Resume Writer Success Strategies

Issue #10
June 2, 2006

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Increase your profits by providing add-on services
• Send us your good news, tips, and ideas
• How to set yourself apart from the competition
• Can you write a simple letter
• Website smarts – converting resumes to HTML

PROFIT BOOSTER:
Another useful add-on service to offer your clients

In our last issue, we talked about periodically sending out your marketing letters and flyers in an eBlast to keep your name in front of your entire database of contacts. As mentioned, there are several services you can use to do this.

Using that same idea, there are several services that allow a jobseeker to “blast” his or her resume to hundreds of employers with a single click.

A great revenue stream for a professional resume writer can be to offer to set up and manage these services for clients. The ideal candidates for this type of service are clients who are too busy – or not comfortable enough with computers – to tackle the job themselves.

As an “add-on” service, you can offer to upload a client’s completed resume to job boards and resume distribution services. The typical fee charged by professional resume writers ranges between $75-$100 per resume, plus any fees you may have to pay to the service providers.

A good one to check out is Resume Blaster (www.resumeblaster.com). It is the oldest and most established online resume distribution service – and is the company I use and recommend.

Most resume distribution services simply submit a resume to a job board like Monster (www.monster.com) or Career Builder (www.careerbuilder.com) – and it shows up to potential employers only if the keywords match up.

But with Resume Blaster, the resumes are sent to a certain number of recruiters (both in-house and independent recruiters) who have specifically requested candidates based on identified criteria and, in many cases, geographic location. The fees range from $49-$89 per “blast,” depending on the number of recruiters the resume is going to.

Take a little time to check out various types of resume distribution services, and learn how to use them. Don’t miss this opportunity to provide an invaluable “add-on” for your clients … and an additional income stream for you!

STRATEGIES FOR KICK-STARTING YOUR NEW RESUME BUSINESS
By Julien Sharp

This week, I want to take some time to respond to an inquiry from one of our readers:

“… I don’t yet have the confidence or inspiration to think
that as a beginner I could offer a considerably more attractive or
valuable service than the pros already sharing the pie.”

“How might a beginner without any initial ‘add-on’ services
provide attractive value, when even ‘low rates’ cannot compete with the
many free services available to students and professionals? Am I
underestimating the popularity or need for ‘fee-based’ resume services?
Are there certain ‘niches’ other than big ones like students and career-change professionals that a beginner might target as an ‘entry-level’
clientele?”

The answers to this reader’s questions are multifaceted. For example, I live in a large metropolitan area – Miami, Florida. There are several colleges and universities here, and also a fair number of public and private agencies that help people with their resumes. I have many years of experience in writing resumes, but beyond that I am simply one of many hanging out my shingle. And I do not compete on price (i.e. “XYZ Resume Service: The lowest prices in town!”).

So, how is one resume service among many, like mine (and like our reader’s) supposed to differentiate itself? How does our reader, as a fledgling resume writer, compete with the more established or experienced services?

The first piece of advice I can give is also the most crucial: Do not be intimidated by others out there in the market.

The fact is, there is so much need for resume writing and related career services right now that there is room for more quality providers. Also, the more services there are in a particular location, the more likely it is that a good number of them are shoddy, unprofessional, and do not deliver what they promise.

According to Rebecca Smith of eResumes.com, the most effective resumes are those that follow some basic principles. They:

• State a clear career objective that is in line with the needs of the current job market
• Include job qualifications stated in clear, measurable ways that show not only the types of problems the client can solve, but specific examples of the type of problems he or she has solved
• Incorporate formats that are computer-friendly
• Answer the “who,” “what,” and “so what” within the first 60 seconds of the visual scan
• Provide a document completely devoid of typographical errors

Believe it or not, many of the resume services you compete with will not follow even one of the above principles. So, first of all, make it your goal to learn as much as you can about how to provide resumes that are of the highest quality, and make sure you deliver that level of quality every single time.

