Professional Résumé Writers Aren't Part of the Problem
as written by Karen Baird, Certified Professional Résumé Writer

It was with great enthusiasm that I opened your June 1995 issue to the article Resume Fraud: Lies, Omissions and Exaggerations, by Christopher J. Bachler, in hopes that the article would be one more resource I could use for a client who tried to persuade me to assist in beefing up his résumé with lies and exaggerations.

After reading the article, I was truly stunned to find myself and the résumé-writing profession to be considered part of the problem, not part of the cure.

Most of my clients come to me because they want someone to help them articulate their qualities into a readable, concise format that will be relevant to future employers. They don't come to tell lies. However, before they arrive in my office, they often have received bad advice from friends, colleagues and even human resources professionals, who have told them it's okay to make up degrees, stretch employment dates and show skills they do not have. Thus, I end up being the one to tell them that doing these things is not okay.

I have a client-based attitude, which causes me to watch out for the best interests of the employer. Therefore, I spend a great deal of time in dialogue with clients to determine their true skills and attributes. I don't do clients any favors by lying for them. Lying invalidates their true abilities, infers they're not good enough and risks exposing them to responsibilities they aren't equipped to handle.

Every person who walks through my door has valuable skills. It's my job to help them recognize those skills. Often, my clients are in a state of transition, either unemployed or terribly unhappy at the place where they're employed. It's hard enough to objectively evaluate one's own skills and contributions at any given time, but trying to make evaluations at a time when one is in transition is even harder. A professional résumé writer can help job seekers clarify their own abilities in relation to today's job market. This is a boon to the employer, as skills that might be underrepresented are brought to the forefront.

For example, one recent client had been a purchasing agent for a struggling pharmaceutical company. She told me she didn't have any experience purchasing for large companies; she'd always had a limited budget to purchase with since her old company had been in such straits. She felt this was a negative and wanted to know how to deal with the issue on her résumé. I asked if she was successful in purchasing despite having a limited budget. She had been. She'd negotiated some very good deals with vendors by finding ways to consolidate purchases and get bulk pricing on smaller quantities.

There was no need to embellish or disguise anything. Anyone can purchase with an unlimited budget -- what she did was much more difficult, and something any company would desire in their purchasing department.

The very thing she saw as a negative was actually a positive. Had she written her résumé herself, none of this would have come out.

...True professional résumé writers look out for the best interests of their clients and, consequently, their future employers.

Karen Baird, Certified Professional Résumé Writer

Return to Effortless Résumés Home page