Day 1: What I Love About the Careers Industry

Today is the first day in my quest to complete "The Jessica Swanson 50-Day Blog Post Challenge."

Today's blog post is based on Idea #49: Talk about what you love about your industry.


There is lots to love about the careers industry. For one thing, there is a spirit of cooperation (not competition) that I've seen throughout my 15 years of involvement in the industry ... and that hasn't diminished, even though resume writers now technically "compete" against one another for clients (which wasn't the case as much in the 1990s, when geography primarily determined which resume writer you worked with). From sharing ideas and information on e-lists and at conferences, I was amazed at how much resume writers were willing to share with their colleagues ... and this hasn't changed.

The careers industry is also great for someone like me, with what I call "mild ADD." I'm your typical entrepreneur -- I like wearing lots of hats, and I get bored if I work on the same thing every day. The careers industry is perfect for this. I can write resumes for a huge variety of industries (if I want -- or I can specialize). If I don't want to write resumes, I can be a career coach. I can teach job interviewing skills. I can produce informational products for job seekers. I can work for myself, or I can be a subcontract writer and never have to talk to a job-seeker directly, if I don't want to. I can write career-related books. And I can do all of those things in the same week, if I want.

There's always something new to learn in the careers industry. It's like being a scientist, or a pioneer. You're constantly learning new things and testing new theories. Fifteen years ago (heck, 5 years ago!), there wasn't social media. Writing LinkedIn profiles for clients are all the rage now. Looking back at the January/February 2000 issue (11 years ago), you can see how things had changed. Back then, I remember, working from a home office was pretty hotly debated. Now 76% of resume writers work from a home office (according to the 2009 Resume Writers' Digest Industry Survey). Also in that issue was an article, "Resumes Stink: Start Asking for a Portfolio." Funny.

The careers industry is also great because it offers the potential for great income for resume writers. Whether you write 1-2 resumes a week or 10 or more, you can make a couple hundred dollars, up to a six-figure income. It all depends on what you want to specialize in, what kinds of clients you want to work with, whether you want to work with clients yourself or subcontract, and how much you charge.

What do you love about the careers industry? Leave me a comment below.