Career Services Questions

When do you need a professional résumé?

• Before you make a career transition
• Before you make a career change
• Prior to your performance review (show your value to your employer)
• At any time during your career (to be proactive and ready if a career opportunity comes up)

Why should I use a professional résumé writer? Why can’t I just write it myself?

You can! There are many résumé writing software packages available today that will allow you to create a simple curriculum vitae from resume templates in any number of résumé formats. You can also find numerous résumé samples in books to use, plugging in your own information. You must ask yourself if this type of résumé helps you to stand out amongst the competition? Will it market you? Sell you?

In today’s economy and competitive workplace, you are competing with countless other job seekers. How do you stand out from the crowd?

You have made a significant investment in time and effort to attain your current level of career expertise and experience. You have a product to sell – yourself. Your challenge is to develop a powerful communications tool that highlights the benefit and value of that product, remembering that your résumé may be one of hundreds being screened for just one job opportunity. A professional résumé writer will SELL – not tell – your value

• Communicating clearly just who you, the product, are
• Positioning you in line with how you want to be perceived (example, “techie” or information technology manager)
• Emphasizing benefits to convey to employers and recruiters the value in hiring you rather than the numerous other candidates applying for that position
• Adding credibility with specific, measurable results and facts that support your claims

Are you still not sure you need a professionally written résumé? You have an existing résumé. Take a moment to answer the questions below about your current résumé:

1. My résumé clearly targets my job/career focus.
2. My résumé influences the reader that I am the right person for the job in the first one-third of the page. My qualifications, strengths and value are clearly communicated at this point.
3. My résumé uses keywords to sell my value in a keyword scan.
4. My résumé contains quantitative achievements (results) that clearly support my statements.
5. My résumé is powerfully written, containing industry-specific language and action-oriented, descriptive language.
6. All employment gaps are handled well.
7. All information relevant to marketing my value is conveyed, beyond my work experience if appropriate.
8. I am receiving at least a 50% job interview response rate using my current résumé.

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, do you think your résumé could be improved to better grab the attention of those hiring? To be placed at the top of the stack against the competition? Would you benefit from using a professional résumé writer?

For a free critique of your existing résumé, email your résumé to info@hireimaging.com or fax it to (320) 253-1790. Barb will respond within 2 business days, Monday through Friday, with a no-charge assessment of your résumé.

When you use Hire Imaging to develop your professional résumé, you will be working with Barb Poole. Barb will personally communicate with you, and write your résumé – not a subcontractor with no stake in providing the best service and product possible to you, the customer. See our résumé samples page to view a selection of some of Barb’s award-winning résumés.