Resume Writing
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A resume is a short history of a person’s work experience and skills – professional resume writers use words and formatting to create a powerful image to sells a job seeker to a potential employer.
Starting your own home based resume business is easy and has a very low start-up cost. A good place to start is by taking a resume course then to obtain a resume certification which can help to establish you as an expert in the field of resume writing. Many resume writers will have a college degree but there is no specific educational requirement that a resume writer must have.
After completing some basic resume writing skills you will need to market your business, a couple of ways to do this is to create a website and/or to use social networking sites to get the word out. Many resume writing courses will offer tips and strategies for marketing your resume business.
So if you have a general understanding of computers, good typing, proof-reading, and interviewing skills, becoming a professional resume writer may be the perfect work at home opportunity for you! Check out our resume writing resources below to get started.
To learn more about Resume Writing, click here.
Resume Courses
Resume Biz.com is a site by Teena Rose, expert resume writer and branding specialist. She offers her book, Starting a Home or Office-based Resume Business, for immediate download for $39.95. The book provides everything you need to get started with your home based resume business. The book is recommended by numerous work at home experts.
American Writers & Artists Inc offers a step by step guide on how to start your own home based resume business. The course cost $99.00 and is available for immediate download. AWAI offers a 30 day, no questions asked, refund policy on all of their courses if you’re not completely satisfied. AWAI is a member of the BBB.
Resume Certification
Certified Résumé Writers.com offers certified resume writer services and membership for credentialed resume writers. Membership benefits include online exposure, free teleseminars and leads. Standard membership cost $195.00 per year.
The Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches (PARW/CC) offers certification and professional membership. Membership benefits include online exposure, free guidance, and career conferences. They also offer video training programs for resume development and interview training.
The National Resume Writer’s Association (NRWA) is a non-profit organization that strives to provide excellence in the resume writing industry, through certification, education and guidance. This site offers membership, teleseminars, annual conferences and certification by test.
Career Directors International offers certification, courses and membership for resume writers and career coaches. Membership benefits include: business resources and tools, webinars and teleclasses, certification, courses and much more. See site for additional details.
Start a Resume Writing Service for Profit
The resume writing service serves an important role in the economy. Many qualified candidates have a difficult time marketing themselves to employers and turn to a professional writing service for assistance. A successful resume is more than just a job history. As an experienced resume writer, you can provide the exposure needed for a job seeker to land an interview.
Specializing as an executive resume writing service can bring greater income for both you and your clients. One perfect resume is easily worth hundreds of dollars to an executive seeking a five- or six-figure increase of salary. The drawback, of course, is that fewer people are seeking such resumes.
Start Up Costs and Financing Sources:
Under $500
Starting a professional writing service can be virtually free. The major expense is advertising. Personal savings, credit cards, friends, or family members are probably your best resources for financing. Bank or venture capital investments are unlikely in this volatile industry.
Pricing Guidelines for Service:
$50 to $300+ per resume
Prices vary according to the market and the experience of the provider. An executive resume writing service with a good reputation can command much higher prices.
Advertising and Marketing:
Advertise in the help wanted sections of local newspapers.
Work with local colleges and technical schools. Their endorsements could mean big business for you. Also look near campuses for bulletin boards where you can place free advertisements. Laundromats, grocery stores, and banks are good sources of such bulletin boards.
Your web site will probably be the largest source of customer orders. A professional web site that is easy to use will be immensely helpful.
Essential Equipment:
The most basic piece of equipment is a computer with a word processing software package installed. An Internet connection and high-quality printer will also be useful. While today’s widespread Internet makes it possible to run a purely digital resume writing service, it is still customary to provide quality hard copies printed on elegant paper.
Income Potential:
$5,000 to $50,000
Working part time can produce a few thousand per year of extra income with virtually no overhead. A full-time venture can bring a very sizeable income.
Target Market:
Some of the situations you might encounter are:
People entering the job market for the first time
People who are re-entering the job market after an absense (maternity, etc.)
Professionals seeking an executive resume writing service to move upward within the company
Tips for Success:
Offer free advice on your web site. Rather than “giving away” advice, you are establishing yourself as an expert who has even more to offer.
A resume writing service is not the type of business that has many repeat customers. (Actually, a repeat customer in this business is kind of a bad thing.) Don’t expect a lot of repeat customers, but do make it easy for your customers to refer their job-seeking friends and family members. Your business depends on word of mouth.
Training, Skills or Experience Needed:
A professional writing service is driven more by results and marketing than a particular college degree. Becoming certified by the Professional Association of Resume Writers (PARW) or the National Resume Writers Association (NRWA) can help establish your credentials.
Educate yourself by studying the resumes of current and past job seekers. Search the web; they’re easy to find. Look for examples of the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly. This will be some of the biggest help in preparing you to produce resumes from scratch.
