Day 3: Valentine's Day and Resume Writing!

Several years ago, I wrote a news release entitled, "Looking for a Job is a Lot Like Looking for Love." I wrote about it in a previous blog post (2007), but today's post is not specifically about getting publicity for your resume writing business. (If it was, I should have written this post two weeks ago, because tying your business to a special event through publicity requires a bit of lead time!)


Tying your resume writing business to a special event (or holiday, in this case), can be done in a couple of ways:

• Write a themed blog post. One of my favorite for Valentine's Day is Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter's story about how she and her husband met (on Match.com).
• Host a sale or special offer. This can be a one-day, one-week or month-long special -- a "We Love Our Customers" promotion, a gift with purchase, or if you sell information products, a bundle offer.
• Send cards to your customers. Several resume writers send out Christmas or holiday cards to their clients -- but how many of them send them for Valentine's Day? This type of keep-in-touch marketing can spur repeat business and referrals.

If you're planning on tying your resume writing business to a holiday, be sure to give it some thought a few weeks ahead of time, and get the word out in advance. (And consider creating a public relations campaign around your efforts too! You'll find some good resources in this previous blog post.)

This is the third in a series of blog posts as part of "The Jessica Swanson 50-Day Blog Post Challenge." Today's challenge is: "Relate your small business to a special event."


Clip art courtesy of 1ClipArt

Day 2: Biased "Resume Writer" Evaluation Websites

I wrote about this type of website before -- the website that purports to "rate" professional resume writing services, but is really a shill (or shell!) site for a resume writing company with multiple websites. My initial post on the subject got more than 20 responses.

Here's the latest website of this type -- Resume Shopper.

My problem with Resume Shopper is that they advertise The "Top 7 Resume Sites" but it appears to be a site that resume sites can pay to advertise one (and therefore be listed as a "TOP" resume site). Furthermore, in looking at the sites that are linked, it appears that they are all owned by the same company, as the contact information for many of the sites is "535 W. South Boulder Road, Suite 240, Lafayette, CO 80026." (That's the contact address for KSA-Help, Federal-Resumes.us, Career Change Resumes, and Entry-Level-Resumes.)

Furthermore, although Resumes Guaranteed lists "Andrew Greenstein" as a member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (which he is), according to their website, he's not using the official PARW logo, which is strange. Here are the logos he displays:

1-on-1-resumes, which Greenstein also owns, is also listed as one of the "Top 7" sites. Resume Perfection, another of the sites listed, has the same design/structure as 1-on-1 Resumes and even references 1-on-1 Resumes:

I think this is deceptive advertising. There is certainly nothing wrong with having multiple sites dedicated to different segments of the job market (i.e., an executive-targeted site, a new-college-grad website, etc.), but setting up a website that purports to be an objective source of information about resume writing services (saying, "NO resume service is permitted to advertise here until they have been thoroughly reviewed and tested by our analysts") is misleading to consumers.

And it reflects poorly on our industry. This is a scam that reputable resume writers don't engage in.

This is the second in a series of blog posts as part of the "The Jessica Swanson 50-Day Blog Post Challenge." Today's challenge is: "Expose a scam in your industry."

Facebook Fan Page Resources

Great blog post by Joan Stewart (The Publicity Hound) about what to do if your Facebook Fan Page disappears.  The best resource in the blog post is Facebook expert Mari Smith's listing of 120+ Facebook forms that will help you reach the right person.

Day 1: What I Love About the Careers Industry

Today is the first day in my quest to complete "The Jessica Swanson 50-Day Blog Post Challenge."

Today's blog post is based on Idea #49: Talk about what you love about your industry.


There is lots to love about the careers industry. For one thing, there is a spirit of cooperation (not competition) that I've seen throughout my 15 years of involvement in the industry ... and that hasn't diminished, even though resume writers now technically "compete" against one another for clients (which wasn't the case as much in the 1990s, when geography primarily determined which resume writer you worked with). From sharing ideas and information on e-lists and at conferences, I was amazed at how much resume writers were willing to share with their colleagues ... and this hasn't changed.

The careers industry is also great for someone like me, with what I call "mild ADD." I'm your typical entrepreneur -- I like wearing lots of hats, and I get bored if I work on the same thing every day. The careers industry is perfect for this. I can write resumes for a huge variety of industries (if I want -- or I can specialize). If I don't want to write resumes, I can be a career coach. I can teach job interviewing skills. I can produce informational products for job seekers. I can work for myself, or I can be a subcontract writer and never have to talk to a job-seeker directly, if I don't want to. I can write career-related books. And I can do all of those things in the same week, if I want.

There's always something new to learn in the careers industry. It's like being a scientist, or a pioneer. You're constantly learning new things and testing new theories. Fifteen years ago (heck, 5 years ago!), there wasn't social media. Writing LinkedIn profiles for clients are all the rage now. Looking back at the January/February 2000 issue (11 years ago), you can see how things had changed. Back then, I remember, working from a home office was pretty hotly debated. Now 76% of resume writers work from a home office (according to the 2009 Resume Writers' Digest Industry Survey). Also in that issue was an article, "Resumes Stink: Start Asking for a Portfolio." Funny.

The careers industry is also great because it offers the potential for great income for resume writers. Whether you write 1-2 resumes a week or 10 or more, you can make a couple hundred dollars, up to a six-figure income. It all depends on what you want to specialize in, what kinds of clients you want to work with, whether you want to work with clients yourself or subcontract, and how much you charge.

What do you love about the careers industry? Leave me a comment below.