Here is a list of our services, but rather than trying to figure out what you need and what you don’t, just email me at Jeri@WorkwriteResumes.com to talk about your situation, your deadline, and your challenges. I will recommend a package of services that will meet your needs.
Behavioral Profile
The DISC Behavioral Profile is an online assessment that takes about 20 minutes to complete. The results give you insight into your natural and adapted work styles, showing you how well your current job fits you. It also verifies attributes we can include in your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile. Read more details about DISC Behavioral Assessments.
DOCUMENTS
Presentation Resume
The presentation resume is the one you print and take to an interview.
We write a resume that defines your achievements, skills, and knowledge so clearly that a hiring authority may hire you on the spot. (One client reported that this actually happened at a hiring committee meeting. The decision maker held the client’s resume in the air and said, “I want this guy!”)
That’s what makes your resume king of the job search documents. Today’s highly competitive and fast-paced job market demands the targeted, professionally-written resume have the focus of a laser yet be comprehensive enough to show your achievements in your chosen field.
The advantage we offer over do-it-yourself resume builders (and even some pros) is that we have more than 25 years of writing, editing, and interviewing experience. You know your industry. We know how to ask the questions that will give us the information your resume needs. Then, we mold your answers into powerful statements that demonstrate your unique value to your next employer.
ATS Resume
First, you need to know I don’t recommend applying for jobs online. The percentage of people who actually land a job by applying online is miniscule. Yes, everyone knows someone’s cousin’s brother’s uncle who posted a resume on one job board once and landed this fabulous opportunity. But it actually happens rarely. There are much more effective strategies.
That said, if you want to apply online, the resume you use is the ATS Resume. ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System, the computer software that at least 70% of businesses use to scan your resume to determine if it gets to meet human eyes. An ATS is a huge help to a Human Resources department that receives hundreds and even thousands of applications for a single job. (Remember I said I didn’t recommend applying online. That’s why. Almost everyone gets lost in the shuffle.)
The ATS thinks like a computer, not like a human. You’ve probably heard you should have plenty of juicy keywords in your resume, right? Unfortunately, the ATS doesn’t just scout out your list of keywords and tick them off to see if you have the right stuff. It chooses keyword phrases based on algorithms that are difficult – if not impossible — for the untrained individual to predict.
LinkedIn Profile
In only the past year or two, your LinkedIn profile has been elevated to one of your top two job search tools. Companies have learned that even one job posting or advertisement can result in hundreds or even thousands of resumes and applications. So, many have stopped advertising and posting jobs.
Instead, they search online profiles – especially LinkedIn – for a candidate who appears a good fit for their upcoming job opening. Facebook and Twitter are also becoming important to your job search strategies.
Perhaps the most important function of all, however, is the networking capabilities of online profiles, and LinkedIn in particular. Not only can you be found, but you can find. You can search for companies and people who may help you get closer to your dream job.
With us, you will have an edge above the do-it-yourself profiles. It’s not enough to copy and paste sections of your resume into your online profile. We’ll give your resume content a makeover so that your online profile is even better than what decision-makers expect to see.
LinkedIn now allows slide show presentations and video. Any candidate with a portfolio will find LinkedIn profiles especially useful.
LinkedIn does not allow anyone but the profile owner to make changes to the profile, so we provide a 30-page e-book of instructions with your professionally written summary and experience sections. We walk you through every step of your profile production.
Cover Letter
Your resume needs a cover letter. Let’s get that out of the way first of all. Unless you are going to hand deliver your resume to the hiring authority and say to him or her all the things that would be in your cover letter, you need a cover letter.
You might have heard that cover letters aren’t read or that they’re read after the resume, so they have no impact. A recent study by Career Directors International indicates that half of hiring managers and recruiters read cover letters. The catch is that you don’t know which half YOUR hiring manager belongs to.
We believe in going the extra mile to demonstrate our commitment to you and to your job search, and we’d like you to have the same determination. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to do things differently. A cover letter is one of those things. On top of that, we write a kick-butt letter that does so much more than preview your resume. We show how you fit the job and the company. Go ahead, take advantage of the opportunity to tell your prospective employer more about your strengths.
