Best Practices for Resumes in 2025

By Bridget (Weide) Brooks

The job search landscape evolves quickly — and so should resumes. Whether you're a professional résumé writer striving to keep client documents cutting-edge, or a jobseeker looking to stay competitive in today’s hiring environment, staying aligned with current best practices is essential. These 2025 guidelines reflect what employers and recruiters expect right now, and how to make sure your resume stands out in the modern job market.

• Eliminate the Excess

A resume isn’t a jobseeker’s life story (or “career obituary”) — it’s a marketing document. Focus on the most relevant, recent experience (generally the past 10–15 years). Two pages is the sweet spot for most professionals. Cut outdated or unrelated details so hiring managers can quickly see what makes the jobseeker the right fit.

• Lead With a Personal Brand Statement

Open with a concise summary that captures who the candidate is, what they do best, and the value they have to offer to the next employer. This 3-4 sentence section is prime real estate — make it count by showcasing the jobseeker’s professional identity and unique strengths.

• Demonstrate Continuous Learning

Employers want adaptable, growth-minded professionals. Include certifications, workshops, or online courses that show the jobseeker’s commitment to professional development — especially in rapidly changing fields like technology, marketing, and healthcare.

• Focus on Accomplishments, Not Tasks

Modern resumes highlight impact, not job descriptions. Lists of duties should be replaced with bullet points showing measurable results, skills, and contributions. For example:
“Led a 25-member cross-functional team that redesigned a 200-page SOP manual, improving efficiency by 30%.”

• Quantify Results

Numbers catch the eye and build credibility. Use metrics (percentages, dollar amounts, headcounts, timelines) to demonstrate performance and results. Quantifying achievements gives hiring managers a clear sense of the jobseeker’s impact.

• Highlight Remote or Hybrid Work Experience

If the candidate has successfully worked remotely, show it. Mention tools used (Zoom, Slack, Trello, Microsoft Teams) and emphasize communication, collaboration, and self-management skills. Employers value proven remote-work proficiency, even in today’s hybrid and back-to-the-office environments.

• Tackle Employment Gaps with Intention

Gaps happen. How you present them matters. If the jobseeker took time off, note relevant activities like freelancing, volunteering, or professional development. A brief explanation can prevent assumptions and show continued engagement.

• Add Digital Links

Enhance the resume with links to a LinkedIn profile, digital portfolio, or personal website. Interactive elements — like QR codes — allow employers to explore work samples, certifications, or media features with one click.

• Design for Humans and Machines

While Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) remain important, remember that a real person will eventually review the resume. A clean, visually appealing design with subtle color and strong formatting can set a candidate apart — as long as readability remains top priority.

• Optimize for ATS

More than 70% of employers (and nearly all Fortune 500 companies) use ATS to screen candidates. Use standard section headings, consistent formatting, and industry-relevant keywords to ensure the resume passes the initial scan.

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Bonus Tip: Don’t Let AI Do All the Talking

AI tools can help tailor cover letters and resumes, but resist the temptation to copy-and-paste. Review every AI-generated draft carefully — personalize it, add the jobseeker’s authentic voice, and incorporate specific details that show genuine interest and expertise. Recruiters can spot a generic AI letter a mile away.

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A well-written resume remains one of the most powerful tools in your professional toolkit — whether you’re crafting them for clients or fine-tuning your own. By staying current with resume trends and technology, you’ll position yourself (and your clients) to stand out in a competitive 2025 job market.

Bridget (Weide) Brooks is the founder and editor of Resume Writers’ Digest, a publication for career industry professionals. Since 1999, she has helped resume writers and career coaches grow their businesses and serve clients more effectively. Bridget also operates BeAResumeWriter.com, offering training and resources for career pros.

Follow her on LinkedIn or visit BeAResumeWriter.com for more resources.

How Many Professional Resume Writers Are There in the United States? (2025 Analysis)

How many professional resume writers are currently working in the United States?

This is something I’ve been tracking for the past 20+ years, so when I saw a statistic recently that claimed there are more than 289,000 resume writers in 2025 in the U.S., I was curious about how this number was calculated.

(To prove I’ve been tracking this for a long time, here is my blog post from 2009 answering the same question of how many resume writers there are in the United States: https://rwdigest.blogspot.com/2009/05/analyzing-professional-resume-writing.html)

If you’re a professional resume writer, the 289,000 number is dramatic and a little alarming — especially if you’re a career pro trying to stand out in what suddenly sounds like an insanely crowded market. (And I really respect the person who quoted that number, but I have no idea where the data came from.)

