How to Get Started as a Subcontract Resume Writer

 

Fifteen years. That’s how long ago I published the first edition of “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor.” But that was probably five years after I actually started writing resumes for a contracting writer. I also wrote for CareerPerfect from to May 2004 to October 2008. But before that, I wrote for a solopreneur contracting writer. Along the way, I earned between $500 and $2500 a month from my subcontract writing.

Before, during, and after my subcontract writer phase, I also worked with my own clients. Many subcontract writers do the same. They write as a subcontractor to smooth out the peaks and valleys in their own client load and income as they build their business. Or they want to get exposure to writing for a variety of different types of clients while seeing how another writer or firm operates their business.

But with so many resume writers feeling burned out these days, there’s a third reason to subcontract: To focus on the writing instead of the marketing and business management. Sometimes, you just want to write resumes, not spend your time creating content to attract jobseekers and filling your days with talking with prospects. 

If you’re interested in learning about how to get started as a subcontract resume writer, I’ve got you covered. The 51-page “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor” special report addresses it all.

Chapters in the special report include: 

• Who Are Subcontractors and What Draws Them In?
• Show Me The Money! (Compensation for Subcontractors)
• Client Interaction & The Information-Gathering Process
• Managing Your Business: Can You Market Yourself and Subcontract?
• Signing on to Subcontract
• Comparing Contractors: Big or Small?
• Once You’re In, How to Stay in the Contractor’s Good Graces
• Don’t Forget Legal Issues
• Other Subcontracting Opportunities
• Golden Nuggets: Benefits of Subcontracting
• Keys to Success as a Subcontractor: From a Contractor’s Perspective
• Words of Wisdom from Experienced Resume Writers
• Results of Survey of Subcontract Writers
• Red Flags When Selecting a Contracting Firm
• Making a Pitch to Subcontracting Firms (including a sample Resume/Cover Letter)
• Your Contract
• Seven Profiles of Subcontract Resume Writers

Even if you’ve never thought about subcontracting before, there might be a subcontracting opportunity that is the right fit for you right now. One way to know is to check out the 25+ listings in the Directory of Subcontract Opportunities.

Each listing includes the following information:

• Specialization (what kind of clients does the contracting writer/firm target, and what services are provided)
• Client fee (what the client pays, not what the subcontractor gets paid)
• Writer qualifications (desired/required)
• How to apply
• What spells rejection for a candidate
• Special requirements
• Turnaround time for projects
• Pay to subcontractor
• Demand weekly (# of projects)
• Client management (client contact vs. ghostwriting; also, if the contracting writer uses a CRM)
• Phone consultation? Paid extra?
• Do writers upsell?
• Revisions? (how are revisions handled; included in pay or compensated separately?)

The Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor Special Report — and the 25+ listings in the Directory of Subcontract Opportunities — are INCLUDED in Bronze membership on BeAResumeWriter.com. There are opportunities with no client contact — and some with. Some offering 1-2 projects a week … or 1-2 a month. Some that pay as little as $75 per project, but some that are $500+. Like I said, there’s something for everyone, even if you’ve never considered subcontracting before.

Join as a Bronze+ member for $27/month or as a Bronze Annual+ for $279 a year. 

You’ll get full access to the “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor” resources, plus all the other benefits of Bronze membership:

• New done-for-you content each month (Pass-Along Materials)
• A Special Report to help you with some aspect of your bsiness or work with clients
• A Profession-Specific Career Worksheet (licensed from Evelyn Salvador), based on member votes
• Two new Content Checklists each month to help you create client-attracting content
• 30 Ready-to-Use Social Media Graphics (conversation starters, inspirational quotes, and month- and holiday-related themes)
• Discounts on Resume Writer’s University courses (including the signature “Pricing Right” course)

Learn more here.

Note: If you are a contracting writer looking to connect with subcontract writers, fill out this online form to be included in the Directory of Subcontract Opportunities.

Time Management Strategies for Subcontractors

Today, I hosted a webinar for members of my “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor” membership site. The topic was “Time Management Strategies for Subcontractors.”

As a subcontract resume writer especially, time is money.

One of the biggest complaints of subcontractors is the pay. It’s true — subcontracting often pays less than you could charge your own clients directly. But it also offers you the opportunity to smooth out the peaks and valleys of your own business, get exposure to new systems and processes (learning how other resume writers run their businesses is interesting!), and potentially earn a pretty good per-hour rate.

It’s that per-hour rate that is important.

What you’re paid for a subcontracting project is usually a fixed amount.

The formula looks like this:

The only input you can change in the formula is to lower the amount of time you’re spending on a project in order to increase your profitability.

Therefore, you need to control the time you spend on the project and take charge of that variable.

The first tip is to track the amount of time you spend on each project. Only then can you know how profitable the project really is for you.

That means tracking both the administrative work (your interactions with the contracting writer and the client) and the time you spend writing.

Also track your assignments so you stay on top of project deadlines — this is #1 with contracting writers: You must meet your deadlines.

The second tip is to make your writing more efficient. Members of the “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor” membership site can watch the “Writing Strategies for Subcontractors” webinar recording. You’ll also find tips in the “Write Great Resumes Faster” book (watch the webinar at the bottom of the page.)

Remember, time is money.

If you’re looking to get started in subcontract writing (or move up), check out Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor (MMRS). You’ll get access to the “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor” special report, the Directory of Subcontract Opportunities, and access to the recordings of the previous MMRS webinars, including “Project Management for Subcontractors,” “Writing Strategies for Subcontractors,” several Q&As, and all the tips in the “Time Management Strategies for Subcontractors” webinar.

Why Subcontract?

