blueskyresumesblog

What Do I Owe My Clients?

Most of our clients make almost no changes to the resumes we write. They may correct a fact here or tweak a word there, but almost always they love the resume and are eager to get started on a search.

But every now and then we have a client who needs to make more changes.

The reasons vary - some clients just have a very strong idea of what a resume should be and need the resume to look or sound the way they imagined when they purchased it. Others can't stop tinkering - they go through 7,8,9 rounds of revisions, changing different things each time until the resume bears no relation to the one I originally wrote. (Let me just stress, the clients I am describing are not unhappy with our service or angry in any way - they just feel the process is a team effort and they want to be intimately involved with every word).

And that's the problem ... when this many changes are made, I wonder what to do. The resume is no longer the one I wrote and, in my professional opinion, it's nowhere near as good as the one I wrote.

The clients who insist on these changes have usually shown their resume to friends and colleagues who have made numerous suggestions - many of which contradict each other and none of which are based on anything other than personal preference. With all due respect to your friends, dear readers, unless they have written hundreds of successful resumes, unless they follow recruitment trends, unless they have taken training in the field, they don't know what they're talking about!

As an example, I have a couple of doctor's appointments planned for next week. If the doctor recommends a test or medication, should I ask my friends whether they think it's a good idea before going ahead with it? Probably not ;-)

So do I let these changes stand? Or do I walk away from the project because I can't stand behind the product anymore?

I usually try to determine if I think the changes have destroyed the product to the point where it's no longer going to be at all effective. In these cases, I offer a refund and explain that I just can't accept money for something I can't stand behind. Surprisingly this sometimes angers the client, although I can't imagine what could be more ethical.

But if I think the resume will still be generally effective, if a little less so than when I originally wrote it, then I polish it up and send the client on his or her way. It seems churlish to refuse to work on the project just because I don't like some of the choices the client has made.

What do you think? If you pay a professional for a service, how would you want them to handle this situation?

CNN Isn't "The Place for Politics"

I am political junkie and election time is my Superbowl. (Only it goes on for MUCH longer than the Superbowl, which I'm sure drives sane people nuts but actually just gives me months and months of weird pleasure).

So anyway, we're getting close to a general election and so my TV is pretty much constantly tuned in to cable news (this despite the fact that most of it makes me want to pull my hair out in clumps as a distraction). But it's the Olympics now apparently, and that means my usual channel of choice, MSNBC, has dropped its daytime news programming in favor of people swimming and running and jumping over things.

No biggie - this morning I flicked over to CNN and caught them during one of the ad breaks, where a deep-voiced announcer told me that "CNN is the place for politics." Well great! Because that's totally why I'm standing in my kitchen eating cereal and staring at this tiny little portable TV. Guess I'll hang on and see what's going on!

So I hung and I hung and I hung. I hung on for 11 minutes while they talked about: (1) a child who fell down a chimney somewhere I've never heard of; (2) Some bad weather somewhere far away from where I live; (3) Which movies did well at the box office this weekend, and (4) The Olympics.

And that's when I remembered why I stopped watching CNN. Because this is what they do pretty much all day. Now maybe all these things are more popular than politics. Maybe they bring in viewers. Fine - I get that. But don't call yourself 'the place for politics' if you're not. Don't think that if you call yourself that, I won't actually notice that you didn't show any politics the whole time I was watching!

I used to see job seekers make the same mistake when I worked in HR. I'd read a resume filled with words like 'dynamic' and 'high-energy' and then at the interview I'd meet a quiet little person, who could not, by even the wildest stretch of the imagination, be called either dynamic or high energy.  And I'd know they just wrote that because either they hoped it would magically just become true, or they copied it from someone else's resume.

If you're not dynamic, don't say you are! Say that you're dependable, professional, dedicated to the company's success or a team player. Then when you walk in for the interview, there won't be a disconnect.

The worst thing about pretending to be what you're not isn't losing out on a job - it's getting the job. If you fool people into hiring you based on qualities, skills or experiences that you don't really have, how will you do the job effectively?

For me this is the biggest argument for being honest. You may lose out on the odd job but ultimately you will win a position that's right for you, thereby laying the foundation for the rest of your career.

As for CNN, if they're going to act like "The Place for Little Girls Who Fell Down Chimneys" then they should own it and make that their slogan (or perhaps they could come up with something a little more catchy).

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The Tyranny of the To Do List

Today I had a rare day to spend time looking at my business, assessing what's working and what isn't and jotting down ideas for improvements and new initiatives.

(I was supposed to have 2 days like that, but yesterday got eaten up with emails and phone calls and questions and last-minute client projects and before I knew it, our cats were looking for their evening meal and dusk was falling!)

It's amazing how many things I think of on these rare days. They never fail to help me come up with at least one good idea - often more than that.

So why do they happen so infrequently?

I wonder if I'm alone or of there are others like me. Is everyone else setting aside quality time every week to work on planning and thinking? I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer is no. That many people are like me, too busy with the day-to-day to stop and reflect.

But I also have a sneaking suspicion that I could do something about it if I put my mind to it. Hmm ... I'll have to give that some thought the next time I have a moment free.

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Bad Customer Service Makes Me So Angry

Gah! Bad work makes me angry and bad treatment of other people makes me even more angry. We have a policy at Blue Sky - you'll love your resume and see results, and if not, we'll happily refund your money. I do this because it's the right thing to do, and also because it's good business.

I just took on a client who paid $1,000 to another firm for a resume and cover letter. She wasn't happy with the results (for good reason) and asked for a refund. She was refused. Now no doubt that resume writer will tell me that she had the client sign an agreement upfront and that it clearly states there are to be no refunds. To which I say Pah! Agreement Schmeement. The client didn't get value for money and so you need to give the money back.

This lady is only trusting me because I come highly recommended by a coach she trusts. I am grateful to her for taking the leap and I will make sure that she has no cause to be unhappy with my work, but my blood is boiling at the thought of that $1,000. The resume was rubbish. Either that writer didn't try very hard or she's not very good. Either way my client shouldn't have to pay for shoddy work.

The career marketing profession has a bad rap. Whenever we try to keep money that we don't deserve, we just make it worse for everyone else.