4 ms·
Ask HN: Is it worth paying for a professional resume writing service?
I am currently thinking about making a really good resume which would properly highlight my strongest sides and experience.
The problem is that I am not a native English speaker nor am I good at marketing/copywriting.
A "good" (read: high in Google search results) resume writing service costs up to $500 which sounds really a lot to me and so I am wondering if it is really worth it's money.
Has anyone here paid for such a service? Did it make a difference?
Thank you.
- gbacon 8y agoI assume you’re not talking about a really high end position. Even there, your network, accomplishments, and reputation will carry you much further than your resume. My suggestion as a hiring manager is not to treat your resume like a fine jewel to be polished once and put on display for all to see. Instead, find out what the job requirements are and tailor your resume heavily to show that you are the person they’re looking for. Know your audience. If your resume will have to get through a keyword screen, first improve your networking to get a recommendation from the inside. These always carry greater weight than a resume off the street. Then tailor your resume to pass the keyword filter. If they want Android, gradle, Java, and Maven, then make sure those keywords and variants (e.g., gradlew and mvn) are present. Quantify! People can claim vague familiarity with lots of technologies, being results-oriented, and having “contributed to growth.” Big deal. Almost anyone can say that. Tell me the size of the code base, your commit rate, the size of the team, counts of passing tests by type, which deals you closed, proposals you wrote, and so on. Be specific because it looks less like weasel-worded BS and differentiates you from the crowd.
- poushkar 8y agoThank you! This is very helpful!
- SabertoothLamb 8y agoFinding a good resume writing service is like finding a needle in a haystack - blind. You have to know how to write a good resume to tell a good service from a bad one. Don't do it.