I've been a professional resume writer since 1996, but in the early 2000s, I decided to supplement my own business marketing with subcontract resume writing. I no longer work as a subcontract resume writer (my own business took off too much for me to continue writing for others), but this is a topic that continues to interest me.

In 2007, my colleague Diana LeGere collaborated with me to write a report on subcontracting, "Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor." We just published the fifth edition of the report, and I wanted to address the second biggest question I'm asked by folks considering subcontracting. (I'll do a blog post later about the BIGGEST question, which relates to subcontract writing compensation.)

The second-biggest question 

I get is 

“Why should I subcontract?”

There are a couple of reasons that I give resume writers considering subcontracting.

• You want to supplement the income you're earning from your own resume writing business. Resume writing can be a "feast-and-famine" business. Subcontracting can help fill in the peaks and valleys, giving you the opportunity to stay busy -- and earn some extra money -- when your phone isn't ringing (or your email isn't pinging).
• You're getting started in the business and you want additional experience. Especially when you are new in the business, you need to write more to improve your skills -- and to learn which kinds of clients/projects you don't want to work on! (After 20 years in the business, I specialize in sales, marketing, PR and advertising clients primarily and I do not write technology resumes or military-to-civilian or federal resumes. Live and learn!)
• You are tired of client management hassles. An emerging area of subcontracting is individuals and firms that ONLY subcontract write. Don't like marketing? Just like writing? Subcontracting may be for you! (I can't promise you won't work with any PITA clients, but at least you'll have your contracting writer to help intervene.)
• You can learn how to manage your own resume writing business better. Individuals who employ subcontract writers have figured out many of the systems and processes involved with client management and business operations. You can get a peek into how they work and adopt these practices in your own business.

If you have questions about subcontracting, I'd like to help answer them! I'm offering a free webinar next week as part of the launch of the "Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor" membership site. You can register for the webinar here or check out the MMRS membership site here.

Is Subcontracting Right For You?

http://bearesumewriter.com/MMRS

One of the biggest issues for new resume writers is the "feast or famine" nature of the work. As you're working to get your own clients, you may consider working as a subcontract writer for another resume writer or a resume writing service (often referred to as the "contracting writer" or "contracting firm."

How do you know whether subcontracting is right for you? Here's some things to consider:

• Are you self-motivated? You need to be the type of person who can get work done when it needs to be done. If you've been assigned a project and a deadline, it's up to you to decide when, where, and how to get it done.
• How are you at managing your time? You'll need to estimate accurately how long any one resume will take you to write you -- and be able to do this with multiple clients. How will you handle things if you get your OWN resume client while you have three subcontract projects to write? Deadline management is critical as a subcontractor.
• Can you work with different personalities? Whether you're a subcontract resume writer or not, you're not working with just one individual at a time. However, it's important that you get along well with your contracting writer (or your contact at the contracting firm). 
• Do you have your own tools? I'm not talking about hammers and nails. You'll need a computer, Internet connection, and software (Microsoft Word). As a subcontract writer, you're responsible for supplying your own tools.
• Can you pay your own benefits? Speaking of providing your own stuff, unless you're subcontracting on the side while you're still employed, you'll have to furnish your own benefits -- including health insurance. Of course, if you're already a self-employed resume writer, you knew this. (And you've been setting aside money for your quarterly estimated taxes too, I hope!)
• Are you good with money? If you're not good at budgeting, being a subcontract writer might be difficult. For example, you may write 8 resumes this month for one contracting writer and receive a $1200 check. Should you spend all $1200 this month because you earned it this month? No. You should save some for taxes, savings, and for the slower months.
• There's still feast or famine moments. Payment doesn't always come on time, like it does with a job. Even your contract writer may have slow times, so that makes it harder to budetyour money. If you can budget through the hard times and ride the wave, you'll make it as a subcontract resume writer.

Hopefully, this has given you some things to think about when it comes to becoming a subcontract writer. There's lots of other things to consider too, of course, like how to find a contracting writer or contract firm to work with.

I've got a resource that will help you with that too. Check out the"Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor" special report and directory of contracting writers.

Resume Writers Recession Survey Results

Last month, I was invited by the Career Management Alliance and National Resume Writers' Association to participate in a joint effort to survey resume writers about how their businesses were faring in the current recession. (Thanks to Don Goodman, of About Jobs, for suggesting the survey idea and initial questions.)

We finalized the questions and put the survey out there. We received 191 responses between Aug. 3-16. Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., Research Master for the Career Management Alliance, compiled the results and prepared a report, which was released today. (If you have signed up for a free subscription to Resume Writers' Digest and confirmed your subscription to the double-opt-in list, you received an e-mail from me this morning with the 8-page report.)

Here are some highlights:

• Compared to a year ago, more respondents (48.4 percent) are doing better now than are faring worse (39 percent).
• Twelve percent of respondents say they are doing the same as last year.
• Six percent of those surveyed said their revenues were up 61 percent or more over last year; 3.2 percent said their revenues were down 60 percent or more. Twenty-eight percent said their revenues were up 1-20%. Twenty percent said their revenues were down up to 20 percent.
• The top source of business is referrals (47.5 percent), followed by their personal website (25.6 percent), Yellow Pages ads (14.9 percent), and subcontracting (14.4 percent).
  

Speaking of subcontracting, it can be an excellent source of business (especially during slow times). Resume Writers' Digest offers a special report for resume writers looking to affiliate with firms that hire subcontract writers.

If you would like to receive a copy of the results, sign up for your free subscription to Resume Writers' Digest and then e-mail me at editor(at)RWDigest.com with the subject line "Recession Survey Results" and I'll send it to you.