Do You Need A Professionally Written Resume? By Peter Newfield, President of Career Resumes

If your resume isn’t a WINNER, it’s a KILLER.

Do you cut your own hair? Perform your own dental work? Prepare your own taxes? Chances are that you leave these important jobs to the professionals who are trained to do them well. Why, then, would you even consider writing your own resume when an important step in your career could hinge on this critical document?

A professionally written resume should not appear “canned” or full of hype, if done correctly. When you consult with a professional organization which specializes in writing resumes, you should feel confident that your personal career information will be presented in the strongest, most appealing format for your particular industry.

A professionally written resume has the advantage of being prepared by writers who are as familiar with the key industry terms as they are with grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The professionally written resume should contain the key words that industry H.R. managers and executive headhunters need to see when scanning through the thousands of documents received each week.

Another benefit of having your resume written by professionals is objectivity. An objective writer can better weed out the miscellaneous and filler information you may be tempted to include in your resume. The resume writer can also evaluate your career experience and highlight those achievements and accomplishments that will help set you apart from the hundreds of other candidates vying for the same position.

A resume is not an autobiography, it is a marketing tool designed to get you noticed and get your foot in the door for a critical first interview. Often when individuals attempt to write their own resumes, they feel overwhelmed by the task. How much information should I include? How far back should my resume go? Can I use the same format I used when I wrote my first resume after college?

By presenting your career information to a resume writing professional, you can go over the options and advice best suited to your individual career experience and goals. The resume writer wants to present you in the best possible light, while maintaining all the factual titles, dates, and responsibilities that you have accumulated over the years.

Probably one of the most important benefits of having your resume professionally written, is the fact that an outside contractor has a deadline to meet and can’t procrastinate the way a typical job hunter often does when faced with the daunting task of preparing his or her own resume!