Do you need to hire a professional resume writer or career coach?

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Why do we hire anyone?

You can’t answer the question in the headline until you examine the connection of why anyone is hired. We hire people for multiple reasons:

1. They have a skill we need. Frankly, that’s why the word job exists. They do something better than we can.
2. They have knowledge we don’t have.
3. They will cut the time shorter than if we tried to do it ourselves.

• If you need to fix your car, you hire an auto mechanic who has the ability to diagnosis the problem and fix it. If you are like me, you are probably not going to even change your oil by yourself much less replace the brakes or install a new radiator.
• If you hire a personal trainer, their skills and knowledge in teaching you how to improve your physical health with exercise is what you are looking for and you don’t know how to do it alone. Or perhaps you don’t have the motivation to keep on a plan without a coach to lead you.
• If you hire a doctor, they know more about your illness and how to treat it than you do. And by using their services, you will get well quicker than you would on your own.

This brings me back to the question, why hire a professional resume writer or career coach?

If they have the writing skills to help you write a better resume than you could and can walk you through the maze of job search options out there, then it might make sense.

I had a conversation on Google+ with someone who was bothered by the idea of using a resume writer. I think he was reacting to the title and opening lines of a recent post:

Resume writers have many tools used for information gathering and targeting the resume. Without those tools, your resume is mundane. How can the employer see how you would be an asset to the company if your resume looks just like every other resume in the database?

He wondered why a resume writer made a difference and why having a resume writer craft a resume based on the applicant’s own accomplishments is needed at all. Basically, he wondered why they couldn’t do it themselves. And he is not alone in his question.

Social media has made the little known career industry far more visible and it may seem like there is a resume writer or career coach around every corner. And that can make it seem overwhelming to have so many messages about job search coming at you from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.

I answered him on Google+ but because his question is possibly one you are asking too, I will share my answer:

It appears that writing is not a problem for you and thinking of your accomplishments is not a problem for you but there are many other people who don’t have your talents. They struggle to pull words together, thinking of their accomplishments draws a blank, not because they don’t have them, they just don’t think in those terms.

You are totally right about the need to network but you have to know what you are going to say and be able to at some point present those details in clear, articulate ways. The resume does that for the applicant.

There are people who are highly skilled and do their homework and can manage their own job search effectively including writing their own resume. But there are also people who don’t have those skills or perhaps the desire.

I have neither the skills or the desire to change my own oil so I hire someone. I am sure that whatever your talents are, you know someone who doesn’t want to do what you do, so they hire you. It is the principle of work. My work is helping people to find success in their job search.

A little known fact is that many of the clients of resume writers and career coaches are employed.

In the almost 30 years I have been in the career industry, I have helped many people find new positions within their own companies, find more challenging careers, and work that they love. They invested in professional services because they knew it would make a difference in helping them reach their goals. Upward movement and lateral movements into different companies are common for my employed clients but I also have helped many a job seeker who struggled trying to find a new position get on the right track.

So what’s the answer?

Do you need to hire a professional resume writer or career coach? It depends. If you have the skills, knowledge, and time and want to do it yourself, no. But if you feel like you would benefit from a professional’s skills or knowledge, then do your homework and find a professional that meets your needs.