Thank-you Letter
A whopping 80% of applicants fail to send thank-you letters after their job interview. Hiring managers value those little notes. You can be in the top 20% just by writing a thank-you letter.
Move even higher with a professionally written thank-you letter that gives you another opportunity to emphasize the perfect fit between you and your prospective employer.
Follow-up Letter
Follow-up letters are more important than ever now, when bosses and HR departments are overwhelmed with applications. The follow-up letter puts your qualifications in front of the decision-makers one more time. It could be the time that counts.
Acceptance Letter
Why would you need an acceptance letter? You agreed on the salary, health insurance, PTO, and you’re starting two weeks from Monday. It’s done, right?
Not quite.
Hiring Managers have buyers’ remorse, too. They worry if they made the right decision. Impress them all over again and renew their confidence about hiring you with an acceptance letter that seals the deal.
Just in case you do not have a written contract with your employer, this is also one way to protect yourself from potential confrontation over informal work agreements. (I know of one case in which a written contract kept an employee from losing a salary and vacation time already negotiated when the boss was looking for something to cut from the budget.)
COACHING
Career Exploration
If you don’t know what you want to do next, the Workwrite Career Exploration Program is for you. Every single person who has completed this program has made a career decision and followed through to a new start.
There’s nothing magic about it (although some clients have called it that). I assign you a series of exercises to do on your own. Then, we get together on the phone to talk it through, work out problems, and move you forward through the process — from dreaming of the work you are meant to do to discovering job descriptions of positions that appeal to you.
Job Search Strategies
Sometimes, a new resume isn’t enough. You still need to know what to do with it. I’m not a fan of posting resumes on job boards and applying for positions you find online. It’s what most people consider a job search, but unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that well. Only about 10% of applicants actually land a position that way. Sad, but true.
There are, however, plenty of effective strategies for finding and landing a job. In the Job Search Strategies Coaching Program, I teach you the top 12. We spend most of our time on the top three strategies, because they are the most effective.
Interview Preparation
If it’s been awhile since your last job search, you may be feeling a little uncertain about interviewing. The name of the game in the interview process is confidence, so if yours is lacking, we need to work on that. The best way is to learn how to prepare. This process is akin to learning to fish as opposed to being given a fish. You will learn to anticipate and answer the most difficult interview questions so that you never have to worry about an interview again.
Salary Negotiations Coaching
Are you being paid what you’re worth? Do you even know what that number is? You’ll learn both in the Workwrite Salary Negotiations Coaching Program. We take you step-by-step through the process of determining your target salary, the reasons you deserve it, and the negotiation tactics that are most likely to help you achieve it.
Your Investment
- An entry-level Workwrite resume or LinkedIn profile starts at $397.
- An entry-level Workwrite cover letter starts at $147.
- An entry-level coaching program starts at $299 for three hours of phone contact time with your certified coach.
Your investment increases for mid-career, management, technical, senior, career-change services, and special circumstances.
Our services are also offered in bundles that present significant savings over individual documents.
Most document projects are completed within two weeks of our receipt of all of the client’s materials.
Coaching programs are tailored to your needs and schedule.
We almost never accept document rush jobs that require completion in less than two weeks; our focus is on quality and relationship rather than speed.
Our Process
We follow a specific core process with each project to ensure the highest quality documents and service. Your experience may vary slightly, depending on the combination of services purchased. In general, this is the order of events:
- You receive a PayPal invoice and make your payment through PayPal.
- I email you a link to your DISC profile questions, and you complete the profile.
- Your Career Exploration Program is completed next.
- For document services, I email you a comprehensive questionnaire to fill out with your career history.
- You complete the questionnaire and return it to me by email attachment.
- After reviewing your materials, I call or email you with additional questions.
- I write your documents and email to you as attachments.
- We get together on the phone and a screen-sharing Web site to review the documents, making any minor changes at that time.
- I email you the final documents.
- Job Search Strategy Coaching takes place at this stage.
- Interview Preparation and / or Salary Negotiations Coaching happens next.
- I contact you occasionally to check on the progress of your job search.
