I'm creating an index of all the previous issues of Resume Writers' Digest, and came across an article in the September/October 1999 issue on "What's In a Name? Guidelines for Naming Your Business." (The 1999, 2000, and 2001 issues are all available on the Resume Writers' Digest website for free download.)
The article gives a couple of key tips for naming (or renaming) your resume writing business.
1. Plan to accommodate future services. If you are planning to offer more than just resume services, you will need to make sure your company name can encompass a diverse range of services. Thomas P. Gove, president of The Original Resume, faced this challenge in 1988 when he named his company. "I had a vision of creating much more than just a resume company, something different, something unique, something 'original," he says. His company provides resume writing services, permanent recruiting services, and consulting services for businesses.
2. Pick a name that fits your niche. Choose a name that reflects the audience you want to attract, or the niche you want your business to fill.
"The name to most people does mean that they will be getting a product that reflects the trends in the marketplace," says Jean Cummings, of A Resume for Today. "People will say, "I wanted a resume for today.' No one so far has interpreted it to mean I will turn it around in one day."
3. Consider making a change if your current business name isn't working. Nancy L. Barker, previously of Busume Resumes & DTP decided to change her business name after she noticed new clients were having trouble with the name. "I think the last straw was when a recent client couldn't seem to pronounce it (even though he heard me say it so many times) and insisted upon saying 'bosom-ay.' Ack!"
Here's a link to a previous post on naming your business.
Ideas, information, and resources for professional resume writers.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Job Search Expenses May be Tax Deductible
Don't forget to remind your clients that their job search expenses (and your services!!) may be tax deductible. From Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine:
"You can deduct many of the expenses related to your job search -- whether or not you end up getting hired -- as long as the new job is in the same field as your current job. The same rules apply when you're leaving the military, as long as you can prove your new job uses the same skills as your old one, says Martin Nissenbaum, national director of personal income-tax planning for Ernst & Young.
As long as you are looking in the same field, you can deduct most expenses related to the search (but only to the extent that they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income, and only if you itemize.)
Find more information on About.com or in IRS Publication 529.
The following items may be deductible:
"You can deduct many of the expenses related to your job search -- whether or not you end up getting hired -- as long as the new job is in the same field as your current job. The same rules apply when you're leaving the military, as long as you can prove your new job uses the same skills as your old one, says Martin Nissenbaum, national director of personal income-tax planning for Ernst & Young.
As long as you are looking in the same field, you can deduct most expenses related to the search (but only to the extent that they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income, and only if you itemize.)
Find more information on About.com or in IRS Publication 529.
The following items may be deductible:
- Resume and job coaching services
- Employment agency fees
- The cost of job-hunting phone calls and mailings
- The cost of printing resumes
- The cost or transportation and lodging when you travel for job-search meetings
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Five Rules for Keeping Clients Happy
This article originally appeared in the first issue of Resume Writers' Digest. Eight years later, the information is still relevant. Enjoy!
Use these guidelines as an informal set of "rules" you can use to keep clients happy with the services you provide.
1. Keep clients informed about the current job market. Be a news source for your resume clients. Let them know what is going on in the overall job market as well as within their own industry. Read career magazines. If you specialize in an industry -- for example, healthcare professionals -- check out industry publications at the library, or take a subscription yourself.
2. Know what's important to clients. Would your client sacrifice an increase in salary for some time off? Are they looking for a job without evening or weekend hours? Having a good idea of your client's prorities can save their time -- and yours -- by weeding out job opportunities that clearly don't match up with what is important to them.
3. Stay in touch. After a year or two, it's easy to lose contact. But you can position yourself for repeat business -- and happy customers -- by keeping in touch with clients even after they've found their dream job.
Send out a note of congratulations when they get the job or for birthdays, graudations, and other significant dates.
4. Be punctual. Never be unprepared for a scheduled appointment. And, if you say you're going to send something, do it right then.
If you are sloppy with handling the routine details of the resume writing transaction, the client will take that as an indication that you are sloppy in other areas as well. He or she may begin to distrust your recommendations.
