Showing posts with label Profile of a Professional Resume Writer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Profile of a Professional Resume Writer. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Profile of Professional Resume Writers 2022



As a resume writer, do you ever wonder how you compare to other career industry professionals? The Resume Writers’ Digest Industry Survey is the tool I use to provide this kind of information to the industry. The results are published in the “Profile of Professional Resume Writers: Who We Are, What We Charge, How We Work.”

The survey was conducted in February 2022, asking respondents to reflect back on 2021. The results were compiled in March 2022 and analyzed and turned into a report written by Kristin S. Johnson in April 2022.

If you are a career industry professional, you can receive the report here.

Here are some of the key findings from the 2022 report:

Profile of the “Average” Resume Writer
While no resume writer is “average,” this graphic illustrates the characteristics of the profile of the typical survey respondent.



See how this compares to the 2016 profile:






Interested in the full 2022 report? Get it here. 


Note: The Resume Writers’ Digest Industry Survey is not statistically valid due to a small sample size; however, the results are an interesting insight into the career services industry.






Thursday, November 10, 2022

20 Years Later: Freelancer or Entrepreneur?

In my “From the Editor” column from the January/February 2002 issue of Resume Writers’ Digest newsletter, I talked about the difference between being a freelancer and an entrepreneur.

Twenty years later, it’s still a great topic. 

As a resume writer, do you want to be a freelancer or an entrepreneur? (There is a difference.)

Here’s the original column:

Many self-employed professional resume writers consider themselves to be entrepreneurs when, in fact, they are more likely freelancers. Does it matter? Changing how you define yourself might create more opportunities, lower your stress level — or both.

Without resorting to the dictionary definitions of each term, let me try to explain the difference. Entrepreneurs are trying to build and sustain a growth-oriented enterprise. It is their goal to grow. These are the resume writers who hire subcontractors, affiliate with major career sites, and aim to make more than $150,000 from resume writing. 

Then there is a freelancer. The freelancer wants to derive a living from resume writing — but not necessarily be the biggest or the best. The truth is, most resume writers are freelancers. They contract directly with clients and/or write for others as a subcontractor. They can be home-based, office-based, or both.

The key difference is that they don’t take on more work than they can handle themselves. If they start to get busy, they raise their rates, or refer prospective clients to a colleague. They don’t start looking for subcontractors, or more office space.

Acting like an entrepreneur when you’re really a freelancer can cause you many sleepless nights. You read about some of the biggest names in the business and dream up strategies to conquer the town — or your chosen niche. But if you realized that goal and suddenly had dozens of new clients each day, would you be happy working with them? You wouldn’t necessarily have to become a resume mill, but if you enjoy total immersion with a select few clients each week, you’ll have to adapt your style to emphasize volume.

How you view yourself — freelancer, entrepreneur, or entrepreneur-in-training — will determine how you manage your time, market your services, and run your business.

Take a look in the mirror and answer this question: Which are you — freelancer or entrepreneur?

A note from 20 years later:
The results of the Resume Writers’ Digest Industry Survey suggest most resume writers are freelancers, working with 2-3 new projects per week. But the good news is, if you want to be an entrepreneur and expand your work with subcontract resume writers, it’s easier than ever. You can work with writers around the country — or around the world — from your home. No need to “look for more office space.”

Looking to work with subcontract resume writers? Contracting writers can get a free listing in the Directory of Subcontract Opportunities, one of the “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor,” resources available to Bronze members of BeAResumeWriter.com. Submit your information here

Monday, November 27, 2017

Answering the Pricing Question


Ask any new resume writer what's their biggest question and the answer is likely to be related to pricing their services. The most common question I get is: How much should I charge?

You want to make sure you charge enough to be profitable, but you don't want to charge so much that clients can't afford to work with you.

You’ve got the competition to consider, your own skill set, what you perceive to be your skills (yes, this is different from the former for most of us), what your market will pay, your location (not as big of a factor as it was 10 years ago, but still relevant), and a host of other variables. Working it out can feel like a hurdle you can’t quite get past.

One simple calculation is to determine an hourly rate. 

STEP ONE: Estimating Expenses and Income
The first step is to take a look at your estimated expenses. Remember to include your marketing expenses, supplies, rent, utilities, etc. Add your estimated expenses to what you want to make in income. For example, if you want to earn $100,000 a year in your business and you estimate $20,000 in annual expenses, then your income target will be $120,000.