Here’s the problem: the 289,000 number doesn’t line up with any credible data from professional associations, industry directories, or actual labor structure in our field. In fact, the most supportable, evidence-based estimate of the number of professional resume writers is approximately 7,000-8,000.

Let’s walk through why.

What do I mean by “professional resume writer”?

First, definitions matter.

For the purpose of this discussion, a “professional resume writer” means:

• Someone who sells resume development as a service (not just as a favor to friends).
• Someone who is either full-time or part-time in resume writing or closely related career marketing services (resumes, LinkedIn profiles, career documents, etc.).
• Someone who can reasonably be identified in the market (website, business listing, professional association, agency rosters, etc.).

I’ve also used the metric in the past of someone who writes at least one resume per month. That helps include “future career pros” — people who are writing resumes on the side.

This excludes:

• Jobseekers who happen to be good writers.
• Corporate HR staff who occasionally rewrite resumes for friends and family and coworkers.
• AI resume template generators.
• “I’ll do your resume for $5” listings from anonymous accounts (that may or may not be U.S.-based) on freelance websites

When we’re talking about people who have built a business around resume writing — whether that’s a solo practice, a boutique firm, or a writer working for an outplacement agency — that’s the group we’re trying to count.

What credible data do we actually have?

Here are the four most reliable data points available right now from public-facing sources and industry research:

1. Professional Associations

• The Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches (PARWCC) reports “more than 3,000 members,” and in some materials notes that it “boasts over 2,800 members.” PARWCC is a U.S.-founded credentialing and membership body for resume writers and career coaches.
• The National Resume Writers’ Association (NRWA) positions itself as a professional association “representing resume writers,” and refers to “500+ professional resume writers,” primarily U.S.-based.
• That doesn’t count the members of other professional associations, such as Career Thought Leaders or Career Directors International, but many career professionals belong to multiple associations. (The “average” professional resume writer belongs to one or more professional associations, according to the Profile of Professional Resume Writers data.)
• Career Thought Leaders (CTL) and Career Directors International (CDI) both present themselves as curated professional communities of resume writers, career coaches, and related career experts. Neither publishes a big “tens of thousands of members” claim; based on their directories and positioning, they appear to be in the hundreds to low thousands each, globally.

These are not hobbyists. These are people paying dues, pursuing certification, investing in training, and marketing themselves as resume professionals. (Maybe I should add those criteria to define a “professional resume writer.”)

1. Industry classification

   • IBISWorld tracks “Resume Writing & Editing Services in the US” as its own industry segment (industry code 6544), which is our first clue that resume writing is established enough to be considered a defined service niche in the U.S. economy.

   • Industry reports generally count firms and revenue, rather than individual resume writers, but it confirms that resume writing isn’t just an informal side hustle. It’s a recognized business category.

2. Business directories

   • A B2B intelligence directory (ensun.io) lists roughly 3,768 “suitable service providers” in the United States under the category of “resume writing.” These are businesses, not just individual people. That includes one-person shops, boutique resume-writing firms, agencies that employ multiple writers, and outplacement-style services.

3. Marketplace structure

   • Most resume-writing businesses in the U.S. are very small: solos, partnerships, and small boutique firms. A handful of higher-volume agencies employ teams of writers or subcontractors. This structure matters, because it gives us a way to estimate headcount.

Let’s estimate the actual number of resume writers.

If there are approximately 3,768 resume-writing service providers in the U.S. right now, how many individual resume writers does that represent?

Here’s a conservative, industry-aligned model:

• About 70% of providers are solo practitioners — one resume writer doing all the client work.

  70% of 3,768 is about 2,638 companies, representing ~2,638 individual writers.

• About 25% of providers are boutique firms with 2-5 writers.
  25% of 3,768 is about 942 companies.

  If we assume an average of 3 resume writers per boutique firm, that gives us ~2,826 writers.

• About 5% of providers are larger agencies or outplacement firms with teams of writers (6-20+ writers, sometimes more).

  5% of 3,768 is about 188 companies.

  If we assume an average of 10 resume writers per agency, that adds ~1,880 writers.

Now add those three tiers:

• 2,638 (solo writers)
• 2,826 (boutique writers)
• 1,880 (agency writers)

2,638 + 2,826 + 1,880 = 7,344

That gives us an estimated ~7,300 active resume writers in the United States.

Even if you adjust assumptions up or down a bit — maybe some “boutiques” actually only have two writers, or some high-volume firms use 20+ writers — you’re still generally in the single-digit thousands — or even 15,000 to 20,000, not hundreds of thousands.

So a grounded, defensible way to answer the question “How many professional resume writers are in the U.S.?” is: Approximately 7,000 to 8,000.

Why “289,000 resume writers in the U.S.” is almost certainly wrong

Let’s test that “289K+” claim against reality.

