Write Your Own Resume - Here's Why

A free article on Education and Reference

By: Corvan Reynolds

Reason 1: The Cost For That Resume Is Significant

Unless you learn how to make a resume, it will cost you lots of money for a skill that you really need to know first-hand. With the right reference materials, the essentials of resume writing can be learned in an hour or two. I offer an excellent book on this topic at my website, if I may say so myself. Of course, as you know, you can also visit almost any bookstore to find several other books that will bring you up to speed.

In the end, you should expect to pay between $100 and a few hundred dollars for an experienced resume writer to write a resume for you. You can find advertisements that post a lower price, but the saying "you get what you pay for" applies here, too. After all, the professional resume writer wants to make a good living, too. If the cost to you is exceptionally low, chances are it will be farmed out to a less experienced writer.

Reason 2: It Will Cost You Even More Money Later

Let's say that you pay someone to prepare your resume for you. A bit painful to your pocketbook, but maybe not so bad depending on your budget. The problem is, in today's highly competitive job market, you will need to do everything you can to increase your odds at landing a job favorable to your career. That includes tweaking and tuning your resume as the situation dictates.

As an example, let's say at your current job you have been called on to handle a wide range of tasks - and you have carried them out exceptionally well. The problem is, you may not want to list all of those responsibilities in a single resume. That might give the impression that you are not focused on any particular expertise and that may put you at a disadvantage. Better to research what skill sets and what role the company you are interested in is looking to fill. Then, tune your resume accordingly. Takes more time? Yes. Gets better results? Absolutely.

Since you paid someone to write the resume the first time, you probably will not have the confidence to restructure it to suite each specific need. Sometimes you may just need a tweak - and you will handle that. Other times, it may take some serious changes to put your background and capabilities in the most favorable light. Going back to the professional writer to get this done each time is going to cost you!

Also, don't forget cover letters. This the single best way to showcase how you would fit each job opportunity. Even if you decide to stick with one version of your resume, each cover letter must be customized to be effective. Here again, you will start to feel pain in your bank account if you don't master the skills to tailor your own resume and cover letters accordingly.

Reason 3: You Will Have To Do Most Of The Work Anyway

Even the best professional resume writer is not a mind reader. He or she cannot assemble the raw materials - the details of your background - without significant input from you. What you will soon discover is that this can be the most time consuming task of all. In other words, you are going to be put to work by the resume writer. And among the resume writing stages and tasks, this fact collection process can be the most time consuming.

So, let's see...you will wind up doing the grunt work of collecting and organizing the "raw materials" for writing your resume. Then, you are going to pay someone else the big bucks to turn it into a concise summary. Not that great of a trade-off, if you ask me.

Reason 4: You Know Yourself - The Resume Write Does Not

Speaking of mind readers, who knows you better than you know yourself? You will need to express such things as your career goals, your preferences, as well as the things that motivate you. This may take some deep thinking and reflection on your part. So here again, the burden is on you to shape this into your career objectives...all so the resume writer can simply summarize this critical information in a few bullet points.

Reason 5: You Need To Know Exactly What Is On Your Resume And Why

Obviously, you know what is on your resume, right? Not necessarily if you had someone else write it and you don't review it very carefully. Remember that lots of details went into creating your winning resume. When the time comes to sit in front of a hiring manager for a face-to-face interview, you should not be hesitant about which facts made it onto your resume and which ones did not. Many things you say during the course of an interview will not match - and may even contradict - your written resume if you are not familiar with exactly what is on that resume. The best way to be on top of those details is to write your resume for yourself.

Why give yourself a handicap, learn the vital skill of writing a good resume now!