Making Resumes Work For You

Making Resumes Work for You


Would you like to:

* Have the freedom to work from home by telephone and email?
* Have the pleasure of making a difference to the career prospects of others?
* Work with people to help them achieve their career goals?
* Earn a great income?
* Learn techniques that will assist you in your own career and business?
* Keep your mind fresh and stimulated by interacting with different types of people?
* Become your own boss?
* Run a successful business on your own terms, working the hours that suit you and your lifestyle?
* Make a real difference?
* Exercise your creative skills?
* Exercise your analytical skills?

If so, then maybe you should look at becoming a professional resume writer. With resume and desktop publishing software so plentiful, producing professional looking resumes and cover letters for others is easy to achieve. You can also pick up the skills required to produce copy that sells your client to a prospective employer within a reasonable time frame and for very little financial investment.

There are literally hundreds of books on resumes and dozens of web sites that will show you the way to produce resumes that rock. Some of these books, sites and courses will also take you through the process of conducting an informational interview with a client, which is where you find out their career aspirations, experience, whether they want an all purpose resume or a specific one for each job they are applying for etc. Based on information gathered here you’ll be able to decide what format is likely to be best (skills-based or chronological) and how “problems” such as unemployment, underemployment, lack of experience, no real career experience etc. might be handled.

This interview will also clarify exactly what it is the client wants their CV to achieve. You may find that it’s a straightforward desire to move on up to the next level or you may find that that your client wishes to make major changes, possible a complete career overhaul. In this case you’ll need to put your detective skills to good use by teasing out any information that could help sell the client to a prospective employer. You might find for example that this apparently dramatic career change does in fact call for skills that your client has in abundance but it’s up to you to find this out and write the CV so that these skills are highlighted.

One of your roles is to put yourself in the prospective employer’s shoes and to make sure that your client’s CV answers any queries that they might have/eliminates any reservations that they might have, so that your client gets called for interview. The CV is in effect product literature that sells your client and tempts the employer to investigate further. A well-written cover letter helps in this process so you should aim to get commissioned to write this as well.

One of the great benefits of professional resume writing as a business is that you can combine your skills with your passion. You can specialize in an industry sector where you have expertise for example or you could specialize in working with target groups that you really wanted to make a difference to e.g. the long term unemployed, college students, immigrants, the homeless, ex-prisoners - the list of possibilities is endless.

How much you can make from providing resume writing as a service depends on getting your marketing and pricing right. A search on the Internet combining the search terms “make money” + “resume writing” will bring up plenty of web sites providing the information required to help get you started. A further search for “resume writing services” is likely to help you with pricing/fee setting information. Additional income can be generated from providing tips booklets and/or resume writing workshops.

Resources:

http://www.rockportinstitute.com/resumes.html

http://career-advice.monster.com/resume-tips/home.aspx?WT.srch=1&s_kwcid=sample%20resumes%7C987909019

http://www.gotthejob.com/executives.html

http://www.questcareer.com/tips.htm

http://www.free-resume-tips.com/10tips.html

http://www.bestsampleresume.com/

http://damngood.com//introjobseeker.html