For months I have been contemplating how to answer this question – which is the most frequently asked question I receive.

There is hardly any simple answer but there are some logical answers:

1.  Most resumes are too long.  Employers are busy or think that they are busy and most just won’t take the time to read anything longer than one page.  One resume I received today to review was 5-pages and more than 2,200 words long, obviously too long to get anyone to pay attention; and

2. Many resumes provide too many opportunities to reject the applicant.  For example, put that you are a tennis player on your resume and already every golfer would reject you (or visa versa) and include information about your faith and the rejections will increase.  I tell my clients, that most resumes are rejected because of what data they contain and not because of what data was excluded; and

3. Most resumes I see today start with an “Objective.”  Frankly, the employer doesn’t really care what you want for what they want is someone that (a) will hit the ground running and (b) make the company a profit or (c) fix a problem that has been persistent.

Those individuals who write their own resumes often only do so once every 4-5 years while some Professional Resume Writers write that many every day.

Resume writers that stay in business are generally those that have proven, over the years, that their work performs.

Answer:  Depends.

People who regularly charge $50 to $125 and offer little more than a typing service are not bargains, especially if you have to pay for a cover letter and the resume in more that a single format. Most of the time you get someone working, part-time, out of their home that has little experience with various careers.

Dr. Jerry has been writing resumes for more than 25 years and his simple promise is “if you can offer a job that I have never faced before, I will write the resume for free, period.” Warning:  only once in the last 10 years has this happened.  The client was an MD, double Ph.D., and wanted to be a ‘ski instructor’ so she could meet and marry a rich american and get out of her present country.

Dr. Jerry understands that times are tough and a lot of people, with some really bad résumés are unemployed.  He decided that it was his responsibility to try to help people in that environment so he began offering a new résumé and cover letter for the unemployed at the price of $99.  In order to qualify for this “special” the client  cannot be currently employed nor in need of a résumé for a Senior Management or Executive Level opportunity.

What Dr. Jerry offer the unemployed is a shortened interview (saving him time) when he gathers the information necessary to write the résumé. He then sends you a draft and the two of you discuss any necessary changes, modifications, or additions; then he sends you the final documents in all 3 formats (MS-Word, PDF, and ASCII) plus a cover letter.  You should be able to easily make minor changes to the résumé and changes to the cover letter using the MS-Word version.  Note:  Dr. Jerry uses MS-Word 1997-2004 so that everyone can open, read, and make changes without problems.  He does not recommend ever using MS-Word 3007.

Answer: Depends.

First and foremost price does not determine value and just because something is priced dearly does not make it better nor does something at a low price mean inferior quality.

The key is to find someone that knows what he or she is doing and who operates without a big overhead nut that must be cracked every day.

When I first started in the business of résumé writing the ‘going’ price was $25 and today, I have seen prices from those that know what they are doing range from $99 to $2,500.

It is my considered opinion that NO résumé is worth more than about $300.

First a prospect should call the writer and if it is impossible to get the writer on the telephone, then it is likely that they are in the business only part time and that ain’t good.  For example, my office hours are between 7:30am to 5:30pm Monday through Thursday and between 7:30am and Noon on Friday.  Call outside those hours and you will likely get my voice mail.

That does not mean that I only work 4 1/2 days each week – quite the contrary, I work 7 days a week.  All that means is that I need some personal time to do those things we all need to do – go to the dry cleaner, supermarket, walk the dog, dine out, and have a life.

In summary:  If the writer has not been in business for more than 5 years you can assume that they know little more about the process than you.  If the writer charges less than $99 for a basic resume and cover letter they are little more than a typist.  If the writer charges more than $300 you are likely overpaying for what you get.

Jerry Bills, Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy

Certified Professional Resume Writer and Certified Professional Career Coach

(719) 447-1147 (Direct line)

DISCIPLINE

Without discipline nothing is possible

Discipline is the bridge between employment and unemployment; between underemployment and meaningful employment.  Discipline means doing those things that others aren’t willing to do and hanging in there long after everyone else has let go. Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is attained.  An abundance of discipline leads to an abundance of job offers!  In reality, you have one of two life-changing choices to make; to employ discipline today to achieve your job objectives or neglect to employ discipline at the expense of your goals.

Discipline leads to reward.  Neglect leads to regret.  The great Vince Lombardi said, “Discipline and mental toughness are many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial, and most importantly, it’s combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in.”

The key is to choose discipline over easy.  You don’t get to the World Series or the Olympics by easy and you don’t become a successful sales professional, nurse, administrative assistant or CEO by easy.  There is no ‘easy button’ for landing a job in a tough economy.  You get there through discipline.

Tweet Jay @ jayblock101

Visit his website (http://www.jayblock.com)

Because I write a lot of employment assistance documents, I am constantly asked, “What is a CV and should I use a CV or résumé?

