Q&A: Will Jobseekers Be Thrown Off If They See This?

I occasionally share the answers to questions I'm asked. Today's is about BeAResumeWriter Pass-Along Materials.

QUESTION: 

I do have one minor concern -- I'm not sure if this is something you address in the (Turn Your Content Into Cash) training, but since your (Pass-Along Materials) are used by other resume writers, what if a client finds the same content from two different career websites? I'm just afraid of losing any kind of credibility if a client happens to find my materials that are the same from another resume writers' website or product...

My response:

With millions of jobseekers out there, the chances that they will see the same content on more than one site is low ... HOWEVER, you have control over what you do with the Pass-Along Materials to differentiate them.

At a minimum, I always recommend coming up with a different title for the content. (That's why I purposely name them boring names.)

Second, rewrite the content as much as you feel comfortable -- certainly the first two paragraphs.

Third, change the format! You can break up the PAMs into different formats -- excerpt into a short article or blog post, record as audio or video, make into a checklist/tip guide, or use as social media content.

You'd be amazed -- do ANY ONE of those things and it will become almost unrecognizable. (I'll be reading along a colleague's blog post and think "hmm, that sounds familiar," but it isn't unless I do a search of the PAM that I realize it was actually content I wrote!

There are more than 4,000 resume writers worldwide, and most of the PAM packages have been purchased by fewer than 250 resume writers, so the chances of the same content being seen by the same jobseeker is very low. And I would hate for you to keep from sharing information with jobseekers because you're afraid that they will see the same information somewhere else. The better chance is that they need the information but aren't getting it from anywhere.

If you're still concerned about it, rather than NOT doing something with it, you can feel free to put *my* name on it and a statement that the information is provided by "Resume Writers' Digest, a trade newsletter for professional resume writers" and then put "edited by (Your Name).

But you can really put your own name on it, especially if you use one of the three "transformation" strategies listed above.

Combating Negative Resume Client Reviews Online

What do you do about clients who post negative things about your service online? Today's Q&A with Bridget addresses that topic.

In July, the special report, teleseminar, and Pass-Along Materials on BeAResumeWriter.com addressed working with challenging (or pain-in-the-a$$) clients. You can check them out in this Working With Difficult Clients bundle.

I received the following question from a resume writer about clients who disparage you online:

Bridget,

Ever consider writing materials about how to handle PITA clients that give you scathing reviews because they want to showboat their frustration and anger?

The bad review I got from the one guy even went to the Better Business Bureau. As a result of his review, my last 7 thumbtack bids have been declined before they even consider me. for Yelp, I had 24 views and only 2 clicks to my website or calls.

Last night I decided to delete both profiles, which I'll do today. They weren't producing anyway, so why double the whammy with a negative reviews? Plus I had four positive reviews immediately following this bad one and Thumbtack said I could post them there. They did, but Thumbtack won't publish them because they aren't Thumbtack clients, so these four fabulous reviews are lost.  They could have bolstered Yelp, but Yelp has a bad reputation anyway.

I'm going to restart my blog and do my own marketing. I may switch gears from resume writing or expand it. Either way, how to handle a disgruntled client with a bad review is different in many ways from a PITA client. You might consider what to do about it. Especially when you send them the Client Release Form informing them you can sue for disparagement, but there's enough truth in there that you might lose the disparagement case. I'm still thinking about it. 

My response:

Great idea! I will add that to my possible topics list for a future special report.

Online reputation management for resume writers is handled in much the same way we suggest it for jobseekers! YOU control your brand identity and reputation online by creating POSITIVE content so that NEGATIVE content is pushed further down the page. 

When I Google YOU, I should see:

• A "complete" LinkedIn profile (with glowing Recommendations from happy clients)

• Testimonials and samples on your website that showcase happy clients and your best work

• Articles (or blog posts) that demonstrate your competency and expertise

Right now, Yelp and Thumbtack are showing up on the first page of your Google search results -- but unfortunately, I don't think that deleting your Yelp or Thumback profiles will eliminate them entirely (AND deleting them eliminates your opportunity to respond to clients -- both negative AND positive) ... so I would instead make a concerted effort to INCREASE your positive reviews on both sites, while simultaneously REDUCING your dependence on both of them as sources of new clients (Thumbtack in particular).

Thumbtack is the equivalent of our jobseeking clients applying for jobs online. It can work, but it's not a great strategy ... you are at the whim of the person at the other end of the keyboard.

However, for Thumbtack, go through your client database and look for clients who found you through the service -- and were HAPPY -- and ask them to write a review for you.

