Should You Hire a Professional Resume Writer?

Should you hire a resume writer - when and why it makes sense

A lot of job seekers ask me, “Do resume writers really help? And should I hire a professional resume writer?”

So in this article, we’re going to look at:

  • When it makes sense to hire a resume writing service (and when you might not need it)
  • What a professional resume writer really does, and how much they help
  • How much you can expect to pay

I’ll also share the #1 service I recommend, with a free tool that you can use to measure the strength of your resume before deciding whether to pay, so make sure you read until the end. 

Let’s get started…

What Does a Resume Writer Do?

A resume writer gathers employment information from you (via phone call, online form, or email) and creates or updates your resume in preparation for your job search. The primary purpose of your resume is to get job interviews, and the professional writer designs your resume to do this. They may also offer additional services like cover letters and LinkedIn writing.

Benefits of Using a Professional Resume Writer

The main benefits of hiring a resume writer are saving time, saving frustration and hassle, removing the guesswork from the writing process, and likely completing the document faster and better, so you can get more interviews in less time.

However, it’s possible to write a stand-out resume on your own. There’s enough information available on the web for you to learn it, if you’re willing to dedicate the time.

If you’re interested in learning, our site has a lot of resources available on this page, written from my experience as a recruiter.

How Much Does it Cost to Have Someone Write Your Resume?

The average cost of resume writing is $527, with many services priced even higher. However there are a couple of budget-friendly services online that are still thorough and effective. Our top choice if you’re not looking to spend too much is TopResume, whose services begin at $149.

If you are a Senior Manager, Executive, or other more-experienced professional or have a higher budget, then you should review our full list of recommended resume writers.

Deciding: Is a Resume Writing Service Worth It For YOU?

The decision of whether you should use a professional writing service comes down to: Are you willing to spend the time and energy to learn this skill? And how quickly do you need everything completed? Because it is a unique skill that takes time to develop.

You’ll have to step into the hiring manager’s shoes and understand what they’re looking for, and why. This could be the hardest part to master without hiring a professional.

So to recap… if you have a lot of time and willingness to learn, then it’s possible to write a great resume on your own.

And it’s a good option if you have a very limited budget and don’t want to spend any money.

However, if you want to short-cut the process and use a bit of money to save a lot of time, then it’s worth it to get a professional writer to help you.

And if you already have a resume but aren’t sure if it’s good or not, you can use this free tool by TopResume to measure how strong your resume is before deciding.

When It’s Best to Hire a Resume Writer

There are a few types of people who can benefit most from hiring a professional resume writer in their job search.

Here’s who this makes the MOST sense for:

  • You’re busy and simply don’t have time to do all the research and learning necessary to create a winning resume on your own
  • You’ve tried writing your own resume in the past but didn’t get interviews.
  • You have a complicated background or are changing careers and you need someone who can organize a complex work history and “tailor” it for the job you want next.
  • You can afford to pay for professional help, and see it as a good investment, and would rather use a bit of money instead of your personal time

So that’s who I think can benefit most from paying for resume writing services.

Situations Where You Might Not Want to Pay for a Resume

If money is tight and/or you have plenty of time to learn this skill on your own, and want to give it a shot yourself, then you absolutely should.

I wrote my own resume throughout most of my career, and while I struggled at the start, I ended up getting a lot of interviews later in my career by packing the document with facts/metrics, and removing soft skills like “hard working” and “team-oriented”.

(^^ That’s a $100 tip right there. I promise you. Go try it!)

It was a learning process, though. This won’t work if you’re not going to study/learn what hiring managers look for and how they decide which people to interview.

If you can’t commit to that, then I’d just use an affordable resume service like TopResume to get your resume done professionally.

So, I don’t think anyone NEEDS to hire a professional writer if they don’t want to. However, it saves a lot of hassles, and it’s a fast-lane to getting your resume done quickly and effectively to remove a lot of the guesswork from the process.

It can also be an investment that pays for itself. If you end up with a better resume, or one that’s done a few weeks sooner, then you can potentially find a job faster.

So that’s another good reason to invest in something like this. The final decision depends on your free time, financial situation, and willingness to learn a new skill, though.

If you want to know how strong your resume is right now before making a decision, I recommend this free resume review tool by TopResume.

Conclusion: Should You Hire a Resume Writer?

If you read everything above, you know how to decide whether you should hire a resume writer or learn to write everything on your own. Both options are valid, and both come with pros and cons depending on your situation (mainly the trade-off between time and money).

Resume writing services aren’t free, but assuming you choose a good resume writer, you could get job offers faster (since the document is being written immediately instead of you having to spend weeks learning and practicing first). This means you’ll find a new job faster in most cases.

However, if you learn this skill, then you won’t need to hire a professional resume writer in any future job searches, so it may be worth learning if you have the time.

Additional reading:

DIY Resources:

 

Some links on this page go to external resume services. Career Sidekick may earn a small commission on orders made through links to some of these sites (at no extra cost to you). We work hard to only recommend services that are high-quality and that we would use ourselves.

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