Simple answer:  If you are looking for employment within the United States or anywhere with a US-based company, the résumé is preferred over the CV – even with those seeking opportunities in medicine, the law, or academia (who actually call the résumé a CV) – the correct answer is a résumé instead of a CV.

Why?

Generally, a CV contains some very personal information that, under the rules of the EEOC, would be inappropriate questions to ask of any applicant.  For example:  Your photograph, your ethnicity, your age, your gender, and your marital status.

A very important second reason is the fact that individuals who review employment documents within the US, regardless of the employment environment, are very busy (or think that they are very busy) and a long and boring document just looks to complicated to read and understand – hence, it is often passed over for shorter and perceived easier to read documents.

Can most of the data from a lengthy CV be condensed into a 1 or 2 page résumé? Yes, professional résumé writers do it all the time.

To be frank, anytime you are given the choice to read a 1 page document or a 2,3,4 or even more document; everyone will opt for the 1 page document, so paddle down stream.  Yes it is very difficult to condense multiple pages into a single page, but the result is often worth the effort.  I tell my clients that the higher the position they seek, the shorter the résumé needs to be to demonstrate your ability to communicate.

Summary:

Use a CV when applying for a position outside of the US and use a résumé when applying for a position within the US or with a US-based company operating outside the US and do not include any personal information on the résumé that would make it possible for anyone to easily guess your gender (if your first name is John – only a fool will not know your gender); your race (such as a photograph); your age, your race, your marital status, or your religion. Most importantly, there are some exceptions and if you are in doubt, telephone me (719) 447-1147 and ask – there is never a charge or obligation.

One important element for any résumé is to show that the candidate has never stopped learning, even after completing degrees or even advanced degrees.  Employers like to hire people that are on the cutting edge, people that understand you can never become satisfied with the amount of your professional education.

When a candidate has no college or university degrees the task of presenting training becomes even more critical.

Conferences, seminars, one-the-job or in-service training should be presented (but briefly always) so that a potential employer understand that you understand new concepts, have experienced new ideas ad industry innovations. That the candidate to be interviewed is forward-thinking with a solid grasp of where his/her industry is going.

Day-long, cohesively built programs are one great source of continuing professional education.

Note: Too much emphasis on formal training can quickly become very boring, so just list degrees (if any) and state that you have had “…extensive continuing professional education and training in career related topical issues.”

Even if you are lyrical and diabolical; have the unique ability to palliate a problem; or if your Thanksgiving dinner is one of your family’s eleemosynary events – you probably don’t want to use really BIG words on your resume (or, for that matter, Acronyms that only you and another insider can really understand: “SARS” or “SCUBA” et. al.)

The point?  A resume should be written so that ANYONE who touches it can read and understand what is being said.  Your vocabulary skills can best be demonstrated orally when you get the interview.

Professional writers use the “Flesch-Kincade” reading skill test to determine if a document reads at an appropriate grade level and, honestly, most résumés should test out at about the 5th to 6th grade comprehension level.

Why?

Because the audience you need to impress includes the person in the mailroom, the clerk in Human Resources, and that powerful of all powerful – the gatekeeper of the actual hiring authority.  Alone the line, if any of these readers simply cannot understand what you are trying to say, they will typically just file the résumé away and it will never get to the desk of the actual person who will do the interviewing and hiring.

Résumés are NOT employment histories and yet, many individuals treat them as such including page after page after page of employment experience and including great detail about the various duties, responsibilities, and achievements at each job.

Sorry,  but too much work history becomes boring.

The solution is simple:  Include enough information to show any reader what you did as an employee, what you accomplished (increased sales by XX% or cut costs by YY%) and you will get the attention of any reader.  Too much information and you will put any reader to sleep or, at best, encourage those assigned to ‘screen’ résumés to move on the next (and hopefully shorter) résumé.

Visit 90% of the websites of firms (aka factories) promoting résumés and their samples will almost always show the use of an “Objective” and while it may be called something like a “career objective” o r”Professional Objective,” even just an “Objective,” the inclusion of such words are inappropriate.

If you think about it for a minute, you will recognize that the applicant (you) has one objective:  ”get a job with a descent wage, adequate benefits, and with some opportunity for growth” while the company (them) has one objective:  ”hire the best qualified applicant possible, someone that will hit the ground running and make us a profit from the first day – and – hire that applicant at the lowest possible cost to the company.

Frequently, these “objectives” are often in conflict and that is why the ‘best of the best’ have not used an “objective” by any name for more than 10 years now.  One Human Resource Professional was even quoted as saying “Objective:  That’s those 1-2 lines of pulp fiction we don’t read anyway,”  so don’t waste your time and energy trying to write an objective, especially if your intention is to simply tell everyone about your strengths – the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, being more powerful than a locomotive, and being faster than a speeding bullet.