The Business Case

With competition increasing and jobs disappearing, career marketing materials such as résumés, LinkedIn profiles, and personal branding plans are becoming ever more important.

Here, let's examine the case for résumés:

Your résumé is undoubtedly one of your life's most important documents.  Because the quality of your career – and by extension, the quality of your life – depends in part on your success at landing interviews, it's tough to overstate the value of investing in a high-caliber résumé.  Yes, you could write it yourself or hire someone who may not charge very much but is not qualified for the job - but as with most things in life, with résumés you generally get what you pay for.

Say, hypothetically, you invest in a NOVA résumé package.  The finely-crafted documents you'll receive in return will directly enhance your effectiveness at landing interviews.  And the sooner you get that next job, the less it's going to cost you in terms of both depleted savings and time.  Moreover, if you find a higher-paying job, then your résumé's ROI (Return on Investment) can be as high as a great day in Vegas (without any of that gambling risk).

Compare that to investing $50,000 in a new car, which once you begin to drive will depreciate rapidly.  Merely driving it off the lot will typically cost you about 5%, or $2,500.  After a year, the depreciation will be up to somewhere between $7,500 and $10,000, for a ROI of around minus 18%!

So what's going to improve your life more - having career success, or a owning rapidly-depreciating car?

Also, it's important to realize that not just employers will closely examine your résumé; there are many other important parties for whom it's risky to hire, represent, loan money to, invest with, or recommend...  you.

For example, if you're looking for a job, executive search firms will review your résumé when deciding whether or not to represent you.  Their risk is that whoever they place may not perform well, in which case it would reflect badly on the firm (and possibly cost them a lot money, should their placement fees be contingent on your how long the client lasts with his or her new employer).

And if you're in business for yourself, then bankers, venture capitalists, and angel investors will consider your résumé when deciding whether or not to or purchase an equity stake in your business or loan you funds.  Their exposure is that when funded businesses fail, they stand to lose a lot of money.

Finally, even people in your own trusted network will (or should) examine your résumé when deciding whether or not to refer you.  Their risk is that should a referred person perform poorly, it may damage the referer's relationship with the employer.

For these reasons, hiring a proven, well-qualified specialist such as Paul Raworth Bennett is a very savvy investment.  Here's how you can get in touch with him.