Another thing to consider is how big you want your business to be. Do you want to be a resume “factory” that hires many writers to pound out many resumes a day? Do you want to write a few resumes to supplement your income on a part-time basis? Or are you looking at a business somewhere in between? This decision will also affect how and where you market yourself.

Marketing is a third consideration: What is your marketing budget? Will you have several thousands in start-up money, or will you be building your business with limited marketing and advertising funds? Most of the resume writers I work with are in the latter category, so I will address this group primarily.

I cannot stress this enough: Assuming that you already strictly adhere to the principles of an excellent resume that I listed above, the best way to build your business is through networking. When I relocated back to Miami a few years ago (after living in Europe for three years), I wanted to re-start my resume business in the U.S. I was a true “solo” entrepreneur (no real budget, and certainly no advertising dollars).

The way I built my business was to immediately join a “leads” club. In my case, I joined BNI (Business Network International), although there are several similar clubs in different geographic areas. This type of club generally meets weekly, and once you become a member, no one else who is in your same “category” can join (for example, Resume Writer, Plumber, CPA, Immigration Lawyer, Florist, Real Estate Agent … you get the picture). So, when anyone in the group needs a resume – or knows someone who needs a resume – the referral comes to the group’s “Resume Writer.”

In BNI, the members are not judged by how many referrals they receive, but by how many referrals they give to others – so members are constantly looking for ways to refer business to other members. For the first three years, I received a very nice and steady stream of resumes … then I hit pay dirt: A member joined as a marketing recruiter. She specializes in placing marketing professionals at the director or executive level. She does NOT do their resumes, and when she learned that I do, she asked to see some samples.

I showed her, and she tried me out on a candidate she had been working with for several months. He had excellent experience, but was not getting a foot in the door, even with the recruiter’s help. She thought it was a problem with his resume. So she had me re-do it. With his new resume, the candidate not only got the next interview he was going for, he got the job – at $175,000 plus bonus!

[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 * * * * * * * *

Can You Write a Simple Letter?

If yes, you could be in big demand, earning big money, writing just a few hours a day from anywhere in the world you choose to be.

Here's how you can learn the secrets of this little-known, lucrative business:
http://www.thewriterslife.com/rwss

LET US ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

Please keep in touch – and allow us to help you succeed. Do you have a question about how to get your resume business started, how to grow your business, or how something “really works”? By all means – ask. In future issues of Resume Writer Success Strategies, we’ll address your biggest concerns and lay out answers to help you succeed – fast. Contact us at: resumewritingsuccess@awaionline.com.

FROM THE TECHNOLOGY DESK:
Converting Word files to HTML

While you may want to do a beautiful, elegantly formatted resume for your clients to print and distribute through regular mail or in person, the fact is that most resumes now get to the hiring decision-maker via electronic means. However, technology is changing literally every day, and even some of the popular options for sending a resume electronically are becoming obsolete.

For example, most large companies and national recruiting firms will no longer accept resumes as “email attachments.” The risk of downloading a virus is too great, so many of them have forbidden employees to open any attachments.

One of the ways job seekers are combating this constraint is by sending potential employers a link to a webpage on which their resume is posted. Many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer small amounts of Web space to their customers and this is an excellent way for a job seeker to post a resume. Then, via email, prospective employers can receive a link to view and print the resume, without fear of a virus-laden attachment.

You can help your clients by providing them with copies of their resumes in both “Word” and “HTML” files. The HTML file can then be uploaded to a website.

Converting a Word file to HTML is simple: Once the resume is complete and saved in Word, open the document again. Click on FILE, and then click SAVE AS WEB PAGE. (This is in Office 2003 and later. In earlier versions of Word, you will find SAVE AS HTML in the FILE menu.) When the dialog box opens, the default format will be “single file Web page.” This is what you should choose. You can keep the name of the file the same, or change it. (I recommend adding the word “Web” to the filename – i.e. change “A Smith Resume” to “A Smith Resume – Web.”)

Then you can send both file formats to your client. You can also charge a premium for providing resumes in both print and Web-based formats!

* 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.

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