Claim: there are 289,000 resume writers in the U.S. in 2025.

Problem #1: Association numbers don’t support it.
Even the largest, longest-running U.S.-based association of resume writers (PARWCC) cites membership in the 2,800-3,000 range. The NRWA cites “500+ professional resume writers.”

“Career Thought Leaders (CTL) and Career Directors International (CDI) also serve the resume writing & career coaching industries. Neither publishes a verified total member count, but both appear to serve several hundred to maybe a few thousand practitioners — rather than tens of thousands. This further supports the estimate that there are around 7,000-8,000 professional résumé writers in the U.S.

If there were truly 289,000 U.S. resume writers, why are only around 3,000 of them showing up in the biggest, most visible associations in the field? That would imply that more than 98% of U.S. resume writers are totally invisible to the known professional infrastructure. That’s unlikely.

Problem #2: The business footprint doesn’t support it.
We do not see 289,000 active resume-writing businesses. We see on the order of 3,700 U.S. providers.

For the 289,000 figure to be true, each “provider” would need to employ, on average, more than 75 resume writers. That does not reflect how resume-writing firms actually operate. A typical resume-writing business is not a 75-writer operation. It’s a one- to three-writer operation. (Mostly one writer, as the Profile of Professional Resume Writers data over the last 20 years supports.)

Problem #3: Labor visibility doesn’t support it.
If there were truly 289,000 resume writers in the U.S., resume writing would be as common as real estate licensure and as visible as tax prep — there would be resume writers at every networking breakfast, every chamber of commerce lunch, every co-working space, every PTA fundraiser. You would already know five personally. You don’t, and neither does anyone else outside of our industry.

Problem #4: “U.S. only” is almost certainly mislabeled.
One common way to inflate these numbers is to count every freelancer on every major global platform (Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, PeoplePerHour, etc.) who lists resume or CV writing anywhere on their profile, and then to call that “U.S.-based resume writers.”

But those marketplaces are heavily international. Many of those accounts are not in the U.S., not focused on resume writing as their core business, and not consistently active.

It’s very easy to scrape a big global number and then (intentionally or accidentally) tag it as “U.S. only” to make a point about market saturation.

Why marketers like the “289K” narrative

Let’s be honest: “There are 7,000-8,000 real competitors in the U.S.” sounds manageable.

“There are 289,000 competitors in the U.S.” sounds terrifying.

Which version is better at selling you a $2,000 training program, certification add-on, or “stand out in a crowded market” bootcamp?

Big, scary numbers create urgency. Urgency sells. That doesn’t mean the numbers are true.

Resume writer vs. “someone who will touch your resume for money”

There’s an important distinction here that gets blurred on purpose.

A professional resume writer:

• Has an established practice (business entity, brand, pricing, intake process).
• Sells resume creation/revision as a defined service, often alongside LinkedIn profiles, cover letters, and career marketing documents.
• Often invests in training, certifications, conferences, continuing education, or peer review.
• Does this repeatedly, for paying clients, with some kind of methodology and expected outcome.

Someone who “also writes resumes”:

• Might be a general copywriter, virtual assistant, HR coordinator, or graphic designer.
• Might have done two resumes ever. Or two a year.
• Might list “resume help” on Fiverr next to “I’ll design your logo” and “I’ll proofread your blog.”
• Might not be in the U.S. at all, even if they market to U.S. jobseekers.

Both groups technically “offer resume writing,” but they are not the same thing in terms of expertise, volume, methodology, or client outcomes.

When someone throws out a six-figure number like “289K resume writers,” what they’re often doing is counting everyone in that second bucket — anyone, anywhere, who, for any price, will touch a resume. Then they present that number as if all of those people are your direct professional peers. They’re not.

So… what’s the real answer?

Based on:

• Association membership (PARWCC ~2,800-3,000; NRWA 500+).
• Industry recognition of “Resume Writing & Editing Services in the US” as a defined service niche.
• Approximately 3,768 U.S. resume-writing service providers identified in business directories.
• A realistic staffing model of solos, boutique firms, and multi-writer agencies.

A credible estimate is: There are roughly 7,000 to 8,000 professional resume writers working in the United States.

That is the number you can responsibly cite when you talk about our industry. Not 289,000. Not “hundreds of thousands.” Not “everyone and their cousin is now a resume writer.”

Seven to eight thousand.

That’s still a competitive market. But it’s not an unmanageable one — especially if you’re doing high-quality, strategy-driven work that’s hard to replicate with a $15 gig and a template.

In other words: resume writing is not a commodity by default. It’s a craft. And there are far fewer true practitioners than the number cited would have you believe.

