Google's HR Chief explains why you shouldn't pay someone to write your resume
Plenty of people pay experts to write their resumes. But no matter what your reason, Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president of people operations, advises against it.
By Jacquelyn Smith, Business Insider | Updated:
Plenty of people pay experts to write their resumes.
Some job seekers do it because they're not confident in their writing skills or they don't have the time. Others decide to pay up once they grow tired of never hearing back from employers.
But no matter what your reason, Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president of people operations, advises against it.
In September, Bock wrote an article on LinkedIn about the biggest mistakes he sees on resumes. It received over 3,500 comments - so he decided to address the most popular questions in a follow-up post titled, "The Biggest Mistakes I See on Resumes, Part 2: Your top 8 questions."
He says one question that came up again and again was, "Should I pay someone to write my resume?"
His response: "Nope."
Instead, he suggests you find someone like yourself who has already landed the job you want. "If you're a veteran, find someone from your service who works in the job and company you want. If you're a student, find an alumna/-us who has your dream job (your career center will have resume books you can mine). Emulate their resume. (Notice I didn't say "copy" ... big difference!)"
Bock recommends looking closely at how this person describes their experiences and accomplishments. "They wrote things in a way that got noticed," he says. "They got it right. Do what they did. Don't waste your money on something you can get for free."
He warns readers that his advice and feedback are his own opinions - not official company policy. "My qualifications are that I've personally reviewed more than 20,000 resumes, coached hundreds of high school and college students, veterans, and people of every age on how to get a job, and lead a recruiting machine that has seen over 20 million applications," Bock says. "But there's still a bunch of stuff I don't know, so take what I write with a grain of salt."
Some job seekers do it because they're not confident in their writing skills or they don't have the time. Others decide to pay up once they grow tired of never hearing back from employers.
But no matter what your reason, Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president of people operations, advises against it.
In September, Bock wrote an article on LinkedIn about the biggest mistakes he sees on resumes. It received over 3,500 comments - so he decided to address the most popular questions in a follow-up post titled, "The Biggest Mistakes I See on Resumes, Part 2: Your top 8 questions."
He says one question that came up again and again was, "Should I pay someone to write my resume?"
His response: "Nope."
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Instead, he suggests you find someone like yourself who has already landed the job you want. "If you're a veteran, find someone from your service who works in the job and company you want. If you're a student, find an alumna/-us who has your dream job (your career center will have resume books you can mine). Emulate their resume. (Notice I didn't say "copy" ... big difference!)"
Bock recommends looking closely at how this person describes their experiences and accomplishments. "They wrote things in a way that got noticed," he says. "They got it right. Do what they did. Don't waste your money on something you can get for free."
He warns readers that his advice and feedback are his own opinions - not official company policy. "My qualifications are that I've personally reviewed more than 20,000 resumes, coached hundreds of high school and college students, veterans, and people of every age on how to get a job, and lead a recruiting machine that has seen over 20 million applications," Bock says. "But there's still a bunch of stuff I don't know, so take what I write with a grain of salt."
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It sounds obvious, but Bock says he sees spelling, punctuation, and noun-verb agreement mistakes all the time.
People who spend a lot of time tweaking their resumes are more likely to miss typos, since they've read through everything so many times. To avoid silly mistakes, Bock suggests reading your resume over from bottom to top, which will help you focus better on each line, or having someone else give it a read.
"Typos are deadly because employers interpret them as a lack of detail-orientation, as a failure to care about quality," he writes.
People who spend a lot of time tweaking their resumes are more likely to miss typos, since they've read through everything so many times. To avoid silly mistakes, Bock suggests reading your resume over from bottom to top, which will help you focus better on each line, or having someone else give it a read.
"Typos are deadly because employers interpret them as a lack of detail-orientation, as a failure to care about quality," he writes.
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