Many people who find themselves unemployed, under-employed or at a dead end job, take the approach, “why should I spend money on having someone else write my resume, I can do it myself and save the money.” It’s true, you can save some money and write your resume, there are even free templates that can help you, but most of them are run-of-the-mill, and most results are below average. In today’s job search, an average resume is not good enough, it needs to be ABOVE average to get noticed. If you take a look at the actual cost of our resume services, it’s an excellent investment in your future. A professionally written resume without a doubt gives you better odds at getting more interviews which will assist you in landing that job quicker and putting a paycheck in your wallet sooner. A professionally written resume can give you more value in the job market and assist in getting you a higher starting salary, which can pay off long term.

There are many aspects of a job search that can make it successful, and it all starts with a well thought-out and well-written resume. In our many years of experience as hiring managers we have estimated that only about 10% of the resumes we have reviewed would qualify for a possible interview; don’t put yourself in that 90% bracket.

What needs to be understood, the process for Human Resources or Hiring Manager to fill a position can be time-consuming; from the time the job is posted to when an actual job offer is made can take up to 7 weeks or longer depending on the position. They post a job and in the first week, they can receive hundreds of resumes for that one position. The first review a hiring manager gives to a resume is about 10-30 seconds (poorly formatted resumes get even less time) then they are sorted into three files:

• 1. Yes, Pile -These resumes will get a more detailed review later after they reviewed many others, then the yes pile is sorted again moving more to the maybe Pile. The outstanding resumes can ignite a phone call before the reader goes onto reading the next resume.
• 2. Maybe Pile – This pile is set aside and after all received resumes are reviewed for the first time, and the Yes Pile has been exhausted for a candidate then the Maybe File will get a second look. In most cases, this pile doesn’t get a real second look.
• 3. No Pile – We call this the graveyard Pile with no friends or relatives visiting.

Example: Last year, we needed to hire an Outside Sales Rep for a company, the position was posted online (monster.com) Friday morning. When we came in Monday 467 resumes were received, by that Friday there was over 520, and we did not use an applicant tracking system to review these resumes. So you can see how the 10-30 seconds to resume review becomes a reality. We probably reviewed about 80% of the resumes and narrowed them to about 20 in the Yes Pile. We then performed phone interviews and narrowed it down to seven to call in for real face to face interviews, followed by narrowing it down to two candidates we would want to offer the position.

The above process is when a human does the initial resume sorting, but today, many companies and recruiters are using applicant sorting software programs to sort out the yes file. If you don’t have a right written resume with the correct format, information, and keywords your chances of being chosen are incredibly slim.

As you’re probably aware, the odds of being called for an interview are stacked against you. Starting with an optimized resume can change those odds to be more in your favor. We will be the first to admit that timing and luck can also assist in getting an interview. In the example above there were about 20% of the resumes not reviewed, and there could have been highly qualified candidates not seen, but this is a reality especially in today’s job market with so many unemployed or under-employed seeking jobs.

Resume Writing Services

Hopefully, you have spent some time searching CareerThinker.com, and you realize that we are straight forward, here to assist you in getting to the interview and getting that job offer. As we mentioned this website is our passion and business, so we want you to use our services and advice to get that job/career you desire, but if you don’t use our paid services, our free consultation is still very valuable.