Annual Expenses (Estimate): _____
(plus) Desired Annual Income: _____
(equals) Income Target: _____

STEP TWO: Your Billable Hours and Schedule
Consider how many billable hours you can work each week. This information will help you determine how many clients you can work with each week, and then you can calculate your annual billable hours. (Don't forget to include vacation time into your estimate. For example, if you normally vacation two weeks of the year, then your billable hours will be multiplied by 50 weeks, not 52 weeks.)

Here's an example:
If you have 25 hours available for billing each week, then multiply that by 50 to give you 1,250 billable hours each year. Also consider how much non-billable time you need to spend on your business. (If you're having a hard time estimating billable vs. non-billable time, keep track for a week and then extrapolate it.) You can make adjustments to your plan as you go along, and you can consider outsourcing some of your non-billable tasks as your profits increase.

Billable Hours Per Week _____
(times) Number of Weeks You're Expecting To Work _____
(equals) Total Number of Billable Hours Per Year _____

STEP THREE: Calculating Your Hourly Rate
Business owners charging for their services use several different methods. You might bill by the hour or by the project (but the quote is often based on the anticipated number of hours the project will take, multiplied by the hourly rate).

Calculating your hourly rate is easy, because you have the information you need. Simply divide your "Income Target" (STEP ONE) by the "Total Number of Billable Hours Per Year" (STEP TWO). For example, $120,000 divided by 1,250 billable hours gives you an hourly rate of $96/hour

Income Target _____
(divided by) Total Annual Billable Hours _____
(equals) Hourly Rate _____

Creating a solid pricing structure requires you to do a little more digging. So with your starting number in line, take a look at:

Your Competition. This might take a little detective work, since a lot of resume writers don’t publish their rates online. But if you pay attention to their websites and social media, ask a few discreet questions, and get on their mailing list, you can figure it out.

Be realistic about who, exactly, your competition is, though. Don’t undervalue or over-sell yourself. In other words, make sure you’re comparing yourself to another provider who shares the same skills, market, and track record, rather than simply looking at who you strive to become. 

You can also take a look at statistics from the resume writing industry as a whole. Career industry professionals -- sign up here to receive the current edition of the "Profile of Professional Resume Writers: Who We Are, What We Charge, How We Work."

Your Skills. In some fields, this is easy. There are certifications and educational programs that allow you — by virtue of having achieved them — to charge a certain rate. If you’ve followed this path, then pricing will be easy for you. If not, take a solid look at what you can legitimately claim as a skill.

Look, too, at your track record. Have you proven yourself by helping former clients (and do you have the testimonials and case studies to show for it)? If you do, consider a higher price range than you might have first thought.

Your Market. In the game of setting rates, it’s your market that has the final say. As any first year economy student can tell you, the price of anything lies where what the buyer is willing to pay meets what the seller is willing to accept.

If your goal is to give new college graduates a helping hand and lead them down the path to success, that unfortunately means you can look forward to low paying gigs (unless their parents are paying for your services!). That’s not a bad thing — everyone needs help in a job search — but it does need to be acknowledged. If, on the other hand, your target market is executives, then a higher fee isn’t just warranted — it’s a must. They will expect a higher price, and will not find value in the lowest-cost provider of anything, whether it’s coffee beans or business coaching.

Finally, don’t forget that pricing is never set in stone. It’s flexible. If you find you’re attracting the wrong market (or no market at all) you can always change your rates. Working too hard for not enough return? Raise your rates.

It’s your business. You get to call the shots. 

Monday, May 11, 2015

2015 Resume Writers' Digest Annual Industry Survey Now Open

I just sent out an email requesting responses for the 2015 Resume Writers' Digest Annual Industry Survey. This voluntary survey of career industry professionals is not scientifically valid, but it provides a useful snapshot for resume writers to compare themselves to colleagues.

Want to check out some of the results from previous years? I've provided a link to some of the blog posts describing previous survey results:

2012 Results

2011 Results

2010 Results

2008 Results

2007 Results

2004 Results

2003 Results

Who is an "average" resume writer (2012 data):
Profile of an "Average" Resume Writer

You might also be interested in this post from 2009:
Analyzing the Professional Resume Writing Industry

If you are a Free Level or Bronze member of BeAResumeWriter.com, you can access the most recent "Profile of Professional Resume Writers" special report by logging into your account.


