Issue #6
April 5, 2006
IN THIS ISSUE:
  • How to use referral fees to boost your bottom line
  • Send us your questions, we'll send you answers
  • Resumes for people changing careers: What to know, what to charge
  • One conversation may triple your income
  • Share your success stories, tips, and ideas
  • Work smarter – save time and effort by using templates
PROFIT BOOSTER:
Use Referral Fees in the College Market to Jumpstart Your Business

Local colleges and universities represent a great opportunity for boosting your income – because they provide you with such a vast potential clientele.

From summer jobs to internships to their first post-graduation job, college students are regularly (and frequently) in need of resumes.

Here are a few tips for landing their business and using it to grow yours:

  1. Meet with the career placement staff at schools near you. All schools offer some sort of assistance to their students – although some are more developed than others. The smaller schools may not even have a full-time staff, but that can work in your favor as their students will need your help even more than those at larger institutions.
  2. Remember that there are lots of other education providers besides "traditional" colleges and universities. Make a list of the trade schools in your area – secretarial schools, dental assistant and medical assistant training facilities – even bartending schools.
  3. Make yourself a useful resource for the career placement offices. As a professional resume writer, the schools are not likely to directly promote your services to students. But remember that all schools have a vested interest in getting their students jobs. Offer to give free lectures on resumes, interviewing skills, etc. While this may not produce any direct revenue for you – it is a great way to gain credibility with both the schools and the students. And when you give your talk, don't forget to bring plenty of business cards and/or flyers. Leave them on the tables/desks, or pass them out to each participant.

Once you land your first clients from a school, you can really make your business take off by offering a bonus referral fee. Let each of your new clients know that you will give them a $20-$25 "finder's fee" for each new client they recommend.

Most students are cash poor, so $25 can be a huge incentive for them. You'll be surprised by how quickly your bottom line will grow once you tap into this inexhaustible market.

RESUMES FOR CAREER CHANGERS: HOW TO TURN A BIG TRANSITION INTO CASH
By Julien Sharp

One of the most lucrative, interesting – and challenging – resume opportunities lies in writing for clients who want to switch careers.

Before we get into the significant income upside, let's look at the market itself –

First, why do people decide to switch careers after 7-10 years in their current profession?

  • They are bored and want a change.
  • They were in the wrong profession in the first place.
  • They may find that they are in a position with too much pressure and want to transition into something to ease the stress.
  • They are looking for a career with more opportunities – in career growth and/or compensation.
  • They were a victim of a layoff and were in a position that is not easy to land in other companies.

What challenges do these situations create for you as a resume writer?

For starters, you must make a job history in one profession or career look enticing to someone who's hiring for an entirely different career. It's your job to make past accomplishments and skills gained in one area appear directly applicable in an entirely new realm.

The resume you prepare for this sort of client absolutely CANNOT be a historical list of the positions held or a "cut and paste" of past job descriptions. You will need, instead, to focus on pertinent experience, accomplishments, and skills.

For your ability to do that – you can charge a premium. Depending on your geographic area (remember, the prices for services such as resume preparation will vary according to region), your fees should be a bare-minimum of $250-$300, going up to $500-$600.

And, in fact, you could charge even more if, for example, your client not only wants to change careers but has spent the last two years away from the workforce backpacking around Europe.

A cover letter for this type of client will be more involved – and more vital – than for any other client (except, perhaps, for those with major "gaps" in their resumes) ... and so you can charge a premium for this service, too. At a minimum, the cover letter should start at $200, and could go as high as $300, depending on the client's situation.

Remember, a good marketing strategy is to "bundle" your services. You can reduce your overall fee for the resume and cover letter and sell the two as a package.

The size of the discount for the client who buys both resume and cover letter can vary, but a good rule of thumb is take 15%-20% off the total price. You can get more creative if you offer other services (such as interview and/or career coaching) – and you can offer those at a bundled rate as well.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Julien Sharp has been working with resumes for 20 years – writing, screening, and evaluating them. She's a member of the American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI) Board of Advisors and one of the creators of AWAI's Resume Program. For more information about this money-making blueprint or independence and financial freedom, click here: http://www.myresumebiz.com/rwss]

* * * * * * * * Highly Recommended * * * * * * * *

You Could Be One Conversation Away From Tripling Your Income…
Will You Know Exactly What to Say?

http://www.awaionline.com/sayitright/

SEND US YOUR GOOD NEWS, TIPS AND IDEAS

We love to hear about your successes. If you have good news to share – how you landed a new client, made the transition to full-time resume writer, or even a technique you've found works wonders, please tell us at: resumewritingsuccess@awaionline.com

FROM THE TECHNOLOGY DESK:
Time-saving shortcuts

Templates in MS Word

Microsoft Word has some really helpful – and time-saving – online resources. One of the best is the "Templates" feature, which can provide you with professional, pre-formatted documents that can shave minutes and even hours off your workday and allow you to focus your efforts on generating revenue.

There are a wide variety of templates – from sales letters to invoices to accounting spreadsheets for your home-based business. In fact, there are even sample resume templates.

To get a feel for what's available, launch Word while your computer is connected to the Internet. Then click the "File" menu, and then "New." A "New Document" box will open on the far right side of the screen.

Halfway down this box is a "Templates" section. Enter the relevant term in the search engine text box. For example: Entering "college graduate resume" brings up a variety of templates pertinent to a recent college grad.

A second option is to click the hot-link labeled "Templates on Office Online." This will take you directly to the Microsoft website, where you can browse through all the available templates.

COMING NEXT ISSUE

In the next issue of Resume Writer Success Strategies, learn what to charge for "executive level" resumes (those looking for $100K jobs or higher).

* ABOUT RESUME WRITER SUCCESS STRATEGIES *

Resume Writer Success Strategies is a FREE weekly newsletter from the American Writers & Artists Inc., available to AWAI members and friends.

© 2006 American Writers & Artists Inc.

ARCHIVED ISSUES of Resume Writer Success Strategies can be found on our website at www.myresumebiz.com/eletter.

To ADVERTISE in Resume Writer Success Strategies or send comments, news, research, or story ideas, email Rebecca McEldowney at rmceldowney@awaionline.com.

NOTE: If URLs do not appear as live links in your email program, please cut and paste the full URL into the location or address field of your browser.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS? Email us at memberservices@awaionline.com with both your old AND new information in the body of the message.

American Writers & Artists Inc.
245 NE 4th Ave., Ste 102
Delray Beach, FL 33483
Phone (561) 278-5557
Fax (561) 278-5929
memberservices@awaionline.com