Since the economic crash in fall of 2008, so many job seekers have been ‘hit-up’ by those charging fees for services ranging from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars for services including resume re-writes, job applications, and ‘special’ services or introductions to hiring companies.

Don’t be fooled, and be sure you understand what you are paying for when you purchase those services.   What to look for – good questions to ask:

1)  Who are the ‘experts’ in the firm, what are their full names, backgrounds, resumes for subject matter expertise in the areas of services you are contemplating purchasing.  If the service only provides first names – let the buyer beware!  Why would the firm want to hide the last names of the service providers in the firm if they are legitimate?

2) Is the company selling a commodity?  For instance, a resume package, and resume distribution services (essentially printing and mailing to a list they have in-house for hundreds of recruiters or headhunters), and interview training (video and practice scenarios).  If they only sell the complete package and don’t offer the cafeteria plan, what piece are they weak on and are shoring up with other stronger parts of the package?  Also, if you have a computer and printer, you can print, lick, stick, stamp, and mail to recipients, but you can also pick and choose which specific companies you wish to mail them too, instead of a bulk shot-gun approach – costing you less and you don’t have to pay for the labor.

3)  Does the website you are looking at for the company providing the services look like they have very little information about the company or the advisors?  Does the lack of information raise a red flag?  (OK, guilty here for the parcity of my website, but in all honestly, I’m not a web designer, prefer to save money by doing this myself, and not pushing my costs for bells and whistles to my clients!).

4)  What are the realistic expectations for the services or products for which you are paying?  If they company says they have 20,000 companies whom they are pushing resumes out to, does that mean all their own customers (clients for services) are getting pushed out regularly to all the same listing?  This means the recipients are flooded with applicant resumes.  And does the company charge their ‘other end of the services’ resume recipients for receiving the resumes?  Where do the resumes go after the snail-mail or e-mail push?

5) Does the company guarantee you a job?  They shouldn’t.  Anyone knows a marketing executive on Madison Avenue can’t guarantee results for ads, and no company that is realistic will guarantee you a job within X months after helping with resume rewrites and job interview practice sessions.  Why?  There is absolutely zero control after you leave their office on your actions and interview capabilities and skills once you arrive at the interview.  You could absolutely botch it 100% by arriving late, picking your nose, and mentioning that arrest for illicit substances against their sage advice, so no company should or would guarantee work or hire.  In this economy, it’s an employers market.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO – YOU KNOW YOU NEED HELP!

1) Ask for referrals to career counselors who have been in the market helping job seekers for several years.

2) Ask the career counselors if they are familiar with the modern, technology assisted methods of recruiting job applicants used by recruiters today and do they understand the technology enough to help you get through the firewall and gatekeeper.

3) Do they use technology, have they studied and researched methods of reaching into a company via Social Media, applying online with digital resumes enhanced with key-words, hidden coding, reaching out to employee within the company for employee referral routing of resumes, and do they network constantly themselves with recruiters, headhunters, and company hiring managers?

4) Does the career counselor recommend a 1-2 page resume (still?); or doe they understand that printed resumes are no longer accepted or used by many dynamic and technology savvy companies today?  Do they understand the automated tracking systems (ATS) used by companies who recruit online today?

5) Does the career counselor provide ‘freebies’ to their clients – such as tip-sheets, lists of companies’ recruiting URL’s, lists of recruiters, and specialized information?

6) Does the career counselor have experience in the industry in which you are seeking a job, so they understand the vernacular, the slang, and buzz-words that are needed within the resume to grab the attention of the recruiter or hiring manager who first sees the resume?

7) Does the career counselor have their own C.V. or resume posted so their customers may see a valid sample of their own work or at least see the experience and background of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA’s) of the career counselor?

Asking these questions helps you find a good, quality, reliable, and experienced career counselor to assist you in presenting yourself to the best of your ability as a qualified candidate in the job market.