How Partnering With A Professional Resume Writer Could Earn You More

To be successful in your career it takes more than just luck. You need an optimized strategy. Did you know recruiters rate candidates with self-written resumes to have a lower potential than those with professionally written resumes? You're worth more, but your resume might be selling you short. Partnering with a professional resume writer can open interview doors for you. It could also potentially earn you even more.

Are you leaving money on the table?

It's a fact. Recruiters say candidates with professionally written resumes are worth more. A survey commissioned by TopResume — directed by zhaus, a consulting firm based in Brooklyn, New York — revealed that employers perceived job seekers with a professionally written resume to be worth 7% more than candidates who wrote their own.

The survey, based on 2018 salaries in the New York City job market, estimated that the difference between high-rated and low-rated resumes netted a savvy candidate more than $25,000 in some cases. The Dollars and Sense of a Professional Resume.

Beat the Bots

The job market is competitive. For every corporate job posted, an employer can receive over 250 resumes. Once narrowed down, only four to six job seekers will be contacted for an interview.

That's only part of the story.

Large corporations receive 50,000 to 70,000 resumes per week. To assist in processing this volume of documents, corporations use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to sift through the pile. To pass these systems, your resume must be properly formatted to be read and assessed electronically. Statistically, 75% of resumes are discarded. Only the remaining resumes are placed on the recruiter's desk. Make sure your resume is ATS-friendly. With the help of a professional resume writer, you can beat the bots!

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First Impressions — Faster than Ever

In today's fast-paced world, studies have found that recruiters give a resume a six-second glance. Does Your Resume Pass the 6-second Resume Test?

That's right. You only have seconds to stand out in a stack of resumes. The most effective way to grab attention is with a professionally written resume. Think of it as an investment in your career success.

With over 1 million resumes written by our experts, TopResume understands what recruiters are looking for. One of our professional writers will summarize your experience and emphasize your qualifications and achievements while outlining your career goals. This is presented in a concise easy-to-read document that tells your story. It will also be optimized with keywords that are relevant to your industry.

Leslie, a job seeker with 20-plus years of experience in eDiscovery and litigation support completed her degree with the goal of moving into banking. After exploring this path, Leslie decided to return to litigation. The challenge was to show how her most recent work experience could be transferable.

Caryn, one of the professional resume writers at TopResume crafted a new work summary at the top of Leslie's resume. This highlighted Leslie's core competencies, top qualifications, and career goals. The resulting document instantly gave recruiters and employers the information they needed and positioned Leslie as a strong candidate.

"Caryn put a sales pitch into my resume," says Leslie. "She wasn't selling someone who I'm not. She just made it stronger."

By working with a professional writer, you can craft your career story. It's worth the effort because first impressions matter when it comes to finding a job that pays you what you are worth.

The Recruiter's Perception

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Without meeting the candidates, using just the resume as a guide, recruiters perceived candidates with professionally written resumes to be more polished. The TopResume survey asked the recruiter this question: How polished do you consider this candidate to be? The self-written resumes were ranked overall at 34%, while the professionally written resumes scored 66%.

Angela Romano Kuo, an HR & Recruiting Consultant says, "A polished resume is clean, consistent, and easy to understand. It clearly articulates what you do, and what you want to do, and, essentially, tells your story. This is important because your resume is in a stack with many others. If it's not clear and easy to read, it's very easy [for recruiters] to just flip to the next person."

Additionally, a professionally written resume translates into being perceived as more employable. Recruiters already imagined these job seekers could present a professional image to their clients. In fact, recruiters had already decided that 57% of job seekers with professionally written resumes would make a good impression on their clients, as opposed to just 39% of those with self-written resumes.

Landing a Job

The survey followed a group of job seekers who had requested a free resume review through TopResume. There were 89 who had ultimately decided to hire TopResume to professionally rewrite their resume. Conversely, there were 43 that did not.
Of the job seekers who invested in a professional resume 46% reported new jobs, while only 14% of the candidate with self-written resumes reported the same. This demonstrates a success rate of 32% higher for professional resume users.

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Securing a Job Faster

Another advantage of utilizing a professionally written resume is securing a new job faster. Speed is important when faced with sudden unemployment. To break this into dollar amounts a job seeker who makes $50,000 per year will lose $961 every week that they remain unemployed. Statistically, the average job-seeker needs 20 weeks to secure a new job.

In the TopResume survey, job seekers that purchased a professional rewrite of their resume were hired at a rate of 32% higher than candidates that did not. In fact, 68% had a new job within just 12 weeks. Why? A professionally written resume opens the door to more interviews.

Advancing to a Higher Position

Career advancement also puts extra cash in your pocket. As an additional bonus, 42% of job seekers who purchased a professional resume rewrite were offered employment in a higher-level position than in their previous job.

The Ultimate Goal

A professionally written resume is imperative to be paid what you are worth. It enables you to beat the bots, make a good first impression, open doors to interviews, and ultimately land a good-paying job quickly. You may even immediately advance into a higher position with an even better paycheck.

Don't leave money on the table. It's time to take home the money you deserve. The results are definitive. Professionally written resumes make an impact. An investment in a professionally written resume gives job seekers a competitive edge over those whose resumes were self-written.