How Much Is Your Resume Worth?

A well organized, easy to read, and error free resume is your gateway into getting the interview.

Have you ever considered how much your resume is worth?  Put an actual dollar value on it?  I sometimes ask people seeking resume help how much they think their two-page resume is worth (hopefully their resume is only two pages and not the 10+ I’ve seen).  I get answers from five cents to “a lot,” but the right answer is: it depends on how much I make.  If I earn $100,000 every year for the next ten years, these two pages are worth $1,000,000 dollars to me.  Think about that for a second.  The resume I thought of as a burden to create and update, which I worked on while watching The Big Bang Theory or Game of Thrones, is possibly worth $1mm or more to me.  What other documents have you recently created worth $1mm+ to you?

While your resume is far from the only factor in getting a job, it is your gateway into getting the interview.  When you first meet someone and shake their hand, you make a snap judgment about that person.  A strong handshake might indicate a smart and put together individual or a weak handshake might indicate a timid and unmotivated individual.  The interviewer sub-consciously continues to reinforce that initial judgment throughout the discussion.  For example,

“Do you know Java?” the interviewer asks.

You reply, “No, but I read a lot and can quickly learn.”

If the interviewer snap-judged that they don’t like you, they subconsciously think, “Hmm, doesn’t seem to have the right skills.  No hire.”  If the interviewer snap-judged that they like you, they subconsciously think, “Wow, seems to have a real can-do attitude and has great potential.  Hire!”  The very first snap judgment a hiring manager makes about you is based on your resume.

A well organized, easy to read, and error free resume indicates an intelligent and well-organized individual.  A sloppy, dense, or error-filled resume indicates a lazy and “lacks attention to detail” individual.

That is why we said, let’s build something that helps people build the best resume possible, create a great first impression, and get them the right job.  This one of the most important reasons for having your resume reviewed or done by a professional resume writer, to guarantee your resume is on point.