Teena's Looking for Writers to Interview

Teena Rose, author of "Start Your Resume Writing Business: The Ultimate Resource for Building a $100,000 Resume-Writing Business" is looking for resume writers to interview for her blog, Start, Operate, Profit! Resume Writing Business.

If you are interested in being profiled (look her for her new interview with Robyn Feldberg), contact Teena at teena(at)resumetoreferral.com (replace the (at) with an @ sign).

New Unemployment Claims Down, But Continuing Claims Rise

The U.S. Department of Labor released its most recent statistics on unemployment today, and the findings show that while unemployment has stabilized over the past 3-4 weeks (meaning there aren't as many newly unemployed), those who are currently out of work are taking longer to find new jobs.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment fell 12,000 last week -- initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined to a seasonally adjusted 631,000 in the week ended May 16 -- but the number of people still receiving benefits after drawing an initial week of aid increased by 75,000, to 6.6 million.

What does this mean for resume writers? In simple terms, a need to continue to encourage clients to persevere in their search. There are certainly jobs out there, but clients will have to work harder (using their network and following up) to identify and secure positions. 

Making a point to emphasize a holistic approach to the search -- not just developing and distributing the resume (the equivalent of giving the job searcher a fish, rather than teaching him or her to fish). 

New 10 Questions Survey

One of the things we ask of subscribers to the free Resume Writers Digest newsletter is that they participate in our periodic surveys. Previous surveys have focused on subcontracting, "Write Great Resumes Faster," conference attendance, and our annual "Industry Survey."

Our latest request for your participation -- a question for resume writers OR career coaches -- is: "What question(s) do you ask your clients?" I'm trying to identify 10 "key" questions.

Can you help? Take a minute to fill out the survey -- or e-mail me your questions/questionnaire at rwdigest@aol.com.

The results of the survey will be the basis for an article in the next issue of Resume Writers' Digest.

The responses I've gotten so far are FABULOUS! Keep them coming!

More Analysis of the Resume Writing Industry

Yesterday, I wrote about my analysis of how many resume writing firms I believe are out there.

I thought I'd share some further data about how I think commercial list compilers are under-reporting the actual number of resume writers out there.

Another commercial list I found identified 809 resume writing firms. Take a look at the numbers reported from your state and see how that compares to your experience:

AK = 1

AL = 8

AK = 5

AZ = 20

CA = 75

CO = 14

CT = 19

DE = 3

FL = 50

GA = 18

IA = 10

ID = 2

IL = 43

IN = 12

KS = 9

KY = 9

LA = 6

MA = 25

MD = 26

ME = 5

MI = 19

MN = 25

MO = 24

MS = 6

MT = 2

NC = 25

ND = 1

NE  = 4

NH = 6

NJ = 32

NM = 1

NV = 4

NY = 62

OH = 39

OK = 5

OR = 8

PA = 48

RI = 4

SC = 6

SD = 1

TN = 12

TX = 52

UT = 2

VA = 27

UT = 1

WA = 15

WI = 14

WV = 2

WY = 2

In my case, I live in Nebraska. Although I wasn't able to see WHICH four firms were listed, I was able to analyze them by city/county, and none of them were listed for Omaha, which is the largest city in the state.

Just looking in one of my local phone books (Dex Yellow Pages), I identified five firms (in addition to my own). One of these is a recruiting firm with a resume writer on staff; the others are sole proprietorships. Interestingly, one of my oldest firms in the city isn't currently listed, so that's at least one more writer that isn't being counted.