Three of My Favorite Resume Writers To Read

Every day, I read the excellent writing of my resume writing colleagues ... and I wanted to make sure you're aware of them too! Got five minutes? Check out these three blogs. They're all "Bridget-approved" as being "resume-writer friendly." That means you won't find information on these blogs that I wouldn't share with my own clients.

Here are three of my favorites (in no particular order):

Julie Walraven of Design Resumes
Practical advice you can put "to work" right away
Here's one of my recent favorites from Julie:
"The Secret To Finding Your Accomplishments Or Resume Stories"

Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter of CareerTrend
She uses nautical themes and imagery to guide career journeys.
Here's one of my recent favorites from Jacqui:
Disrupt Your Resume Beyond LinkedIn's Borders

Jason Alba of JibberJobber.com
Sometimes controversial; always thought-provoking.
Here's one of my recent favorites from Jason:
"How To: Word Cloud and Key Word Analysis of Job Descriptions and Resumes"

How Do I Create Fillable Forms for My Resume Clients? (Q&A)

Every day, I get questions from resume writers! I reprint many of them on here to help other resume writers! Here's today's question!

Question:
I just updated my client agreement and some of my other forms and my graphic designer created some pretty PDFs for clients to fill out. How do I make these PDFs fillable forms so the clients can just put the information online and send it to me?

My Answer:
There are three options for giving clients an interactive way to complete your client forms. (And I would still post the "pretty" PDF versions for folks who don't want to provide their information online in any way, shape or form!)

The first allows you to use your actual PDFs. The only reliable method I know of to allow you to do that is using Adobe Acrobat Pro software:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/convert-existing-forms-to-fillable-pdfs.html

It's now available as a monthly subscription vs. what it used to be as a one-time $$$$ cost.

There's also folks on Fiverr.com that will do this for you for a small fee.
Here's one:
http://www.fiverr.com/pdfhelper/create-pdf-fillable-forms-for-your-company

There are a couple of "knock-off" "fillable PDF" converters, but I can't speak to their reliability:
http://www.pdffiller.com
http://www.PDFill.com

The second is to use an online form builder.
I personally use FormSite. You can see an example of a FormSite form here:
http://acasseroletogo.com/onlineordering.html

You can also link FormSite to payment providers (like Authorize.net and PayPal) so that the client can securely provide their payment information online when they submit their information too.

(My husband is a website designer, and he uses FormSite on his client sites.)

JotForm (http://www.jotform.com) probably has similar functionality and like I said, if you use WordPress, you can use online forms like Gravity Forms, Ninja Forms as WordPress plug-ins.

The third option is a fillable Word document.
(Bronze members of BeAResumeWriter.com, you can log into your BeAResumeWriter.com account and go to the Pass-Along Materials page and check out the different versions of the Resume Critique Form and LinkedIn Critique Form to see how this works in practice.)

Here are the instructions for creating a fillable Word document:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/create-a-fillable-form-HA102840128.aspx

If you have a different version of Word (not as new), Google "Fillable Word document" and the version of Word you have (i.e., Word 2003). It actually was easier to make them in the old versions, but it's still pretty simple! :-)

I hope one of those solutions helps!


Note: None of these links are affiliate links, and I can't vouch for any of the services mentioned, except FormSite, which I personally use.

Q&A: Help, I'm Spending Too Much Time on the Information-Gathering Process for Client Resumes

This is the latest in a series of Q&A posts. Every day, I get questions from resume writers -- and I share my answers publicly with you!

I’m finding that I’m spending way too much time on the interview process (I sort of knew that already), and I’d like to figure out a way to streamline that. Do you have any good resources for the client interview process?

 

What I’m doing is creating and emailing them a customized word document (from a template I’ve created) with questions specific to their career, taken from their resume (to add detail to good bullet points), and job posts that they send me (I require that they send at least one – I create questions to fill in missing information on their resume which the job post specifically calls for), questions lifted from Resume Writer’s Secret Room, as well as information about their technical proficiencies, leadership skills, employment gaps, etc. etc.

 

The customized interview definitely works very well in terms of getting the info for an exceptionally good resume, and clients have repeatedly told me that the interview has made a significant difference in their job interview preparation. It’s an awesome service for my clients. However, it takes me up to 2 hours to prepare the interview, and some clients come back to me wanting to deliver their responses via phone or in person, which can take up to an additional 2 hours for complex projects. Four hours spent on the interview alone is NOT a profitable process!

 

I’d like to cut back on the amount of time I spend on this process, but I don’t want to lose the value of what I’m providing. I put my clients through what more than a few have called a “grueling” resume development interview, and they come back and thank me for it and refer their friends.

 

I’m constantly tweaking my interview template document, removing standard questions that don’t work or adding standard questions which can streamline the customization process. When I customize the document for a client project, I delete the questions or sections that don’t apply and add questions specific to their resume/career. That’s helped a little, but not enough.

Here's my response!

I have a couple of resources and suggestions to offer.

The first is already included in your Bronze BeAResumeWriter.com membership. 

Log into your account and go to the Expert Interviews Series page 2, teleseminar #9:

Write Great Resumes Faster teleseminar

(non-members can buy the recording and transcript for just $5)

You'll learn how getting better at the pre-writing process will help you save time on the resumes you write.