5. Confidentiality is key. Sometimes clients jeopardize their jobs simply by preparing their resume. One client relayed the story of a colleague who had submitted his resume "confidentially" to a job fair. It turns out his current employer was participating in the job fair. Confronted with the evidence that he was "job shopping," he was pressured to resign.
Don't put your client's job at risk. If you call him or her at work, leave only your name, not your company name or why you are calling -- even if you get the person's voice mail. You can never tell who is monitoring voice mail or e-mail nowadays.
Advise your client about confidentiality issues -- such as not responding to blind post office box advertisements or faxing a resume for distribution at a career fair. Change names and identifying details on sample resumes. Destroy draft copies of resumes and don't leave documents out where they can be seen.
Following these five simple guidelines can help assure that your client stays happy with you -- and the services you provide.
-- From the July/August 1999 issue of Resume Writers' Digest (p. 4)
Use these guidelines as an informal set of "rules" you can use to keep clients happy with the services you provide.
1. Keep clients informed about the current job market. Be a news source for your resume clients. Let them know what is going on in the overall job market as well as within their own industry. Read career magazines. If you specialize in an industry -- for example, healthcare professionals -- check out industry publications at the library, or take a subscription yourself.
2. Know what's important to clients. Would your client sacrifice an increase in salary for some time off? Are they looking for a job without evening or weekend hours? Having a good idea of your client's prorities can save their time -- and yours -- by weeding out job opportunities that clearly don't match up with what is important to them.
3. Stay in touch. After a year or two, it's easy to lose contact. But you can position yourself for repeat business -- and happy customers -- by keeping in touch with clients even after they've found their dream job.
Send out a note of congratulations when they get the job or for birthdays, graudations, and other significant dates.
4. Be punctual. Never be unprepared for a scheduled appointment. And, if you say you're going to send something, do it right then.
If you are sloppy with handling the routine details of the resume writing transaction, the client will take that as an indication that you are sloppy in other areas as well. He or she may begin to distrust your recommendations.
5. Confidentiality is key. Sometimes clients jeopardize their jobs simply by preparing their resume. One client relayed the story of a colleague who had submitted his resume "confidentially" to a job fair. It turns out his current employer was participating in the job fair. Confronted with the evidence that he was "job shopping," he was pressured to resign.
Don't put your client's job at risk. If you call him or her at work, leave only your name, not your company name or why you are calling -- even if you get the person's voice mail. You can never tell who is monitoring voice mail or e-mail nowadays.
Advise your client about confidentiality issues -- such as not responding to blind post office box advertisements or faxing a resume for distribution at a career fair. Change names and identifying details on sample resumes. Destroy draft copies of resumes and don't leave documents out where they can be seen.
Following these five simple guidelines can help assure that your client stays happy with you -- and the services you provide.
-- From the July/August 1999 issue of Resume Writers' Digest (p. 4)
Friday, December 21, 2007
Resume Writer, Career Coach, Recruiter, Executive Agent?
There are many types of professionals in the careers industry. While there can be some overlap, I thought it would be useful to clarify the jobs and roles of each professional.
Resume writers generally work for individual clients and are paid by the client to develop (and sometimes distribute) their job search documents. Resume writers may refer clients to recruiters, and may be paid a "finder's fee" for those clients, if they are placed. Resume writers may provide career coaching (either paid or unpaid). Some resume writers also do recruiting, although most do it in a "staffing agency" capacity, not as a "recruiter" per se.
Career coaches may also write resumes, although there is a definite subset of the profession that believes the client should write his/her own resume, and the coach will help "guide" them in this process. Very few career coaches that I know of function as either recruiters or executive agents.
Recruiters, in the traditional model, are paid by employers to find candidates to fill job openings. Some recruiters (also sometimes called "headhunters") will not accept unsolicited resumes from candidates; it is a "badge of honor" for some top-level recruiters to source the really-hard-to-find-candidates -- and these recruiters will find you; you don't find them. Some recruiters will work with resume writers; others see no need for resume writers ("we have our own format we use"). Most legitimate "recruiters" will not charge the candidate a fee; instead, they are paid by the employer.