If you decide to continue writing resumes, the most important things for you to do are:

1. Standardize your client management process so that all clients have the same intake policy (and you don't make *exceptions* for clients -- as you found out with [client name redacted], that is a RED FLAG for a potential PITA client). They either work with you the way YOU want to, or you don't work with them. AND you need to make sure you meet 100% of client deadlines going forward, because that's critical.

2. TAKE CONTROL of your client marketing. In addition to boosting your positive responses on Yelp and Thumbtack, increase the content you have available out there that YOU control. Posting regularly on Facebook, adding at least one blog post a week, writing articles for third-party sites (these have to be UNIQUE content) like Ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, etc.

You also need to figure out who your IDEAL client is, and identify how to connect with these folks. 

I've attached the "Attract Your Ideal Resume Client" special report (that was your Bronze member special report in April 2014) and I encourage you to work through it!

Hope that helps!!

Bridget

Q&A: Help, I'm Spending Too Much Time on the Information-Gathering Process for Client Resumes

This is the latest in a series of Q&A posts. Every day, I get questions from resume writers -- and I share my answers publicly with you!

I’m finding that I’m spending way too much time on the interview process (I sort of knew that already), and I’d like to figure out a way to streamline that. Do you have any good resources for the client interview process?

 

What I’m doing is creating and emailing them a customized word document (from a template I’ve created) with questions specific to their career, taken from their resume (to add detail to good bullet points), and job posts that they send me (I require that they send at least one – I create questions to fill in missing information on their resume which the job post specifically calls for), questions lifted from Resume Writer’s Secret Room, as well as information about their technical proficiencies, leadership skills, employment gaps, etc. etc.

 

The customized interview definitely works very well in terms of getting the info for an exceptionally good resume, and clients have repeatedly told me that the interview has made a significant difference in their job interview preparation. It’s an awesome service for my clients. However, it takes me up to 2 hours to prepare the interview, and some clients come back to me wanting to deliver their responses via phone or in person, which can take up to an additional 2 hours for complex projects. Four hours spent on the interview alone is NOT a profitable process!

 

I’d like to cut back on the amount of time I spend on this process, but I don’t want to lose the value of what I’m providing. I put my clients through what more than a few have called a “grueling” resume development interview, and they come back and thank me for it and refer their friends.

 

I’m constantly tweaking my interview template document, removing standard questions that don’t work or adding standard questions which can streamline the customization process. When I customize the document for a client project, I delete the questions or sections that don’t apply and add questions specific to their resume/career. That’s helped a little, but not enough.

Here's my response!

I have a couple of resources and suggestions to offer.

The first is already included in your Bronze BeAResumeWriter.com membership. 

Log into your account and go to the Expert Interviews Series page 2, teleseminar #9:

Write Great Resumes Faster teleseminar

(non-members can buy the recording and transcript for just $5)

You'll learn how getting better at the pre-writing process will help you save time on the resumes you write.

It's also about collecting the RIGHT information.

You can also purchase my teleseminar that I did for the NRWA last year:

Ask Better Questions, Write Better Resumes

This one specifically addresses the information-gathering process.

A related issue that I see is that you don't feel like the time you're spending is "valuable" (you said "profitable") -- which usually suggests that you're not charging enough!

(I looked at your website and see that your "average" resume is around $409 for a resume/cover letter. You're below the industry average of ~$500, so there is room to grow there.)

One way to direct clients to do things YOUR WAY is to give them the option, but CHARGE MORE for the way you LEAST prefer.

For example, if they provide information via custom questionnaire (which is the strategy I use with clients, and I do it just like you do!), the cost is "x."

If they don't want to do a form and they want me to interview them to collect the data, the cost is "x-plus" -- with the "plus" being the value you place on your time (your billable hour rate x the number of hours to conduct the phone interview -- i.e, x1 or x1.5, etc.).

You can use this worksheet to calculate your hourly rate:

http://www.rwdigest.com/DeterminingYourRatesWorksheet.pdf

Or, alternatively, refer out clients who want to do a phone consultation (partner with a colleague who prefers to work that way, and negotiate a referral agreement for a 15% referral fee).

So... two possible ways for you to go:

1) Do the same thing, but charge more (and I love the feedback from clients that your process helps get them interview-ready too -- I'd add testimonials to that effect on the website, and make that a key BENEFIT of working with you! ... and a justification for why you charge more than the $99 resume writer)

OR

2) Use the principles in the teleseminars above to streamline your information-gathering process so that you're only collecting the information you need (believe me, I'm an information junkie! But I sometimes find myself collecting information I won't need/use, which takes time!!)