Profile of Professional Resume Writers: The “Average” Resume Writer (Circa 2025)

Who are resume writers? 

For the past 20+ years, I’ve been surveying my professional resume writer colleagues to paint a portrait of the industry. This infographic gives a snapshot of the “average” resume writer:

She (most respondents identify as female), has been writing résumés for over 15 years, primarily as a self-employed, full-time professional. She holds certifications in résumé writing and/or career coaching and is a member of professional associations, such as Career Thought Leaders (CTL), the National Résumé Writers’ Association (NRWA), Career Directors International (CDI), BeAResumeWriter.com, and/or the Professional Association of Résumé Writers and Career Coaches (PARWCC). 
 
Her primary client sources are referrals from past clients, LinkedIn, and her website, reflecting her established reputation. (Newer writers may rely more on organic web searches, networking, and social media to build their client base.) She spends approximately 16 hours per week on résumé development, including consultations, research, and writing. She completes 1-3 résumés weekly, with each project taking 5-10 hours. She works 30-40 hours per week total, including administrative tasks, marketing, and networking.
 
Her standard package includes a résumé, cover letter, and often LinkedIn profile development, with an average sale price of $951. She typically speaks with prospects before closing sales and collects full payment upfront. She gathers client information using a combination of questionnaires and phone or virtual interviews.
 
Her challenges include inconsistent revenue, dealing with administrative tasks alone, client management, and the writing process itself. Emerging concerns involve adapting to artificial intelligence (AI) and competing with low-cost résumé mills. Mentally, she grapples with isolation, burnout, and occasional imposter syndrome, seeking stronger connections with peers to mitigate those feelings.

The Résumé Writers’ Digest Industry Survey is an opportunity for résumé writers to benchmark their progress compared to their peers. The survey was first conducted in 2001, and because it hasn’t been faithfully conducted each year, the word “annual” has been removed from the name of the survey. Also, due to the small sample size and voluntary participation, this is not a scientific survey. However, the results can be informative, giving you a peek into how other résumé writers work and offering ideas for increasing your income.

 

The 2025 Résumé Writers’ Digest Industry Survey was conducted in April 2025, asking respondents to look back at 2024. The results were compiled in July 2025. Sixty-five résumé writers took the anonymous survey, answering 28 questions. 

Case Study: Shortcuts in Resume Writing

 

SHORTCUTS IN RESUME WRITING – A CASE STUDY

A client called me yesterday to tell me he had a first interview on Monday with one of his Top 4 Target Companies and that it went well. He’s been asked back for an in-person interview next week. 

There were a couple of tools I used on his project that were helpful “shortcuts.” This client isn’t my “ideal” client these days. (I work mostly with Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations, and Sales – or “MAPS” clients — but he was a returning client from 2014, so I was happy to work with him again.)

His previous resume (2014) had focused on his role as Warehouse Manager/Shipping & Receiving Manager (that resulted in him landing a job initially as Maintenance Technician with his current company). I did an update to his resume in 2016 for an internal role and he was promoted to Warehouse Manager. He was then promoted to QA Inspector/Lead Technical Writer (without a resume update). Unfortunately, last year his employer lost a major contract. He was given the opportunity to switch to a manufacturing position or be laid off. He decided to change to the manufacturing role (with a pay cut), but wanted to start looking for new opportunities. That’s when he reached out to me.

Quality Assurance is the focus for his current job search, but it required completely overhauling his resume. (Which was necessary anyway, with the 7-year timeframe between his last work with me and this job search.)

To gather information for his new career focus, I used one of Evelyn Salvador’s Career Worksheets. The “Documentation: Manufacturing and Production” worksheet provided insightful questions to gather information about his most recent relevant role (2019-2023). I provided him with a checklist to identify the keywords relevant to his experience, and incorporated some of the Documentation questions into my questionnaire. 

Once I had his information, it was time to tackle the resume writing. Lately, I’ve been starting the writing process by browsing Michelle Dumas’ Distinctive Resume Templates to find one that feels like a fit for the client, job target, and industry. I decided on the Blue Collar Resume Template (with Blue Collar Coordinating Documents – resume addendum, cover letter, and references templates). The templates are visually appealing and ATS-friendly and I find it easy to populate them (changing the color scheme with an appropriate color for the client — in this case, blue to denote “trust, security, and stability.”

I also had this client take a DISC profile assessment (I’m a DISC administrator through Jane Roqueplot and Profiling Pro), which I culled insights from to include in his resume. 