The Executive Agent is the newest type of careers professional. Modeled on the professional sports agent, or entertainment industry agent, these individuals are paid by the job seeker (often a fee of $1000-$5000). The best known in the careers industry is Debra Feldman, although it could be argued that any of the top careers professionals that offer comprehensive resume writing/career coaching/job search assistance/resume distribution services fall into this category. The Executive Agent is not to be confused with the Bernard Haldane model, where job seekers pay a large fee to gain "exclusive access to the hidden job market." Instead, the Executive Agent model is much more proactive and directed, and relies heavily on the agent's network of contacts.
I wanted to define these different roles because of a question on one of the professional association listservs about the Top Gun Executive Group. From the website description, it appears the owner, Craig Chrest, is an Executive Agent, although he calls himself a recruiter. It's unclear from the site whether he also collects a fee from the hiring employer, which would put him in a sort of "dual agency" model.
In the same way that recruiters are sometimes dismissive of the services of resume writers and career coaches ("If the job seeker was any good, they wouldn't need someone to write their resume; we'd find them on our own"), resume writers (and career coaches) have to be careful not to be too dismissive of "executive agents" just because they charge clients a lot of money.
However, I foresee a time in the future when Executive Agents will be compensated like sports agents or entertainment agents ... with a percentage of the client's salary (similar to how recruiters are currently paid). Except, instead of the employer paying, it will be the job searcher. I'm not sure if the sports/entertainment industry standard of 15% will fly in this instance, but Executive Agents can expect to be well compensated for the role they make in helping highly compensated professionals and executives effectively find their next job.
Resume writers generally work for individual clients and are paid by the client to develop (and sometimes distribute) their job search documents. Resume writers may refer clients to recruiters, and may be paid a "finder's fee" for those clients, if they are placed. Resume writers may provide career coaching (either paid or unpaid). Some resume writers also do recruiting, although most do it in a "staffing agency" capacity, not as a "recruiter" per se.
Career coaches may also write resumes, although there is a definite subset of the profession that believes the client should write his/her own resume, and the coach will help "guide" them in this process. Very few career coaches that I know of function as either recruiters or executive agents.
Recruiters, in the traditional model, are paid by employers to find candidates to fill job openings. Some recruiters (also sometimes called "headhunters") will not accept unsolicited resumes from candidates; it is a "badge of honor" for some top-level recruiters to source the really-hard-to-find-candidates -- and these recruiters will find you; you don't find them. Some recruiters will work with resume writers; others see no need for resume writers ("we have our own format we use"). Most legitimate "recruiters" will not charge the candidate a fee; instead, they are paid by the employer.
The Executive Agent is the newest type of careers professional. Modeled on the professional sports agent, or entertainment industry agent, these individuals are paid by the job seeker (often a fee of $1000-$5000). The best known in the careers industry is Debra Feldman, although it could be argued that any of the top careers professionals that offer comprehensive resume writing/career coaching/job search assistance/resume distribution services fall into this category. The Executive Agent is not to be confused with the Bernard Haldane model, where job seekers pay a large fee to gain "exclusive access to the hidden job market." Instead, the Executive Agent model is much more proactive and directed, and relies heavily on the agent's network of contacts.
I wanted to define these different roles because of a question on one of the professional association listservs about the Top Gun Executive Group. From the website description, it appears the owner, Craig Chrest, is an Executive Agent, although he calls himself a recruiter. It's unclear from the site whether he also collects a fee from the hiring employer, which would put him in a sort of "dual agency" model.
In the same way that recruiters are sometimes dismissive of the services of resume writers and career coaches ("If the job seeker was any good, they wouldn't need someone to write their resume; we'd find them on our own"), resume writers (and career coaches) have to be careful not to be too dismissive of "executive agents" just because they charge clients a lot of money.
However, I foresee a time in the future when Executive Agents will be compensated like sports agents or entertainment agents ... with a percentage of the client's salary (similar to how recruiters are currently paid). Except, instead of the employer paying, it will be the job searcher. I'm not sure if the sports/entertainment industry standard of 15% will fly in this instance, but Executive Agents can expect to be well compensated for the role they make in helping highly compensated professionals and executives effectively find their next job.
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