When Sharlyn Lauby, the HR Bartender, asked for input for a blog post she was writing to address a reader’s question about using a professional resume writer, I was happy to oblige. Good friends and resume writing colleagues Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter of Career Trend and Erin Kennedy of Professional Resume Services also contributed to the article.

Here’s the introduction to Sharlyn’s post:

A note from a reader asks:

“I’m unemployed and need advice.  What’s your opinion on having a professional write your resume?”

Timing for this question couldn’t be better.  Seth Godin (aka a marketing guy) just wrote about it.  I figure when non-HR folks are talking about resume development, it’s a big deal.  If you listen to Seth, he puts out a pretty compelling argument for having a pro write your resume (or business plan for that matter).  You can check it out here.

I believe part of making the decision to have your resume written by the professional is understanding what they can do for you.  So I’ve tapped into my network and asked three of the best professional resume writers to offer up their thoughts.

You can read the rest of the post here.

Thanks for the opportunity Sharlyn!

A friend alerted me to the opportunity for a guest post on The New England Job Show blog I made contact and well, there I am, in the job search section. The blog’s editor, Jackie Simmonds, made the process pleasant and easy. You’ll notice I added a link to their site on my blog roll. I found lots of good information on the site and thought I’d make it available to you too. You can also like them on Facebook.

I’d love it if you’d head over to their site and check out my post. Here’s the link: How do you find a good resume service? Thanks.

In the last of a month-long series of guest posts (including mine) on G. L. Hoffman’s What Would Dad Say? blog, Seth Godin closes out the month with some RADICAL job search advice: “Don’t Try to Get a Job.” Run over there, check it out (GREAT READ!!), then come back and find out why this resume writer whole-heartedly agrees.

You’re back? Good. Here’s my story …

In 2000, I left a “safe, secure” corporate position to try my hand at recruiting. By June of 2002, I realized professional recruiting was going to be the first “major failure” I’d experience in a career spanning more than two-and a-half-decades.

Well. Let’s see. I left a good job, with a large company and a good salary for the potential to make big money recruiting and found out I didn’t have what it took to ride the roller coaster of the hiring / recruiting process. I was too attached to my clients, spent too much time coaching and spiffing up rezs and not enough time doing the work of recruiting. Anyway …

Bewildered, and always an animal lover, I took a part-time office management position in a local veterinary hospital for … I won’t even tell you the hourly wage … so I could sort out what to do with me, and my career. Well, answering that vet’s office phone day in and day out, giving out phone numbers for kennels and knowing most rural clients had more than one animal – yard dogs, barn cats, pot-bellied pigs, chickens, etc. – sparked an idea. One client led to another and my pet sitting business quickly grew: “Snug as a Bug – In-home pet sitting services”. (The “Start a dog poop shoveling business” line caught my eye in the Godin article.)

Shortly after I stopped recruiting, the idea to use resume writing skills, to make some extra money also surfaced. “The Write Solution” started with the referral of a friend of a friend. I continued working the part-time position (chicken entrepreneur) while I grew both businesses and earned my Certified Professional Resume Writer credential. In June of 2007, I quit the part-time job, taking both my pet sitting and resume writing businesses full time.

Today, I have more than 40 core pet sitting clients calling on me regularly to care for their animals and check on their homes while they’re away. In between pet sit rounds, I write a resume for someone almost every day. Hardly a week goes by when I don’t get a referral or hear back from former rez clients. Last year, my first full calendar year running two full-time businesses, I surpassed what I earned when I left my customer service manager position in corporate America.

Was it/is it easy? No. Do I work entirely too many hours? Yes. Can I take a nap in the afternoon? Not often enough. Did I wrestle, at the beginning, with losing a corporate identity and the part of my self-worth that came from my job title? Abso-freakin’-lutely. Would I change my decision to NOT to go back to the corporate world? Never in a hundred-ba-jillion-million years.

Mr. Godin is right about the opportunities out there. Shut your mouth. Stop whining about … well, everything. Stop expecting someone else to do it for you and open your eyes. Know what you’ll see? Opportunity a-plenty. It may not be in a cushy, corner office and you many not need a three-piece suit, but the money you earn will be by you, for you.

Absolutely, don’t get a job. If you’ve got the guts and the willingness to explore a whole different side of you, go for it. My mantra: “Leap and the net will appear.”

Between Daylight Saving Time and the events of this past weekend, I’ve been remiss in tooting my own horn about my contribution to an article on resume writing for Careerealism. (As I tell my rez clients. If you don’t toot your own horn, who will???)

And yes gang, this is another Twitter-generated opportunity. Stop rolling your eyes. 11% of all Internet users are already tweeting up a storm, sharing wisdom, insights and little snippets of life 140 characters at a time. It’s an incredible marketing and social networking tool. Google it. There’s about 152 bajillion posts, videos and applications out there explaining all about Twitter. But as one astute Twitter aficionado said recently, trying to explain Twitter is like trying to explain bike riding to someone. You don’t understand the value and fun until you do it. But I digress, this is supposed to be all about me.

I met J. T. O’Donnell through Twitter, when I re-tweeted one of her posts. (A retweet (RT) is the ”supreme compliment” on Twitter. By retweeting you’re sharing someone else’s wisdom with your followers because you found it valuable. I could RT everything J. T. says. She’s brilliant!)  Anyway, she thanked me (yes tweeps are polite and thoughtful — two of my favorite things) and we started a virtual dialogue. This resulted in her asking if I was interested in contributing to an upcoming article. I said YES, so, rather than read my wisdom here, I’m sending you to the Careerealism for: Hate resume writing? Here’s how to get it done. The entire article is not mine, but I did get my $.02 worth in the conversation.

I would be remiss in not publicly thanking J.T. O’Donnell for the awesome opportunity. And I absolutely have to send a shout out to Greg Barrette, Careerealsm’s Brand Development Manager. He tolerated my anxious, “When is it going live?” emails and helped fix my link when it wasn’t working. He’s a true professional and a really nice person to boot.  All around a top drawer organization. And you gotta love their slogan: “Because every job is temporary.” (So true.)

AFTER you read the article on Careerealism, go set up a Twitter account and start tweeting. Do it!

I’ve alluded to the wonderfulness of Twitter in my previous post. Well, here’s an example. I meet G L Hoffman through Twitter. Not only did he send me copy of his e-book Dig your Job or Find a New One (I’ll review it in a future post. Great stuff!!!!) when we connected, he recently tweeted an opportunity for guest postings on his blog. Were I not on Twitter, were I not involved in social media, I probably wouldn’t have meet G L.

His blog What would Dad Say? is full of sound, common sense advice. Bookmark his blog, as well as mine.

In the meantime, head over to his blog and enjoy my guest post there.  Common sense job search approaches — thanks to mom and dad. (Please and thank-you.)

By the way, G L not only allowed me to guest post, he’s been coaching and cheering from the sidelines helping me publicize my post. He’s a saint in my book! Thanks G L!!