A Great Time to Be a Resume Writer

Open the newspaper or turn on the news, and you'll see that the sky is falling. Companies are laying off workers left and right; government bailouts are everywhere, and unemployment is projected to reach 8 percent by June 2009.

It's a great time to be a resume writer.

Resume writing is truly one of the recession-proof careers out there. In bad economic times, people need resumes to set themselves apart when competing for scarce jobs; in good economic times, clients use their resumes to earn raises and find even better opportunities.

Interested in getting started in the business? I recommend "Starting a Home- or Office-Based Resume Business" by Teena Rose. It provides practical advice and guidance for starting your resume writing service.

And, of course, be sure to read our great archives on this blog for more advice about marketing, public relations, client management, and more!

Currently, I have approximately 4,000 resume writers in my database -- working to serve more than 80 million American job seekers. There are plenty of clients out there ... what are you waiting for?

Using GoToMeeting in Your Resume Writing Business

The advertisement is tempting: "Don't waste time, money and energy traveling to a meeting. With GoToMeeting you can have unlimited online meetings, presentations, and demonstrations with anyone, anywhere -- right from your computer."

It costs $49/month (or $468 a year) for unlimited meetings with up to 15 attendees. It also offers integrated conference calling.

I'm wondering how you could use this service in your resume writing business -- working with clients virtually ... and whether it's even needed. Do you really need to show clients your presentation materials in real-time, or could you send them the PowerPoint presentation via e-mail and then talk them through it?

I could definitely see the use for this in managing outplacement services ...

I could also see it used by resume writers that want to offer a "service demo" once a week for prospects -- you could walk them through a resume critique and show the different job search documents that you create ...

It would also be good for "Get Hired Now!" participants -- you could walk them through the workshop interactively, instead of just by phone. They could actually SEE their action plans and how they develop.

Other applications? Suggestions?

Free Services

I found an old article I had clipped from Business 2.0 magazine fron October 2006 that has some interesting applications for resume writers. I'm not sure how to apply it yet, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway.

The article is "Business Models: Why It Pays to Give Away the Store."

"Once upon a time, in the bad old days of business, giving away a product without charge was unheard of. Sure, Estee Lauder gave samples to celebrities and Gillette sold its razors cheap and made money on the blades But free didn't become a serious option until the Internet gave us low-cost online distribution.

The strategy has become so common that venture capitalists have coined a term for it: freemium. The lucrative flipping of the companies behind Blogger, Flickr, MySpace, and Skype -- all of them free services that offer a premium component -- has led to hundreds of imitators."

How can resume writers take advantage of this? By offering a free resume review and tips. There are even websites offering free resume samples that are funded by advertising revenue.

Career coaches can offer a 15-minute free consultation, or free podcasts.

What are your ideas?

Age Discrimination in the Job Search

An AARP study found that 79 percent of baby boomers expect to work at least part-time when they "retire" and the federal government predicts that the number of people over 55 who are working will rise 49 percent between 2002 and 2012.

Age discrimination is a complicated legal concept -- and discrimination may be difficult to prove. For example, a candidate may be deemed "overqualified" as a way to justify not hiring them because they are too old.

Employees and job applicants who are 40 years old or older are protected from age discrimination by both federal and state laws. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against employees and job applicants who are 40 or older and work for an employer with at least 20 employees, including state and local governments. It also prohibits employment agencies, the federal government, and labor organizations (such as unions) with at least 25 members, from discriminating against individuals based on age.

Employers who meet these requirements may not discriminate against workers ages 40 and older in hiring, firing, compensation, benefits, terms, conditions, or any other aspect of employment, because of their age.

They may not retaliate against an individual who complains about age discrimination or helps the government investigate an age discrimination charge.

The ADEA allows an employee or job applicant who believes they have been discriminated against based on their age to file a charge against an employer, employment agency, union, or government agency. Charges are filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal government agency that is responsible for investigating the charge.

There are a few exceptions to the ADEA -- for example, there are jobs where an employer must be able to provide that an age limit is necessary for adequate job performance. There are also companies that mandate that their executives and high-level policymaking employees retire at a certain age.