A very angry woman told me this week she felt ‘ripped off’ by a local ‘writer’ who merely retyped her old resume in to a standard resume template nicked from Google and charged her $300.00.

The ‘writer’ didn’t market her unique selling points, didn’t write her achievements and the final product was unstructured and full of grammar errors.

People are right to be suspicious about the credibility of some resume writers. Many state on Google maps that they trade out of Adelaide but they’re based in Sydney, Perth or the Gold Coast. Not a good start to building a professional relationship.

I’ve listed nine points that will help you in your search for a reputable resume writer.

1. Have they worked in recruitment or as professional writers as opposed to a secretarial service?
2. Are they accredited with any professional writing organisation such as the HRIA, or Career Directors International?
3. Can they show you samples of their work?
4. How long have they been writing resumes and what is their success rate? ie, how many people have gotten to the interview stage on the basis of the resume?
5. Do they have more than 20 Google reviews and are those reviews recent and mainly positive?
6. Have they written resumes for people in your profession?
7. Do they provide after sales service such as updating the resume? If so, how much does that cost?
8. How much do they charge? Most professional resume writers charge between $50-$75 per hour. Executive resumes may cost up to $400 in total and mid level resumes will cost about $250. The cost depends on how long they take.
9. Ask if they will provide you with drafts of the resume so you can see it being created. They should also provide the final copy in Word.

It’s not unusual for some writers to charge 50 percent of the fee upfront. Never pay the total fee upfront. Only pay when you’re satisfied with the product.

Resume writing is a science and an art but any good resume writer will be busy so allow at least a week turn-around time.