Monday, October 6, 2014

Profile of an "Average" Resume Writer: 2012


Based on the information compiled from the 2012 Resume Writers' Digest Annual Industry Survey, here is the profile of the “average” resume writer:

She (the majority of resume writers are female) is in her 50s, and has been writing resumes for 10 years as a self-employed resume writer. She is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and is a member of both the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC) and the National Resume Writer’s Association (NRWA).

Our average resume writer works from home almost exclusively. She spends 25-30 hours a week writing, and another 15-20 hours a week on administrative and marketing activities. She writes 2-3 new resumes a week, and works on 1-2 updates weekly. Her average package — for which she charges $300 — includes a resume, cover letter, and references page.

Lately, she has added LinkedIn profile development to her service offerings, and she charges her existing resume clients an additional $129 for that. (She has just started getting serious about LinkedIn herself in the last 12 months, updating her own profile, joining a couple of LinkedIn Groups for resume writers, and attending a LinkedIn training webinar to learn more about how to use it.)

She collects payment upfront and uses a combination of a questionnaire followed by a brief phone consultation to gather information from the client.

Her biggest frustrations revolve around marketing her services (especially finding clients who are willing to pay the rates she is charging without too much push-back) and figuring out how Applicant Tracking Systems technology affects the resumes she writes.

As for income, she brings in gross revenues of $3,800-$4,600 each month, and she nets around $44,500 a year after taxes.

Information compiled/analyzed by Résumé Writers’ Digest/BeAResumeWriter.com
© 2013–2014 | Bridget (Weide) Brooks for Image Building Communications

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Ask Bridget: Should I Charge Less If I Use a Questionnaire?

In today's "Ask Bridget" segment, Milly asks:
"You mentioned during your "Ask Better Questions; Write Better Resumes" teleseminar that you offer a more affordable price if clients are willing to just answer questions by email through a questionnaire. I have been debating on what price structure I should use, since my method of information gathering is mainly through email as well. For a mid-level professional, I've seen resume writers charge over $500, which I assume includes the phone consultation. What is the appropriate price range, in your opinion, for the email method of information gathering -- without phone discussions?"

Here's what I told Milly:
I use questionnaires primarily with my clients -- it's just my preferred workstyle. But I ask prospective clients how they're most comfortable providing their information, and if they want a phone consultation, then I just quote them a higher price than I would if they were agreeable to working via questionnaire. 

So, if I was going to quote them $299 for the resume, I'd quote $375, for example (the extra $76 would be for a 60-to-75-minute phone consultation). Usually, I don't tell the client the two different prices, because I've already asked the question about how they want to do it, so I'm giving them a quote that reflects that. I have, though, on occasion, given them an "Option A" or "Option B" quote -- i.e., "The cost to develop your new resume package will be $299 if we conduct your information gathering via email questionnaire or $375 if you would prefer we schedule a phone consultation to gather your information.

You mentioned that other resume writers charge over $500. You asked, "What is the appropriate price range in your opinion for the email method of information gathering without phone discussions." There are actually some resume writers who charge over $1,000 and work via questionnaire exclusively, so you don't have to do phone consultations to charge more. *smile*

But you're coming at this from the wrong direction. There will be some clients who are unwilling to pay $50 for a resume even if that included a 3-hour phone consultation ... and there are some clients who would gladly pay $2000 for a resume even if you only collected information via questionnaire.

That's not the issue. There are clients out there in all price ranges. How you choose to work -- and what you charge -- are entirely up to you!

The first resource I want to share with you is the "Determining Your Resume Writing Rates Worksheet." This is a step-by-step approach to help you determine the right rates to charge.

But you should also compare that information to the 2011 Resume Writers' Digest Annual Industry Survey results. This will help you see the hourly rate charged by other resume writers, and average prices charged. You can get a copy of the "Profile of Professional Resume Writers: Who We Are, What We Charge, How We Work" here:

GET THE FREE REPORT: "Profile of Professional Resume Writers: Who We Are, What We Charge, How We Work"
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Also, keep in mind some of the factors that might influence you to charge higher rates. These include:
  • A valuable certification (ACRW, federal job search certification, etc.) - note: a CPRW or CRW certification may command more than an uncertified writer, but generally does not command premium pricing.
  • Experience in the industry (those who have been in the industry longer tend to charge more)
  • If you work with a specific niche audience -- specialists tend to charge more than generalist resume writers/career coaches

Do you have a question for "Ask Bridget?"
Send a message on the Resume Writers' Digest Facebook page!