He used his new resume to apply to a handful of positions last week and got a call last Friday to set up a phone interview on Monday (yesterday). Because it had been a while since he had interviewed (especially for an outside role), I sent him a couple of resources over the weekend to help him prepare. One was my “Pre-Interview Worksheet & Checklist” (a Fillable Worksheet). I also sent him my guide to Virtual Interviews (based on this Pass-Along Materials document: Jobseeker’s Guide to Virtual Interviews). 

I had previously sent him my “Be the STAR of Your Career Story” worksheet to put together a couple of accomplishment stories while I worked on writing the resume. He reported back that he had used a story about reducing production time from three months per unit to three weeks and said the interviewers were impressed. 

In the phone interview, they basically offered him the job (they asked him how much it would take to get him to move on from his current employer), so his next step is doing salary research and prepping for the in-person interview. I’m going to be sending him some resources to help with that later today.

Resources mentioned in this case study: 
Evelyn Salvador’s Career Worksheets 
Distinctive Resume Templates 
( use promo code 50offbearesumewriter on the Distinctive Resume Templates website to save 50% on your first purchase of any amount.) 
DISC Testing 
Tools for Job Search 
Pass-Along Materials Archive 2011-2020 

What did you think of this case study? Are there resources you use as shortcuts? What are they? Comment below!

Day 3 at INBOUND: Two Words – Reese Witherspoon

 

“If you want to change the stories, you need to change the storytellers.” 

— Reese Witherspoon

When we decided not to attend INBOUND 2023 in person, one of my biggest disappointments came when I learned that Reese Witherspoon would be one of the Main Stage speakers.

I love Reese Witherspoon. I saw the original “Legally Blonde” in the movie theatre like half a dozen times. (I was a paid tester for the precursor to “MoviePass,” so we saw it a LOT.) We also drove to Des Moines to see “Legally Blonde: The Musical” and then saw it again when it came to Omaha. “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde” wasn’t as good as the original, but I’ve been anxiously awaiting a rumored third sequel. I also loved this pandemic skit that Laura Bell Bundy did in character as Elle Woods.

But anyway, knowing we weren’t going to Boston this year, and hearing about Reese Witherspoon being a speaker, I was bummed. So I was thrilled when HubSpot announced that the Main Stage speakers would be live-streamed — including Reese!

But before Reese, there were sessions on Brand Building (with Beyoncé’s publicist), “How to Build a $100M Community,” a panel session on “The Future of Media,” an interview with the founders of HubSpot on how they built the company, and then a session on the growth of the Angel City Football Club (I missed most of this one because I was on a client call).

One change from the first two days of INBOUND (read about them here: Day 1 and Day 2) was that it was 10:06 a.m. Central time (more than two hours in) before the first mention of artificial intelligence. (The first two days were AI intensive!)

And then it was time for Reese Witherspoon! 

Her session was titled, “Lessons on Innovation, Leadership, and Navigating Change.” The one disappointing part was that the 2023 Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike meant that she wouldn’t be talking about her past, present, or future work, as the interviewer, Zinhle Essamuah, anchor of NBC News Daily (NBC), mentioned in her introduction of the actress, producer, and entrepreneur.

Still, there was plenty to talk about. 

Witherspoon described how she wasn’t seeing a lot of scripts with female leads, so she decided to fill that gap. “I can’t expect to make change by staying in the same circle,” she said. “I’m going to put my money where my mouth is.” So she started the first iteration of her production/media company, Hello Sunshine.

She self-funded the company. “It was high risk,” she noted. “Being famous does not equate to having business acumen.” She said she didn’t know how to be an executive, but she did know “critical life skills,” — for example: “Show up, do what you say you’re going to do, return emails, and if you tell someone you’re going to read their script, do it.”

Her experience acting helped prepare her to work collaboratively. She laughed when she noted, “10 percent of (her) job is acting; the other 90 percent is helping people get along.”

But it wasn’t easy. Witherspoon said that the award nominations flowed in, but the money did not. She said she had the proof she could create important work, but “I wasn’t paid appropriately for what I was bringing to the table.” So she retooled. She raised capital and got the company on solid financial footing. Persistence was key.

“Nobody believes as much in my dream as I do. I would wake up and do something to further my dream forward,“ she added.

Earlier in the week before INBOUND, the news broke that Witherspoon had sold a majority stake in a clothing line she had started, Draper James. It was a completely different growth path than Hello Sunshine. “Retail is hard. It’s really difficult.” But, she noted, she finally found the “right partners” and said she was excited for the company’s future growth. She will keep a seat on the board of directors, and has several family members involved in the brand’s retail presence in Nashville.

