want me to review your resume? by Alison Green on August 21, 2012 As I’ve mentioned before, I get a lot of requests to give people feedback on their resumes, but because it’s time-consuming to do it well, I usually turn them down unless they’re friends or family. But for a short time, I’m re-opening the resume review offer that I ran a year ago. The cost: $75 What you’ll get: As you can probably tell by the price, I’m not going to entirely rewrite your resume for you. People who do that charge a lot more. What you’ll get for 75 bucks: I’ll read your resume, I’ll give you suggestions for improving it, I’ll tell you where I think it’s weak and where I think it’s strong. I’ll tell you if your design sucks. I’ll tell you if you’re coming across as generic and/or unimpressive and how to fix it if you are. I’ll tell you what you need to change to have a resume that will make a hiring manager excited to interview you. (And because I obsessively edit things, I might not be able to stop myself from editing it too. Fair warning.) To be clear, this isn’t multiple rounds of revisions, or a rewrite service, or anything like that. It’s really just a bunch of notes on what I’d like to see you doing differently — what a hiring manager might think when looking at your resume. Limited time: I don’t want to be a full-time resume reviewer, so this offer is only good for this week, not something I’ll be offering regularly. So if you want it, lock it in now. Update: Due to overwhelming demand, I’m semi-closing this offer on midnight Wednesday (August 22). If you purchase a review after that, please be warned that I might not get feedback to you until mid-September. (For those of you who’d rather not spend the cash, a lower-price alternative is to buy my ebook, How to Get a Job: Secrets of a Hiring Manager, where you’ll find lots of resume advice — just not customized to your particular resume. In fact, if you buy it this week, you can get a 20% discount by using this code: august2012 ) { 28 comments }
Katy* August 21, 2012 at 7:58 am I jumped on this and just did a paypal transaction–do I just send you my resume now? Any special subject line? Thank you for offering this! :)
Josh S* August 21, 2012 at 9:04 am If it works like last time, she’ll email you shortly with directions for the next steps. Well worth the $75!! (And I even got to teach Alison what a daypart is. :p)
Heather* August 21, 2012 at 8:07 am Did this last year. So worth it-I had a resume I was proud of for both job and grad school apps.
Judy* August 21, 2012 at 9:01 am If I sign up for this now, could I send the resume in a few weeks? I’ve been meaning to update my resume, but I’d like to get it closer to what I want before sharing.
Ask a Manager* Post authorAugust 21, 2012 at 10:16 am Sure! Just let me know in response to the instructions I’ll send you after receiving payment.
Ask a Manager* Post authorAugust 21, 2012 at 10:17 am A couple of times I’ve told people they can use this offer for their cover letter instead of their resume …. although in the interest of candor, there’s usually less detailed feedback to give on a cover letter, so if I were running a cover letter specific offer, I’d probably price it a little differently.
Liz T* August 21, 2012 at 9:36 am I want to do this, but I suspect I know what you’ll say–that it needs to focus more on accomplishments and less on job description. I do that in some places, and those parts sing a lot more than the rest of the résumé, but I’m not sure what to about the jobs where I temped for a little while, and it was fine, and it’s mostly on my résumé to show there wasn’t a large gap in my employment. (Unless “Successfully refrained from punching dumb hedge funders” is an accomplishment worth bragging about?)
Elizabeth West* August 21, 2012 at 12:06 pm Oh, I wish I could do this. Maybe next time. I just don’t have the money right now.
Rachel* August 21, 2012 at 12:16 pm There was no way I could pass this up! I am looking for a career change and I need all the help I can get. Thank you Alison!
Cheska* August 21, 2012 at 1:10 pm Thank you for offering this again! I’ve been waiting for this for a while. So excited!
Job Seeker* August 21, 2012 at 3:11 pm Alison, I am so glad you are doing this. My resume is so lack-luster that I am surprised that I have gotten some interviews with this. I do need suggestions on how to make it better. I am in the process of helping a parent with some health issues and have opened my home up to her staying with my family. I am still job-searching, but not as hard as I will be in a month or so. Life happens and I am glad I can be there for my mother, as she was for me growing up. My resume is not anything special but I would love to have suggestions on how to explain gaps from family life. Thank you for this wonderful website and any editing from you would really be appreciated.
Kristi* August 21, 2012 at 4:00 pm Yes, thank you for offering this! Not only a good investment but very affordably priced.
JT* August 21, 2012 at 6:42 pm I mean, I just don’t think that an entry-level resume is going to require that much time as opposed to someone more experienced…. just saying.
MC* August 21, 2012 at 8:28 pm How would you even prove that you’re a student…by adding a “candidate for Bachelor of XYZ” line in the resume? Anyone can do that and get the discount then, and just take it out from the resume. But cynicism aside, sure, an entry level resume may have less complex tasks, but then I’m sure the reviewer has to think of ways that will make you stand out from the 1000s of other entry-level people out there that just graduated or are graduating. This seems like an equally challenging task to polishing an experienced candidate’s resume, not to mention, their competition is probably a *slightly* smaller group of people. It’s also a possibility that a student never wrote a proper resume before, this being their first job, so there is more criticism to offer. ( Just my take on the possibilities here! :))
Ask a Manager* Post authorAugust 21, 2012 at 8:30 pm Yeah, entry-level resumes often come with their own set of challenges!
Anonymous* August 21, 2012 at 8:57 pm It would be nice to have a post or even an open comment post about how to write a resume for those that work in other field that have different requirements for their resumes – not-for-profit, academia, governmental, research, or IT come to mind. The basics are the same (spellcheck!), but there are some quirks that are unique to some fields.
Ask a Manager* Post authorAugust 21, 2012 at 8:58 pm That’s a good idea. (Nonprofit is the same though — my whole background is in nonprofit so believe me that the stuff I talk about works in that sector!)
AC* August 21, 2012 at 9:49 pm This is so tempting!!! I am looking for a new job but I am also interested in applying for an Erasmus Mundus Master Scholarship. USD$ 75.00 is a lot but it is cheap if it helps me get a EUR 15,000 scholarship. Hope I can make up my mind in time… I have a problem listing my accomplishments. I feel like I stand out in my client service job but there are no metrics in the company that can help me measure my performance.
Susan* August 22, 2012 at 12:45 pm This is AWESOME. I am coming off a 4-month sabbatical and starting to look for work, and I can’t wait to get your feedback and suggestions. Woot!