You can, yes, but working with a certified professional provides the advantage of having access to the state-of-the-art knowledge, tools, resources, and support to give your career campaign an edge over your competition. The idea of saving money by doing it yourself may seem inviting, only to realize you have wasted time and missed opportunities that you could have seized if you had made the investment in yourself by working with a certified professional.
Writing a great resume is so much more than just cataloguing your work experience. It includes personal branding, developing powerful, accomplishment-driven content, formatting it appropriately to comply with today’s ATS – Applicant Tracking Software, and developing a visually appealing resume that sets you apart from the other resumes on a recruiter’s desk.
That’s the same reason I don’t cut my own hair, rotate the tires on my car, tune the piano in my living room, or file my own taxes. While I am smart enough to learn how to do these things, there are intricacies of each I do not understand that come with experience and leveraging the expertise of the professionals trained to do them saves me time, gives me better products/services, and saves me money in the long run.
The investment point for resume services ranges from $650 entry-level resume to $1800+ senior executives. While I offer the foundational career marketing tools of resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn a la carte, I bundle these services as a marketing solution to provide a more favorable price point ranging from $1500 to $2900+. Investment points for resume distribution, graphically enhanced biographies, interview and career coaching, and LinkedIn tutorials are available at https://www.inspirecareers.com/investment/.
Investment points are determined by the amount of work required to provide the highest quality solutions and are non-negotiable. Just as I would never encourage my clients to accept a salary less than they know they deserve, I am confident in the value I provide to my clients and set my investment points accordingly.
All prices are subject to increase without notice to reflect market conditions, demand for my services, and ongoing investment in my professional development that directly benefits my clients.
Professional, customized, high-touch, career services are not commodities, they are solutions, and that is the brand model of Inspire Careers. You will notice the word “investment” is used on my website to in lieu of “pricing,” “spend,” or “cost” because you are truly making an investment in you, your career, and your family by working with me. I share my knowledge, experience, recommendations, and networking connections with you throughout our engagement, with my goal of becoming a trusted partner to you throughout your career, which a resume template or commoditized resume services do not provide.
In an industry where anyone can add the title “Resume Writer” or Career Coach” to their name or LinkedIn profile without the training or certifications to back it up, I have made the investment in myself to complete the highest level of training to provide my clients with the highest quality solutions and support. I invest over $10,000 per year in my own professional development and realize the difference it makes in the way I show up for my clients and in the results that they achieve working with me.
All services and solutions are priced as flat fees to avoid clients feeling they are “on the clock” during our work together. The exception to this is additional document updates outside of the scope of the originally contracted work or one-off document reviews/edits.
I require complete payment for contracted services before any work is begun because all of my work is customized. I do offer PayPal credit on my secure webpage https://www.inspirecareers.com/payment/ and acceptance of those credit terms is between the client and PayPal. You may choose to make the payment using two credit cards to break up the amount on your cards, but prepayment is still required. If you choose to engage in additional services like interview coaching, resume distribution, job search strategy coaching, etc, you can pay for those engagements as we go along to break up the payments.
My clients are primarily senior executives and career-minded professionals from all across the country working in diverse industries. My services help people advance in jobs and/or land new jobs in Fortune 500 companies. My background in healthcare and human resources attracts a large base of clients in those industries at all levels. I invite you to see samples of my resumes across various industries at https://www.inspirecareers.com/resume-samples/.
I also have created The Inspire Careers Student Professional Launch Program to serve the growing number of new graduates and college juniors/seniors that come to me for assistance in landing internships and launching their careers. This is the only program of its kind in the country and has been set up to instruct and coach the participants in every aspect of conducting a successful career campaign, from personality assessments to resume writing to interview strategies to networking, to introducing them to people in their targeted industries, to penetrating the hidden job market through contact with executive recruiters. The elements of the program are outlined on my website at https://www.inspirecareers.com/students-and-new-grads/ along with client success stories, video interviews, and testimonials.
The short answer, AKA, the solution: I provide customized, high-touch career marketing solutions and create tools that differentiate my clients from THEIR competition to improve the outcome of their job search.