Essamuah asked Witherspoon her advice to people looking to maximize their bottom line. She responded, “It doesn’t matter where you get to in a business, you always have to be adapting.” She noted that her business has changed “again and again.” One thing that is consistent: “It’s so important that the audience is understood, spoken to correctly, and they feel seen and heard. That’s all storytelling is. That’s all media is. That’s all the relationship with your customer is,” she said. “Do you see me? Do you hear me? How do you make me feel? Do I see myself reflected in the stories you tell?”

For us as career industry professionals, this is an important message. Whether we’re telling our client’s story (in the resume) or our own story (in our own marketing), understanding our audience is critical. 

After spending three days “attending” the virtual Main Stage sessions at INBOUND, that was an important reminder. Artificial intelligence is here to stay, but AI can’t replace personal connections and relationships. 

Witherspoon ended by answering a question about the best advice she had ever received. She mentioned an Ava DuVernay quote she loves: “If your dream is only about you, it’s too small.” 

“Every single person in this room as the ability to change another person’s life, and I think you’re going to go out and do it,” Witherspoon said.

Did you miss yesterday’s blog post? Read it here:

Day 2 at INBOUND: I Took 24 Pages of Notes (and Someday, AI Will Take Those Notes For Me

Insights From Day 1 of INBOUND 23: An AI Drinking Game and How Technology Let Me Down

As I mentioned in my email last week to Resume Writers’ Digest subscribers, Jon and I decided not to attend HubSpot’s marketing conference, INBOUND 2023, this year. It’s an awesome conference, and we will miss being in Boston in September for the third time!

But we aren’t completely missing out, because HubSpot is live-streaming some of the daily sessions. Today was Day 1, and I wanted to share some key insights from the keynote session, and my thoughts.

There are approximately 12,000 in-person attendees in Boston, and Jon and I were among the estimated 100,000 people watching online.

First of all, looking at the livestream session descriptions, you’ll see it’s heavy on artificial intelligence (AI)-related topics. That was initially a little off-putting to me — but I was pleasantly surprised by the actual sessions themselves. I joked on a group text with our friend Jason (who is attending INBOUND in person) that we could make an AI “drinking game” where you have to take a drink every time they say, "AI."

His response was: “I’m not sure even I can survive that drinking game. Just reading the agenda for today is 14 shots.”

Since I drink Cherry Cokes, I’d survive … but to say that AI is THE topic of conversation this year would be an understatement.

And a nod to the “How Technology Let Me Down” part of the headline of this blog post: As I mentioned, the sessions are live-streamed. So I was taking notes as it went along. I’ve mentioned before that I absolutely LOVE Evernote … but today, Evernote failed me. In the opening session, there were three separate speakers. As I started to write the notes for the third speaker, I noticed that half of my notes from the second speaker had disappeared. I pay for the Premium version of Evernote, so I thought maybe I had overwritten part of the note accidentally, so I went back to check my version history to restore the note.

Nope. No luck. That wasn’t the issue. The content had just disappeared. 

Fortunately, it appears that I can go back and re-watch the second speaker of the first session and re-capture my notes. But UGH! After realizing that, I took the remainder of the day’s notes in Microsoft Word. Jon mentioned that there is an update for Evernote, and we’ll be updating it tonight to see if that fixes it. (In pasting in my notes from Microsoft Word after the last session, part of it didn't paste into Evernote either. So yeah, we’ll be doing the update to the app.)

One of my favorite things about attending conferences — whether that’s a resume writing conference or a marketing conference — is the inspiration. The content (especially actionable content) is important, but the ability to just step back from daily activities is such a critical thing for me.

Now, unfortunately for me, I couldn’t completely unplug from daily life. We’re getting new siding put on the house after a June 2022 hailstorm and I had to take my Honda Pilot in for an oil change (it was supposed to be yesterday, but my mechanic had to reschedule).

Ok, onto the highlights from the keynote session.

HubSpot Keynote

The first of the three speakers during the keynote was Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot. 

Change is the theme. Technology is changing. The way customers buy is changing. How we connect with customers needs to change.

Artificial intelligence isn’t new — it’s been around for decades. But predictive AI — which predicts the future based on past data — has the potential to transform knowledge and creative work.

If you put the word “artificial” aside, focus on “intelligence.” That’s the shift happening with AI — going from acquiring information to acting on intelligence. What’s the best way to use this intelligence? Rangan says, “The intelligent way to use intelligence is to drive customer connection.” The power of acting on intelligence is to “connect deeply” with customers. That connection matters, she says, “because it drives growth.” She added that customers who focus on customer connection saw five times more growth than the average company. Companies who consistently connect with customers through every stage of the customer journey saw 19% more growth.

