Resume Writer Matthew Greene, M.Phil.

Choosing the best resume service for your needs in 2009 is NOT easy! Hundreds of writers advertise on the internet, each making claims and promises to help you get hired. Some will tempt you with a $69 generic or cookie-cutter resume that will cost you a ton in missed job opportunities as well as valuable TIME. You can't afford that. Others offer you resume templates and samples that are outdated and NOT suitable for use in today's recession.

How does one choose a suitable and reliable resume writing service? This is more important than ever in the Recession of 2009.

Your our own resume needs may be straightforward or complex, especially if you are a CAREER CHANGER. Will every service be able to create a high quality and effective resume for you? NO. Can every professional writer prepare a winning resume and cover letter for you? Again, the answer is NO! Some will merely use a stale Resume Wizard included in Microsoft Office 97. That makes it 10-12 years old and out of date.

Anyone with fairly good writing skills can open a resume office on a shoestring budget and start to prepare "basic" resumes. But it requires solid training and experience to learn to design and write custom resumes that will beat the competition in 2009.

To be effective in this recession, your resume needs to be the best it can be - a MARKETING tool that will "sell" you. But very few resume services can prepare such a resume. The "basic" or "general" resumes of the '80s and '90s WON'T work in today's job market. As a rule, you'll be needing one or more focused or targeted resumes.

The awful truth is that many "professional" writing offices are operated by rank amateurs! 9 out of 10 resume services are staffed by inexperienced writers with little or no track record of success. Or they've been typing weak or "basic" COOKIE-CUTTER RESUMES for years and years. Such resumes look like hundreds of others and will NOT generate job interviews. They WON'T help you to get hired for a suitable and well-paying position. In fact, such services will cost you dearly because time is NOT on your side!

In order to choose the best resume service for you, it is important to find out WHO will be writing your resume. Will the party who persuades you to order be the same person who will later be preparing your resume and cover letter?

How to Evaluate the Reliability of Resume Services

A low cost resume service is usually a waste of time and money because a truly skilled and experienced writer CANNOT charge such low fees. Your resume will probably be written by a junior member of a "team". Or the service is a paper mill that churns out cheap or "basic" resumes overnight. Avoid them like the plague. You'll find lots of them.

What about a "high end" service with a great website? Will it also be a first-class writing operation? NO, not necessarily. The founder of that business might have the required experience but his or her assistants may be junior and inexperienced. They may also be paying a high rental for a city office. More than one writing service on the West Coast is charging $695 for second-rate executive resumes that DON'T work!

To complete a form online is NO guarantee that your resume will be written by a qualified or experienced writer. Many out-of-work journalists, teachers or personnel people work part-time for resume offices. As resume writers, they are only "interns" or newbies. For such persons to argue that they have previously READ thousands of resumes is meaningless. Designing and creating a resume from scratch requires many more skills. [To use an analogy: A baseball catcher or football receiver only catches the ball. Neither has the skills of the pitcher or quarterback who do the throwing! Well, selling yourself in a resume is like "pitching" yourself and your value on paper.]

Larger resume services tend to become paper factories. SALESPERSONS answer the phone and their writers use the same "canned sentences" over and over again. I know! So, please be wary of those who boast of having a "team of writers". A TEAM DOES NOT WRITE A RESUME. How will you judge the skill or experience of the party who will be writing yours? You CAN'T! So, you WON'T know what you'll be getting for your money. Rather decide on a smaller operation that is managed by ONE writer. But which one?

In my view, the most reliable resume service in 2009 is one that is run by the author of a resume book. His or her REPUTATION is your guarantee that you'll get a first-class product for your money. You see, it is very difficult for a writer to have a resume book published by a well-known company. This is the highest form of recognition and is worth MORE than any resume certification. [Very few resume books will also achieve the added distinction of becoming a selection of the Fortune or Money book club which is similar to winning an award.]

A good resume service may also be managed by someone who has had a sample or two of his or her work published in someone else's resume book. Or he or she has published articles on resumes in National Business Employment Weekly. That is also a very good way to judge the quality of the work produced by that particular individual. But his or her service may be hiring less experienced writers to do some of the work. You see, many top writers "outsource" some of the writing to PART-TIMERS! Always ask whether the chief writer will be writing your resume.

Many a professional service or writer will offer you one or more Certificates from Resume Associations. Such certifications are good as regards a particular individual but obviously do NOT also cover his or her inexperienced assistants. (Never rely on supervision or "quality control".) You also need to be aware that such credentials are NOT a substitute for having years of SUCCESSFUL WRITING EXPERIENCE. As you know, in some professions a certificate of completion can be obtained quickly and with relatively little "hands on" experience. Thus, a formal certification does NOT mean that such writers also have the expertise to handle a challenging, complex or unusual resume assignment. [As regards buyer protection if you are dissatisfied with a resume product or failure to deliver, you can always complain to a Better Business Bureau, State Attorney General's Internet Bureau, PayPal or Credit Card Company.]

It may surprise you to learn that most authors of a resume book (or books) have NOT bothered to obtain any formal certification from a resume association. Why? One reason is that they DON'T feel like paying hundreds of dollars for each certificate to prove that they know what they already know! Some authors (like myself) were writing successful resumes and had already established their reputations years and years before any Resume Association ever existed!

What about a guarantee to rewrite your resume if you don't get interviews within 30 days? This does NOT impress me. Do you know of anyone who has had their resume rewritten by that service? Were they satisfied? Why couldn't they do it right the first time?

Are SAMPLE RESUMES helpful in judging a service? NO, not necessarily. Are their samples "real"? Did they write them? Even if their samples are genuine, that is NO guarantee that they can also develop yours which might be very different and much more challenging.

How highly a particular resume writer or service is ranked by major search engines is a useful guide. But it is not foolproof because a high ranking may tell you less about their writing skills and more about their webmaster who has good search engine optimizing skills!

Selecting a Good Resume Writing Service in 2009

So how do you choose a better resume service? Decide on a small resume service that is managed by ONE writer who has received dozens of thank you letters from satisfied and successful clients. Many TESTIMONIALS from happy clients will indicate that the service has produced a variety of top quality resumes and has satisfied a wide range of clients and their needs.

Can you believe such LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION? Generally, yes! You see, reputable offices will always keep letters from happy clients on file. In fact, many letters invite the writer to refer his/her new clients to the satisfied client. They are similar to word-of-mouth recommendations which is probably the most reliable way to select a good or better resume service.

Finally, why should you consider using Matthew Greene's Resume Service? First, it has been one of the leading services since 1985 -- for quality, service and cost. Second, Greene's hundreds of SUCCESS STORIES attest to his skill and expertise. [ SEE http://www.winning-resumes.com/testimonials.htm ]Third, Matthew Greene is the ONLY professional writer in this office and you will work with him and him only. He is friendly, patient, and thorough. Above all, his customer service is excellent.

Matthew Greene's REPUTATION as the author of "Winning Resumes" published by Penguin USA (and a selection of the Money Book Club), is your  guarantee of a first-class resume that will work for you. That is, perhaps, the strongest resume writing credential of all.

Please visit WINNING RESUMES BLOG for valuable recession "tips".]