Cost of Unemployment

Lately, in the promotion of my Get Hired Now! program, I've been sharing the "cost of unemployment" with prospective clients in an effort to educate them about the real "price" of not investing in their job search, if doing things on their own hasn't worked.

The Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches had an article in their July 2009 issue that also quantified this. Worth a read!

(Thanks to Jacqui Poindexter for the excerpt and Dawn Bugni for the original tweet that drew my attention!)

Alternative Payment Options

I've been thinking about this topic for quite some time -- and I'm going to have to do some research into the subject.

I wonder if any resume writers charge like the recruiters do -- a percentage of their client's future income. Only, instead of the recruiting firm receiving payment from the employer (usually 30-35% of the candidate's first year salary), the resume writer would be paid by the client.

Debra Feldman wrote about Executive Job Agents in Resume Writers' Digest, so I know there are some innovative resume writers out there ... I'm just wondering if any writers would be willing to share their insight into this strategy.

I was thinking maybe 1-5% of a client's salary, paid over the course of several months (or maybe even a year). It wouldn't have to be limited to executive clients -- I've thought of offering out-of-work professionals this kind of arrangement ... no money up front; pay only upon getting the new job. Maybe a sliding scale depending on the work found -- 2.5% of first year salary if they're making the same or less as before; 5% if they're making more (even if it's $100 more).

Thoughts, ideas? E-mail me.

Affiliate Relationships with Recruiters - Compensation

As I am researching my new Special Report for resume writers on developing strategic alliances with recruiters and headhunters, I'm learning there is a wide variety of compensation strategies --- from NONE (the most frequently asked question I hear from resume writers: "So why would they refer someone to me, if they're not getting a referral fee or commission?") to 15%, on average.

I hope to have the Special Report done by the end of the month!! More details to follow...

Professional Resume Writers Strike Back!

In response to some rather visible attacks on the value of professional resume writers, some of our esteemed colleagues are striking back!

Here's a great post by Jacqui Poindexter, Dawn Bugni, and Jane Dominguez on Recruiting Bloggers.

They hit on all the key points: The need to identify the job seekers personal brand; the difficulty of paring down dozens of pages of information, notes, research, and job postings into a succinct document; and the return-on-investment offered by engaging the services of a professional resume writer (a couple of hundred dollars for the service vs. thousands of dollars in lost income from being out of work for weeks ... or months ... on end.)

Professional resume writers need to write more of these types of articles!