A professional resume writer or resume service can indeed help you land a new job or receive a job promotion. My goal in this article is to help you know how to identify a resume scam. While nothing is foolproof, learning what to look for in a resume writer can help you avoid the resume scams!
The Cost of a Professionally Written Resume
The cost of a professionally written resume is an investment in your career and they are tax-deductible! Just because it is an investment does not mean that it will cost you $1,000. However, it also does not mean that a resume writer selling 'professionally written resumes' for $25 will do a good job. Your job as a job seeker is to hire the best you can afford. A strong well-written resume for a mid-level career should not be more than $150, tops! A high-end executive, however, should expect to pay more.
The Sky's the Limit
Which leads us to my next point. Your resume writer should know their own limitations! No resume writer can know everything about every career! A resume scammer will tell you that they do.
Guarantees (Money Back or Job Placement)
If a resume writer guarantees that their resume will get you a job within a particular period of time, find another writer. They cannot guarantee you to get a job any more than you can guarantee me to work for the next 6 months. Your interviewing skills, personality, networking skills, career background and sometimes - sheer luck- are what will get you a job. Resume writers that offer a money back guarantee typically make it so incredibly difficult to get it, that they rarely give refunds. And, any resume writer can tell you how easy it is for clients to scam them.
No Revisions
While a good resume writer will not offer refunds, they should offer revisions. Any company or resume writer who is not willing to work with you and ensure your satisfaction is definitely a scam! There are ways to contact the resume writer if there is a major issue with your resume.
Upselling
Many resume scams will hook you with a low or reasonable price, then upsell you on other features or services and/or tell you your resume will be longer and make you pay for a '2 or 3-page' resume.
Top 10 Resume Writer/ Top 10 Resume Service Lists
To the best of my knowledge, there is no such (legitimate) site! In most cases, these sites are owned (directly or indirectly) by these resume service sites themselves! They give 'reviews' with 5-star ratings to their companies, or to companies which have paid (usually several hundred dollars per month!) to be included on this list! There are professional resume writing certifications and organizations, and you can find a legitimate resume service there. Keep in mind though; there are also many good writers who are NOT in these organizations for one reason or another. The cost of them is often a primary factor. So, just because your resume writer is not part of these groups, does not mean that they are not very good at what they do. One thing you should do is check to see if the resume writer or service is listed on, which is a popular site where disgruntled customers can log their complaints.
Guaranteed Quick Turnaround Time
It takes several hours for each resume. A good resume takes hours to write and the best resume writers produce only 1-2 resumes per day. Be wary of resume writers that will not provide at least a few different samples of resumes they have created. Any resume writer promising 24-48 hour turnaround and charging $99 or less, generally produces 6-8 resumes a day. They all look the same. The information is put into a template and they shoot it off to you.
Their Website
This is a double-edged sword here. The website should be attractive and easy to find information on. However, just because it is 'pretty' doesn't mean that they produce high quality resumes. Look at their samples. If you don't like their samples, you probably won't like their work. Make sure their samples are of different styles and industries. A resume for a teacher will not look the same as it does for a sales executive or engineer! Look to see if they are focusing on skills and accomplishments as opposed to producing pretty resumes that just list job duties. Also look to see if they are using advanced techniques like color, testimonials, and highlights to make your resume stand out from the crowd. By using your common sense, you can reduce the odds of falling into a resume scam. Being educated and diligent, you significantly reduce that chance and increase the odds of you finding the best resume writer for you.
Background Check
Google search the “resume service name” and the “resume writer's name”, look them up on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Just as employers will check you out before offering you a job, check out your resume writer before you hire them!
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