“No matter the segment or industry, the more you engage with your customers, the more you can grow,” Rangan said. “Customer connection drives growth. AI can drive connection at scale. Always start with the customer. Get deeply curious about your customer’s journey.” Getting to know customers on a granular level — understanding the whole person — is the key.

“Customer expectations are changing. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of our customers to understand this change — from how they discover and consider the product to how they buy and use these products,” she added.

The customer journey:

• Discover. This is changing from search to social. You use to be able to search and get links from all over the Internet. Now, customers are discovering products before they search — on social media. “Customers don’t want to search — they want to get social.”

• Consider. Customers want to learn more. How they learn is changing from “clicks” to “conversations.” Before, when your customer wanted information, they went to your website. They would click, filter, and sort through information. All that clicking is time-consuming and inefficient, especially in the world of ChatGPT. Now, they want to go to your website and chat. They want a one-to-one helpful conversation to find out exactly what they need. “They don’t want to convert on your website; they want to converse on your website.” Their expectations are going from being okay getting personalized information to getting personal insights. 

• Buy. Make it easy to buy. Don’t make them give you information they’ve already provided. Customers expect you to give them insights every time they connect with them, regardless of the channel. Personal is tailored. They expect insights that are specific to them.

• Use. “This is where the real work begins.” Rangan says that customer expectations have changed from being okay with reactive help to getting proactive help. They submit a ticket or call in or follow up with an email to get the answer they need — but, most of the time, they don’t get the answers they are looking for. She says 98% of customers find service interactions frustrating, but you can use AI to “delight them proactively.”

She ended by saying, “AI can be the most profound change to transform marketing, sales, and service.”

Next up in the keynote was Andy Pitre, Executive Vice President of the Product Team. He also talked about change, and how it can be hard.

“This is the age of intelligence,” he noted. “Work smarter, not harder.” He talked about how the HubSpot CRM centralizes your customer data in a connected ecosystem, giving you the tools to customize the customer experience.

His part of the presentation focused more on the integration of AI into the HubSpot product itself. (And this was the part of my notes that Evernote lost, so I’ll have to go back and rewatch his section.)

The final part of the keynote was Dharmesh Shah, founder of HubSpot and current Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He’s famous for his “dad jokes” in his speeches, and he didn’t disappoint. 

He started the presentation talking about how his son has been using GPT for the past couple of years. His son is now an advanced user, and built a role-play game that uses GPT. Shah said that English will become “the most popular programming language in the world” thanks to GPT. (Users will be able to program using English instead of code.)

He said advances in AI will address the frustrations that his son has experienced. 

Frustration 1: Static language models --> dynamic

Currently, GPT uses historical information. It doesn't know what has happened since September 2021. Shah said we will see learning models being augmented by real-time data.

Frustration 2: Text input --> Multi-Modal inputs

Currently, we use text as an input. In the future, we’ll be able to add images, audio, and code as prompts.

Frustration 3: Passive --> Active

Right now, GPT waits for you to enter a prompt. In the future, it will make suggestions. 

All of this will create to create “the next big wave in generative AI: AgentAI.”

Shah sees a future where AI-powered software will work mostly autonomously to pursue goals by working as an expert (working with large language models and other agents). He sees different “agents” tailored to your needs – search agent, web crawling agent, pricing analysis agent.

Shah asked the audience to consider two questions.

First, “How should I now be thinking about data in the age of AI?”

He said AI models are increasingly common, and data is the common denominator. The first generation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software was increased more than 30 years ago. Cloud CRM came about 20 years ago. The new thing is “Smart CRM” — CRM with AI included.

Second, “Will AI take my job?”

Shah said that “AI will take your job…”

But then he added “…and give you one that’s better.”

He said it offers the promise of “less grind and more growth.”

He introduced the AIAIO framework:

• Awareness – discover what AI can do

• Investigation – explore use cases

• Adoption – get things done

• Integration – weave AI into workflows

• Optimization – look for leverage

He then shared a dad joke:

“I want to thank my wife for introducing me to the word ‘plethora’ — it means a lot.”

Okay, I thought that was funny.

He seemed pleased that the crowd laughed and thanked the crowd. He added, "When I try these jokes on Zoom, people don’t laugh. Maybe they’re not remotely funny.” 

He ended on a more philosophical note: “It’s not about believing in AI; it’s about believing in yourself.” 

The keynote started the day — and the conference — out on the right note. Change is inevitable. 

READ DAY 2 HERE:

Day 2 at INBOUND: I Took 24 Pages of Notes (and Someday AI Will Take Those Notes For Me)

Do You Struggle With Pricing Your Resume Services?

In my most recent pricing survey of resume writers, 100% of respondents said YES, they have struggled with pricing their career services.

