Industry Reputation

A few bad apples are creating problems for legitimate resume writers who do business online. Yet another example of this is a scam warning posted on the Rip-off Report website.

A few months ago, I came across the "Best 10 Resume Writers" website, and it piqued my curiosity because I thought -- "Hey, I'm bound to know a few of these folks!" The site purports to offer "independent reviews of resume writers by Stanford Writing Institute." In reality, there is no such organization (and, as evidenced by similar sites, "Top Choice Resume Writers" and "Top 10 Resume Writers"), they exist only to promote the services of a true resume mill that also goes by several different names, including Resumeprowriters.com, ResumespoweredbyHeadhunters.com, and Resumeprimerwriters.com. With packages starting at $79 (including a $129 deal for executives!), you can imagine that quantity is more of an emphasis than quality.

There are unfortunate consequences associated with this practice. The first is that unwitting consumers might buy into the "slick" websites and low prices and believe that they are buying the services of a "professional resume writer." Bolstered by the apparent "objective" review of the affiliated company's services, the prospective client puts his career services documents into the hands of a firm who -- from the Rip-Off Report's reviewer -- handles its customer service and writing services off-shore. (Not that there's any issue with legitimate professional resume writing services conducting their services overseas, but the quality of the correspondence cited by the reviewer suggests that the offshore services being contracted are being sought out for their pricing, not their expertise.)

The second issue is that legitimate professional resume writers -- including highly experienced and credentialed practitioners -- are being used to help perpetuate the scam. For example, on the Best 10 Resume Writers site, you'll find a link to Maria Hebda's Career Solutions website. (She received a 71% approval rating, by the way, well below Resume Pro Writers' 96% rating.) Or our Australian colleague Jennifer Rushton, whose Keraijen Professional Services site only got a 55% rating, despite Jennifer being a four-time TORI award winner. Apparently, she was being punished for her turnaround time ("This was one of the slowest resume writing company online."). And they created a new adjective to describe the work of resume industry veteran Sue Montgomery, who received a 56% rating. ("The resumes produced by Resume Plus were very merchanical.") Of course, keep in mind that a site offering Resume Templates garnered a 52% rating ...

Other sites listed don't even appear to offer resume services (see this one for Progress Enterprise that redirects to Career Diagnostics) or claim credentials that can't be verified (Perfect Resumes and Cover Letters, a service of Business Advisors Press, claims PARW membership but there are no members in Oregon that match the information provided on the site.)

I'd love to hear from any of the resume writers listed -- including whether you can track an actual customer to these ratings (or if they just made up the reviews based on information on your website and what action, if any, you're taking to remove your name -- and reputation -- from being affiliated with these sites.