It's also about collecting the RIGHT information.

You can also purchase my teleseminar that I did for the NRWA last year:

Ask Better Questions, Write Better Resumes

This one specifically addresses the information-gathering process.

A related issue that I see is that you don't feel like the time you're spending is "valuable" (you said "profitable") -- which usually suggests that you're not charging enough!

(I looked at your website and see that your "average" resume is around $409 for a resume/cover letter. You're below the industry average of ~$500, so there is room to grow there.)

One way to direct clients to do things YOUR WAY is to give them the option, but CHARGE MORE for the way you LEAST prefer.

For example, if they provide information via custom questionnaire (which is the strategy I use with clients, and I do it just like you do!), the cost is "x."

If they don't want to do a form and they want me to interview them to collect the data, the cost is "x-plus" -- with the "plus" being the value you place on your time (your billable hour rate x the number of hours to conduct the phone interview -- i.e, x1 or x1.5, etc.).

You can use this worksheet to calculate your hourly rate:

http://www.rwdigest.com/DeterminingYourRatesWorksheet.pdf

Or, alternatively, refer out clients who want to do a phone consultation (partner with a colleague who prefers to work that way, and negotiate a referral agreement for a 15% referral fee).

So... two possible ways for you to go:

1) Do the same thing, but charge more (and I love the feedback from clients that your process helps get them interview-ready too -- I'd add testimonials to that effect on the website, and make that a key BENEFIT of working with you! ... and a justification for why you charge more than the $99 resume writer)

OR

2) Use the principles in the teleseminars above to streamline your information-gathering process so that you're only collecting the information you need (believe me, I'm an information junkie! But I sometimes find myself collecting information I won't need/use, which takes time!!)

Why Create a Membership Program in Your Resume Business?

A membership site — or a membership program — is an extremely valuable tool for resume writers and career coaches. It is a great way to create customer loyalty and establish a reliable revenue stream that will help your business grow. 

But the value of a membership program is often times misunderstood. The true value of membership program is not the additional sales. It's not even the cash (although that's nice!). The true value of membership programs is all about the customer. The value of the program is all about gaining new clients and hanging on to the ones you already have. 

A successful membership program requires an investment from you. An investment of your time, your money and of your expertise.

Here are some guidelines to follow for a successful membership program:

• Membership programs are the art of acquisition and retention.
• Membership programs can and will increase your revenue stream.
• Membership programs inherently builds loyalty through mutually beneficial customer relationships.
• Keep your prices reasonable and allow room to upsell. (I recommend Kelly McCausey's "Little Monthly Payments" program — but, as Kelly says, you won't get rich on a LMP, so it's important to use your membership strategically.)
• Apply the multi-level membership model to your program to entice more customers to become members.
• Nothing adds value like offering value. 
• Visibility is key.

You will also need to keep in mind some common business practices to ensure your success:

• Communication. Communication is absolutely critical to the success of your membership program. You must communicate with your members to let them know you are committed. You also want to serve as a constant reminder that your business is of value to them. They have to be made to feel as though they need you, because ultimately, you need them.

• Innovation. Whether its possible or not, you must always be certain to stay abreast of new and exciting products and offerings in the careers industry. Keep informed about what is going on in the world of job search and help your members take advantage of these new trends.

• Dedication. No matter what element of your business, be it your resume writing services, career coaching, your list or your membership site, the level of your success will be directly related to the level of your dedication. The more dedicated you are to your business and your clients, the more success you will see. 

These themes are not "new" but remain absolutely critical to the success of any resume writing business. Why? Because without communication, your clients wouldn't know who you are or what you have to offer. Without innovation, your resume writing business can never move forward. And without dedication, you will not succeed.

All of the important principles you have applied to make your business successful still apply. Your membership site and program should simply serve as an extension of your efforts.

However, what happens when their membership expires? How do you keep your clients coming back for more? The key to customer renewal is value!

You must entice with value, deliver value, and entice with value again.

For example, when initially trying to entice a client to become a member, you may offer a free special report or benefit as a perk to signing up for your program. People love free stuff! Don't you?

Once you have made this promise, you then must deliver on it. In other words, make sure you provide them with that product as soon as possible so they know you can be trusted. And reinforce your value by enticing members with value again. One of the ideas I've had for a membership site is to make resume updates profitable by tying them to a membership program. For example, if an existing client becomes a member of my membership site at $10/month, after one year, they receive a resume update certificate. Getting them to update their resume every year is a good idea anyway, and this way, you're receiving ongoing revenue from the client in the meantime too … while also staying in touch with them regularly so you can market affiliate products and services to them too!

Incentives are absolutely critical to gaining clients and renewing memberships. The incentives you offer should add a high perceived value to your clients without costing you much if any resources at all. You may want to offer a set discount for membership renewal, exclusive free bonus materials for returning members only, or both! Just be careful not to give away everything for free. You must be strategic when offering incentives.

There are many reasons membership programs are valuable. But clients are at the heart and soul of what makes this so true. Without members, there is no revenue stream. And without a revenue stream, your membership site has no value. Therfore, the true value of membership marketing is the customer.

If you apply these basic marketing principles to all that you do, coupled with the knowledge of how to provide value to the job seekers you serve, and a well-devised membership campaign, and you will achieve success.

Now, get out there and make it happen!