The long answer, AKA, the product: Anyone who offers resume writing services is my competition whether they are certified or not. I am a nationally certified professional resume writer (CPRW) and nationally certified professional career coach (CPCC), meaning, I have completed the coursework and industry standards to earn these certifications by recognized governing bodies. Many of my competitors have not met this standard. I have won a national award for excellence in resume writing from the National Resume Writers’ Association https://www.inspirecareers.com/resume-samples/ (Kerry Malenga) which most of my competition have not. I have also had a resume included in a book of resumes published by Emerald Publishing https://www.inspirecareers.com/resume-samples/ (Donald Maddox).
As a Certified DISCstyles™ Communication Consultant, I focus heavily on personal branding with my clients and am among the few resume writers/coaches that administer the DISCstyles™ assessment as part of the client discovery process.
I am also certified as a LinkedIn profile expert (NCOPE), having completed an extensive, multi-module training and certification exam to master LinkedIn’s features and apply them to my clients’ career marketing strategy. Maintaining this certification requires me to complete additional coursework and test annually, keeping me on the forefront of all of LinkedIn’s quickly changing functional updates and best practices.
I have worked 18 years in human resources and provide my clients a perspective “from the other side of the desk” that many others cannot, which gives them an edge over their competition. I know how HR professionals think and what the look for in job candidates. I am deeply entrenched in this professional space and am on the cutting edge of all leading trends, best practices, and innovation. I am a member of The National Resume Writers’ Association (NRWA), Career Thought Leaders (CTL), Career Directors International (CDI). Inspire Careers is also a strategic partner of the Buffalo Niagara Human Resources Association (BNHRA).
In 2020 I was invited to deliver two webinars to my peers of the National Resume Writers’ Association because of the reputation for thought leadership I have gained in the College Student/New Graduate Career industry and was invited to speak at its national conference on executive-exclusive career management sites. I have been quoted in national publications including a Monster.com article offering advice on resume writing for nurses.
Throughout my career in HR, I have coached and trained hundreds of executives and professionals on career development. I bring thousands of hours of experience to every client engagement. Starting my career as a registered nurse (RN) for 15 years, then 18 years in HR, now as a business owner, I have reinvented my career 3x, so I know what it takes to be successful in rebranding yourself and relaunching your career.
My coaching style is one of personal empowerment and knowledge-based action, and I donate hundreds of hours per year to free speaking engagements, mentoring, and small business coaching to give back to the community.
I am recognized by many of the recruiting leaders in the WNY area including Staff Buffalo and StraussGroup for my expertise and they recommend me publicly on LinkedIn and Facebook and privately to job seekers that seek their advice and counsel.
Request a free 30-minute telephonic consultation https://www.inspirecareers.com/contact/ for us to discuss your career goals and the status of your current resume, LinkedIn profile and employment situation. Once you decide to work with me, sign and return the Letter of Agreement I provide you outlining my recommended solutions to address your specific job search goals and challenges and make full payment on my secure webpage. Once I receive the signed agreement and payment, I will send you a link to take the DISCstyles™ assessment and the Discovery worksheet to complete. I request you send me link to 5-7 job posting links (or the link to a specific job you want to apply to) to provide me more insight into your job targets and use them to identify keywords and themes to include in the materials we create.
Our robust and interactive Strategy session lasts between 45-60 minutes as needed to allow me to get to know you and fully understand your goals. We review important aspects of the DISCstyles™ assessment and the Discovery worksheet to develop the elements of your personal brand that we will translate to your new documents. All consultations and all client work are done exclusively by me.
I commit to delivery of your resume proof, cover letter, and LinkedIn content for your review within 7 to 10 business days (excluding weekends and holidays) following our Strategy session. We work through any requested edits quickly to ensure your complete satisfaction.
Requests for expedited documents (less than 7-10 business days) will be granted if my schedule permits and a 40% rush fee for the requested document will be assessed. This is because other projects will need to be rescheduled to accommodate your need. Please indicate at the onset of our engagement if this is a service that you need to meet your application/networking deadlines.
DISCstyles ™ assessments are designed to interpret communication and behavioral styles (or a specific assessment may measure additional factors) and those are important for a client to understand to help them communicate their unique value offering to employers. Employers care about this to better understand a candidate’s soft skills and the type of individual they will be bringing into their organization.