There are many books and online tutorials dedicated to what the authors consider to be the best advice for writing a resume. Read them all, connect the dots, and you will come away with a realistic understanding of what employers seek in a resume.
© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.
Randy has dozens of home based business articles such as Best Home Based Internet Business, Ebay Money Making Tips and Medical Billing Service.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Strategies for Kick-Starting Your New Resume Business
This week, I want to take some time to respond to an inquiry from one of our readers:
“… I don’t yet have the confidence or inspiration to think that as a beginner I could offer a considerably more attractive or valuable service than the pros already sharing the pie.”
“How might a beginner without any initial ‘add-on’ services provide attractive value, when even ‘low rates’ cannot compete with the many free services available to students and professionals? Am I underestimating the popularity or need for ‘fee-based’ resume services? Are there certain ‘niches’ other than big ones like students and career-change professionals that a beginner might target as an ‘entry-level’ clientele?”
The answers to this reader’s questions are multifaceted. For example, I live in a large metropolitan area – Miami, Florida. There are several colleges and universities here, and also a fair number of public and private agencies that help people with their resumes. I have many years of experience in writing resumes, but beyond that I am simply one of many hanging out my shingle. And I do not compete on price (i.e. “XYZ Resume Service: The lowest prices in town!”).
So, how is one resume service among many, like mine (and like our reader’s) supposed to differentiate itself? How does our reader, as a fledgling resume writer, compete with the more established or experienced services?
The first piece of advice I can give is also the most crucial: Do not be intimidated by others out there in the market.
The fact is, there is so much need for resume writing and related career services right now that there is room for more quality providers. Also, the more services there are in a particular location, the more likely it is that a good number of them are shoddy, unprofessional, and do not deliver what they promise.
According to Rebecca Smith of eResumes.com, the most effective resumes are those that follow some basic principles. They:
-State a clear career objective that is in line with the needs of the current job market
-Include job qualifications stated in clear, measurable ways that show not only the types of problems the client can solve, but specific examples of the type of problems he or she has solved
-Incorporate formats that are computer-friendly
-Answer the “who,” “what,” and “so what” within the first 60 seconds of the visual scan
-Provide a document completely devoid of typographical errors
Believe it or not, many of the resume services you compete with will not follow even one of the above principles. So, first of all, make it your goal to learn as much as you can about how to provide resumes that are of the highest quality, and make sure you deliver that level of quality every single time.
Another thing to consider is how big you want your business to be. Do you want to be a resume “factory” that hires many writers to pound out many resumes a day? Do you want to write a few resumes to supplement your income on a part-time basis? Or are you looking at a business somewhere in between? This decision will also affect how and where you market yourself.
Marketing is a third consideration: What is your marketing budget? Will you have several thousands in start-up money, or will you be building your business with limited marketing and advertising funds? Most of the resume writers I work with are in the latter category, so I will address this group primarily.
I cannot stress this enough: Assuming that you already strictly adhere to the principles of an excellent resume that I listed above, the best way to build your business is through networking. When I relocated back to Miami a few years ago (after living in Europe for three years), I wanted to re-start my resume business in the U.S. I was a true “solo” entrepreneur (no real budget, and certainly no advertising dollars).
The way I built my business was to immediately join a “leads” club. In my case, I joined BNI (Business Network International), although there are several similar clubs in different geographic areas. This type of club generally meets weekly, and once you become a member, no one else who is in your same “category” can join (for example, Resume Writer, Plumber, CPA, Immigration Lawyer, Florist, Real Estate Agent … you get the picture). So, when anyone in the group needs a resume – or knows someone who needs a resume – the referral comes to the group’s “Resume Writer.”
In BNI, the members are not judged by how many referrals they receive, but by how many referrals they give to others – so members are constantly looking for ways to refer business to other members. For the first three years, I received a very nice and steady stream of resumes … then I hit pay dirt: A member joined as a marketing recruiter. She specializes in placing marketing professionals at the director or executive level. She does NOT do their resumes, and when she learned that I do, she asked to see some samples.
I showed her, and she tried me out on a candidate she had been working with for several months. He had excellent experience, but was not getting a foot in the door, even with the recruiter’s help. She thought it was a problem with his resume. So she had me re-do it. With his new resume, the candidate not only got the next interview he was going for, he got the job – at $175,000 plus bonus!
Now this recruiter (who is in demand nationally) tells all candidates who approach her that that she will not work with them unless they have their resumes done … by me! This is an excellent example of how you can find a perfect referral source for your services – if you put yourself out there and network. In today’s job market, there are many opportunities – and one simple meeting can sometimes jump-start your entire business in ways you never imagined.
This article appears courtesy of The Golden Thread, an e-letter from AWAI that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on how to build your freelance copywriting business. For a free subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread
