music festival spots and grad school admissions, he modeled his after one he found online, and it seems to have worked well for him. There's also good info out there on writing an effective cover letter. I'm guessing yours are already fine, but looking at some examples can't hurt.
I think you're doing well - good luck on finding something soon!
I think this is the most positive postings I have read...thank you!
I say no. I have written my own resumes for the last 20 years and never had an issue finding jobs.
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