Resume writing guarantees – fact or fiction
Doing some poking around on the internet before writing a guide/ebook to help candidates find a job in golf.
After plugging in few key words and phrases, I kept landing on resume writing services. Didn’t I realize how many of these companies exist along with the unbelievable guarantees they make.
For example let’s look at a service called “Resumes Guaranteed”.
Their guarantee includes:
“If you are not HIRED within 60 days of receiving your new resume, we’ll refund your money, PAY you $50*, AND continue to help re-work your resume!*”
Wow not only will they refund your money but you can actually earn dough by not getting a job. Is this true?
Let’s dig deeper.
Continued to scroll around reading the fine print and wallah there in black and white was a major refund requirement stating:
“*Guarantee requires clients to submit at least 40 copies (hard copies) of their resume to prospective employers following our advice.”
It gets better.
“You must provide reasonable proof that you submitted your resume to at least 40 prospective employers in the form of certified mail, receipts or verifiable fax transmissions receipts (if you utilize an untargeted mass submission service, their bulk submission shall count as “one” mailing/faxing for the purpose of this requirement.”
I’m exhausted just reading these requirements let alone the thought of having to fulfill them.
In my humble opinion, if a guarantee sounds too good to be true it’s too good to be true.
It’s also my opinion that if anyone in the employment biz i.e. consultants, writing services, job boards, headhunters etc… – no matter the industry – charges a fee then guarantees employment is full of horse poop!
Now for the good news.
While further perusing the long list of refund requirements I came upon a link called “Our expert resume distribution guide” which is actually a little nugget of great advice for job seekers.
In fact, there’s so much good advice I could write about them for days.
Check out their guide by clicking the following link:
https://resumesguaranteed.com/resume_distribution_guide.pdf
This is the stuff they should be selling vs, resume writing.
Odds are if you have no contacts decision makers are never going to see your brand spankin new, perfectly key worded resume.
There’s no point spending $$$ on a resume if the right girl/guy doesn’t read it.
I’ll skip the “days of writing” and summarize some key “guide” points like:
- candidates seeking employment in golf should not rely solely on job ads to find opportunities (our White Glove Service reaches decision makers directly)
- research the contact and club/company of interest before making contact
- send a copy of your resume along with a targeted cover letter describing why you’re unique and how an employer will benefit by hiring you
Hope I’ve given you some job seeking food for thought…now go Weedhopper, seek and conquer and land your dream golf job!
Dawn Schlesinger
Old school hiring practice “at work”
Was looking to replace a technical manager for my website.
Used a tech job board where you can view the candidate’s resume along with the types of jobs they completed with ratings given by past customers.
These tech girls/guys are independent contractors and work by the job and/or hourly fee. The job board earns a % of what the employer (me) pays the contractor.
Received a bunch of candidates within a couple of days after posting my ad – all had high ratings and job completion rates.
Sounds good right…if everything written were true.
So I practiced what I preach requesting references from each glowing candidate including a contact name and email address.
The majority of candidates responded that everything I needed to know was right at my finger tips listed on their profile page including former project completion, rates and customer reviews*. No need to bother former customers with inquiries from potential employers like me. I’d say maybe 10% of the applicants (3) who applied to my job gave me references. Of those three, one former customer was surprised he was being used as a reference (from this particular candidate) and eager to speak to me by phone.
His surprised reaction to my inquiry peaked my interest.
We talked the very next day. After exchanging introductions and niceties the conversation kinda went like: I’m surprised Ben (the tech candidate) gave me as a reference because frankly he didn’t do a great job. Ben’s ok for basic work but anything more advanced like app design or writing code forget it – he’s not very good.
Toward the end of our conversation I thanked the Jerry (the reference) for his time and feedback and then asked “…have you used any techs from this site who are good? Yes! Let’s look up his name together on the job board to make sure you get the right guy.”
It was my lucky day…I fortunately asked the right question.
Since then I’ve used Ben multiple times. He’s done a “bang-up” job at a fraction of the cost I was paying my former tech guy.
Point is employing “old school” recruiting methods like picking up the phone and chatting with references is just as valuable today as it was back in the day **.
Not only did I avoid a headache by hiring a sub par candidate l actually found a winner.
Another point.
In today’s world we have technology that often does the busy work for us like ratings and rankings (i.e. Amazon product reviews) sometimes called social proof. I don’t always trust reviews provided by the very same job boards and companies who will profit from my sale. If another source avails itself to help me make a smarter decision, business or personal, I’m going to use it …regardless of whether its “trendy” or not.