Eighty-five percent said they would like to learn more about pricing their services.

Accurate (and adequate) pricing is one of the biggest predictors of success in your resume writing business. 

Why Resume Writers Don’t Stay In Business

I recently read an article about the top 11 reasons small businesses fail. 

Number three was: Failure to price your product or service correctly. 

Number one was inadequate cash reserves, and number four was the failure to adequately anticipate cash flow. Both of those also relate to pricing, in a way. The author went on to say, “You can be the cheapest, or you can be the best, but if you try to do both, you’ll fail.”  

Pricing is one of the biggest challenges in succeeding as a freelance resume writer. Charge too much, and you may have trouble attracting clients. 

 

Charge too little, and you’ll have a hard time succeeding. At a minimum, you’ll work harder than you need to, or you won’t be able to give clients enough of your time or energy to truly help them. The worst case scenario is that you can’t afford to stay in business if you don’t charge enough. So pricing is a critical component for your success.

 

Let me start by saying that pricing your services is a very individual, personal decision.

Before you set your pricing, think about two things: 1) Who are you serving? Who is your target client? 2) What problem are you solving for them? What benefit or benefits do they get from working with you?

 

No matter what you end up charging, if you are crystal clear about who you serve and what you can do for them, it will help you attract great clients, and it makes your pricing less of a factor in choosing you.

 

Once you know who you want to target, you can start figuring out your pricing. 

Pricing Models

Let’s talk about pricing models for services.

•  The first is a straight hourly rate, based on the time the project requires (clients don’t like this model because of the uncertainty for them, so it can be harder to get them to commit. If they don’t know up front if their resume project will be $500 or $5000, they’re not likely to work with oyu.)

 

•  Flat fee, based on the number of hours it’s estimated the project will take. Clients like this because they know what they’ll pay, but the risk is that you have to estimate the time required accurately. You can either provide set “packages” for your services, or quote projects individually, once you’ve determined what your client needs.

 

•  Value-based. This is not a common pricing strategy for resume writers, but it ties your pricing to the outcome the client will get. For example, if your client gets the job, you get a percentage of their first-year salary. (This is more common for recruiters.) 

But how do you come up with the hourly rate, or the rate that you’re basing your flat fee packages on? That’s where the formula for pricing your services comes in. Danielle has a worksheet in your Google Drive that you can use to calculate this.

 

A Formula for Pricing Your Services

The formula for pricing your services consists of three steps. 

 

The first is to estimate your expenses and income. Remember, as a resume writer, you’ll now have some expenses that you didn’t as an employee — marketing costs, supplies, equipment, and extra taxes. 

(In my course for resume writers, Pricing Right: Price Your Career Services with Confidence, there is a worksheet with expenses to consider.)

 

Add those up. Then, determine what you want to be making. Those two numbers, added together, are your income target. For example, let’s say you want to make $80,000 and your annual expenses are $15,000. Your income target would be $95,000.

Step two is to determine your billable hours and schedule. Even if you’re not billing by the hour, you still need to figure out how many hours a week you’re available to work each week — and use that to determine your billable hours. 

 

You’ll have billable hours and non billable hours each week. 

 

Billable hours are the hours you’re working on client projects; non billable hours is the time you spend on marketing, client acquisition, and all the fun paperwork that comes with being a freelancer. Let’s say you think you can generate 20 hours of billable time each week. And let’s say you want to include two weeks of vacation each year. For example, if you multiply 20 hours by 50 weeks, you get 1,000 billable hours each year.

 

The third step is to use the income target and your total annual billable hours to calculate your hourly rate. Divide your income target (step one) by the total number of billable hours per year (step two). For example, $95,000 divided by 1,000 billable hours gives you an hourly rate of $95/hour.

Adjusting Your Rates

But you don’t have to stick exactly to the $95/hour rate. You want to consider some other factors that can influence your pricing. 

• the type of clients you work with and the results you’re able to get for them

•  what you were used to making

•  your experience/certifications

•  level of personalization

•  what other resume writers are charging

 

Once you figure out your pricing, you have to figure out how you’re going to communicate it. Are you going to list your pricing on your website? Will you only discuss pricing on the phone or once you’ve met with a prospective client? 

 

Also, consider HOW you’re going to get paid. Deposit up front? Payment in full to start? A common tactic in consulting is progress payments — a deposit and then payment at agreed-upon intervals. 

Most resume writers get paid 100% up front because of the custom nature of work. But if you’re hesitant about that to begin with, at least collect a deposit (25% or 50%) up front and the balance when you deliver the draft (or before you deliver the draft).

Want more insight into pricing your resume services? Check out “Pricing Right: Price Your Career Services With Confidence.”