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By Tonya Wells -Two of the biggest search terms that job candidates search for according to Google are “resume builder” and “resume samples”. A resume is one of those things that most job hunters MUST HAVE in order to get employed. The only exception to this might be non-professional jobs, but many of the companies hiring for those positions require you to have one as well.
You really have three options when writing your resume.
1) Do it yourself.
2) Use a resume service, which means either using the services of a highly experienced recruiter or using a cloud-based resume service that tries to shift much of the human assistance you hope to receive to a computer, thus providing you with very little personal contact.
3) Use a Resume Builder / Resume Software application.
Keep in Mind These Tips When Using Any Resume Builder / Resume Software
1) It is not going to write it for you. Just as you have to input your information into software products such as Turbo Tax or H&R Block’s Tax program in order to have it spit out a tax return, you have to get your information together, figure out what it is you have experience in, where you’ve worked, for how long, and have many specific examples of what you did there in order for these applications to work. None of the work can be done for you, neither by the person you hire to help you, nor by an online resume service, nor by a resume builder. Only you can actually put on paper what your qualifications and experience are.
2) The resume samples and cover letter samples provided for you, no matter where you acquire them, are NOT going to be a perfect match to what your background and experience. What you have done so far to date with your career is completely unique to you. Nobody else is going to have a career path or career experiences just like yours. So, try to not get exasperated with the fact that you can’t just make some quick tweaks to the samples provided and be done with it. They are simple templates to help you get the layout correct, and give you some ideas so you can get started. Having at least something to start with, however, can be a huge time saver over trying to write something from scratch.
3) Resume samples, resume templates, or a resume wizard that comes with resume software, will most likely produce a much higher quality resume than what you would be able to produce on your own from scratch. So, use something to get you started, and don’t waste your time trying to write your resume starting with a blank sheet of paper and nothing to guide you such as a resume template or resume sample.
4) Writing a resume is a lot of work. That’s why resume professionals, like me, charge to either critique your resume or help you out with writing it. So, take a deep breath, resolve yourself to the fact that it’s going to take some soul-searching and time to complete your resume, and try not to get too frustrated. There are a lot of reviews out there on the resume software applications which I reviewed that gripe pretty consistently about the whole process being too hard, the formatting being difficult to get right, and the difficulty in getting things to print out correctly. That’s more of a Microsoft Word problem than it is a problem with the resume software. Export whatever you get from the resume software into Microsoft Word, and do your formatting there. Yes, it is probable you will have to mess with the formatting to get it to look right. Microsoft formatting can be very difficult, particularly if you are using the Styles setting. My suggestion is to get it to look as good as you can, and pay the $25 to someone like myself to finish the tweaking for you to get it to look just right. Otherwise, you will spend weeks trying to get it to look perfect, and still either end up trashing what you got from the resume software or end up starting all over again with an online resume service.
5) Using a resume builder / resume software prior to engaging a resume professional to critique or edit your resume (like me) can save you money if you don’t already have a good working resume. Sometimes people just need to update their resume, and for something like that, purchasing resume software would be overkill. But for a new graduate, someone switching careers, or someone with no existing resume, it is going to take some time to produce something that is ready to submit to a company. A professional who helps you with this will either charge by the page or by the hour. Online resume services also have similar structured services. If they are helping you build a resume from scratch, they charge you more to do it because it will take them more time to complete your resume. If you can save $100 off the fee of hiring someone by paying $20-$40 for resume software, you’re doing yourself a favor by purchasing the software.
Who Can Benefit From Using Resume Builder / Resume Software
1) Students
2) New graduates
3) Someone with no resume
4) Switching careers – for example, someone leaving the military to go do a civilian job
5) Poorly formatted or worded resumes
If any of these situations apply to you, then I advise you to either purchase one of the resume software packages that I review here or purchase / download some of the resume samples I have provided here, and use these to get a good first rough draft together BEFORE you approach a Professional Resume Service.
Next Steps – Engage a Professional
Once you have your resume in a rough draft format, I would be happy to either critique your resume (where I tell you in a 3-page report what needs to be fixed, and you go fix the problems yourself), or I can make the necessary changes for you.
To find out more about the Fix-My-Resume services that I offer, you can visit my Services page at my company website by clicking here.
Click Here Now to find out more about my Fix-My-Resume services!