If judging a candidate by measures like a solid handshake, eye contact, good phone skills, manners, ability to ask questions and show interest in my company during an interview, thinking before speaking etc. is considered “old school” then I’ll gladly wear the label.
If you’re a little old school too and looking to fill a club position, consider using our Target Search service.
Where vintage recruiting meets technology!
Say your club needs a Chef or Membership Director. We’ll contact just about every qualified candidate actively employed, starting locally and moving our way through out the state, and apprise them of your opportunity via email. It’s tedious work, yet creates results.
It’s budget friendly too!
Check out Target Search details below.
*Beware of customer ratings – I dug a little deeper and found out that tech candidate ratings can be skewed by customers since the customers themselves are rated by the techs and if given low enough ratings, no-one decent will work with the company seeking help.
**Some club policies do not allow the release of a previous employee’s information. At a minimum, most will provide start and end dates and position titles. If you are not able to get the information you are seeking, you can ask the candidate to provide another reference.
Learn interview technique from the King of all Media
Finally finished reading Matthew Berry’s book Fantasy Life”. Yes I’m a very slow reader (like a turtle) but consider it “quality vs. quantity” reading.
And you’re probably wondering why a middle aged lady living in Miami would be interested in fantasy football (ff).
Because its challenging and fun!
I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy, followed sports when I was a kid and got the fantasy sports bug about 4 years ago. I’m now approaching season #4 as Commissioner of the “Real Housewives of Miami” ff all women league. It’s been a blast and I’m really proud of the ladies who step-up trying something new, something they know nothing about and end up throwing trash talk like T.O. or Richard Sherman by season’s end. Pretty cool to observe.
Anyway back to the book and lesson for today which I’ve discussed in the past (take a look at blog post Stick Out in a Good Way).
At the end of the book Mathew added a “bonus section” to update his story and probably to sell more books. One of the major events he talks about is getting an interview with his idol Howard Stern on SiriusXM radio show.
Matthew Berry was a pretty seasoned host and guest on sports radio shows yet he was so psyched and nervous about his interview with the one and only, King of all Media, the most successful and outrageous radio personality ever to hit the airwaves, that he could barely sleep the night before.
Of course he made it through the interview with flying colors even took a picture with Howard at the shows conclusion.
A couple of days after his appearance Berry received a handwritten note from Howard.
In his words: “I got a note at home. From Howard. Thanking me for being on his show….in all the years I’ve been interviewed by every type of show, it’s the first time I have ever gotten a personal note like that. The whole thing, start to finish, was a complete and total class act. I didn’t think it was possible but I became a bigger Howard fan in those few moments off-air than I had in 20 years.”
If The King of All Media can send a ff analyst show guest a handwritten note thanking him for his time and making a huge, positive impression doing so then wouldn’t make sense that candidate who wants to stand out from other applicants do the same after an interview with a potential employer?
The point being is candidates should want to take any/every advantage to positively separate themselves from other applicants.
One effective way to do this is writing a handwritten note to the person/people conducting the interview.
Another way to stand out is through our White Glove service.
Take a peek at White Glove details.
PS. here’s a pic of some of my ff league mates during awards night.
Magically hire as many golf reps as you need
If you or someone in your company can magically recruit solid sales people without having to deal with issues like brand awareness, demand, quality, delivery, compensation etc then don’t read any further…you don’t need GolfSurfin.com.
However if Houdini is missing from your management team and the above issues must be addressed, you probably need our help with recruiting.
And another dose of reality… if your company has failed to address these issues sufficiently, regardless of where you advertise or how much money you spend recruiting, no one decent is going to apply.
I’ll share a recent experience I had with a customer who was pissed about their ad response…or lack there of.
A fairly new apparel company used our service to recruit salespeople. They needed lots of hand holding posting their ad and using our resume database – which is cool by us. In fact in most cases we go the extra mile to insure customer satisfaction because we want you back. In the end, the customer was not happy and wanted a refund. We make no guarantees with recruiting results because too many factors are out of our control…like the issues listed above.
Moral of this story is every company who advertises to hire employees, particularly independent reps, has to explain why their product or service is special, how they set themselves apart from the competition, highlight unique qualities and benefits they offer then actually deliver on those promises.
Just because an ad is written and posted on the #1 job board in golf does not guarantee results.
It must be interesting and exciting with substance behind the text…not bs.
We’re not magicians.
What we do better then any other recruiting source in the golf industry is get your message out to the best sales talent in golf.
Our offer is pretty simple.
If your company offers a unique golf product/service where reps can realistically make money with your line, we will fill your open territories.
Make sense?
If so, click here to get started.