The DISCstyles™ assessment report will be used to create all of the career marketing materials we will develop together and is yours to use as you see fit and can be included as part of an interview leave behind package. It can be impressive to an employer that you have taken the time to complete the assessment and be able to effectively communicate the results during an interview. The assessment takes between 45-60 minutes to complete.
If you are not interested in taking it or have a recently taken (within 2 years) one to share with me, you don’t have to take it, but the investment point for the package remains the same.
To clarify, I don’t “place” people, I am not a recruiter. I cannot provide the answer about how many or how quickly they find jobs because it is different for everyone. What I mean is, everyone’s job search is different and their motivation for finding a job is different, so the results vary.
Many of my clients are passive job seekers or ones that come to me periodically for resume updates and may not even apply for a new job but just want to be ready “just in case.”
Also, for the active job seekers, I cannot control the jobs they apply for (are they qualified for them?), how actively they network, whether or not they edit their resumes for each application, what they say in interviews, or if they follow up with companies, or whether the pandemic has caused more companies to lay off workers. The variables are too great to measure an outcome, so I am not able to provide a number, nor a guarantee.
I provide you the tools, knowledge, and support to succeed but you are accountable for your own success and many variables can impact that success.
What I can tell you is that motivated people who follow the advice I give them and place networking efforts above job boards land job faster than those who do not. Please see the numerous testimonials on my website https://www.inspirecareers.com/testimonials/ for more information on how my clients perceive their interactions with me and the support and expertise they receive. Again, many of my clients are confidential or passive job seekers so I would not have testimonials from them.
The purpose of Career Clarity Coaching is to help individuals determine a viable career path aligned with their skills, experience, education, and personal goals. Clients are asked to complete a DISCstyles™ Career Management assessment, combined with a 1.0 to 1.5-hour deep dive coaching session (one or two sessions required) to review it in depth. This session lays the foundation to create career marketing materials of resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, etc to launch a new career campaign.
Career Clarity Coaching is appropriate for individuals in career transition or those interested in exploring alternate career paths.
Yes. Interview coaching is customized based on your job targets and career goals and set up as a mock interview format conducted virtually to simulate video interview conditions with a strong focus on perfecting your “elevator pitch.” You will have prework to complete before the session and receive real time, personalized feedback along with numerous follow up resources to help you strengthen your skills and confidence.
Absolutely! Please visit my website https://www.inspirecareers.com/testimonials/ to read numerous testimonials from happy clients. New graduate and college student-specific testimonials can be found at https://www.inspirecareers.com/students-and-new-grads/.
I strive to develop long-term relationships with my clients and as a result, 90% of my business is generated by referrals from my clients. I do not use LinkedIn Profinder or other online platform tools or any marketing programs to gain clients because of the strong, steady stream of client referrals I receive. That speaks volumes to my brand differentiation. Clients come back to me repeatedly for resume updates or to engage in other services throughout their career, and those are additional investment costs. I use the term “investment” because I provide solutions to client needs and am not in the business of selling commodities. For example, resume reformatting.
I provide customized, high-touch career marketing services and create tools that differentiate my clients from their competition.
If you want a $200-400 resume without the deep discovery process and client-driven engagement, that is not me, and there are many others that can provide that service. If you want personalized one-to-one attention, customized, high-touch career marketing services, to learn how to be a better job seeker, help remove blocks to success, increase your confidence, and improve your results, that is my business model and brand differentiator and is reflected in my investment pricing. I raise my prices at least annually to reflect the level of professional development I invest in myself that is used to benefit my clients and keep pace with market conditions.
Ultimately, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of other career professionals that offer the services that I do, but I feel strongly that your comfort level and trust in the one you choose is the most important element of the engagement. With that in mind, I encourage you to interview others, ask the questions that uncover the answers that mean the most to you, and truly enjoy the investment you will be making in yourself and your career. The partnership you choose should help you gain confidence in your value offering and inspire you to go after what you want. Likewise, if I do not believe my brand and solutions are a good match for your needs, I will tell you that and am happy to recommend others within my network for you to contact.