The majority of professional CV writers and service companies are not what they appear. Indeed, many are a far cry from the impression they give the outside world. This applies not only to some small CV firms, but also some so-called ‘top’ CV firms.
Why is this important?
Well if you were considering paying for treatment at a private hospital, and the doctors and practices weren’t quite what the brochure made them out to be, then you’d want to know about this before you paid for an operation there – wouldn’t you?
Most people are completely unaware of the scale and nature of the issue – namely that many professional CV firms aren’t what they are purported to be, don’t live up to expectations, and don’t deliver on promises.
We’ll come to just why in this article.
We believe that people should be more aware, so, they can make more informed decisions. Hopefully, this article can help lift reveal some surprising things that many in the CV industry would prefer to stay concealed. We have over 20 years’ CV sector expertise, and as a genuine, honest firm, with customers’ best interests at heart, we feel we have a duty to speak out.
We go back to the hospital analogy above. The more aware you are, the better decisions you’ll make, and the better CV you’ll get.
While a CV isn’t the same as a life or death surgical operation, a genuine top-quality CV can propel your career to new heights, whereas a mere purported ‘top CV’ can have it stagnate.
If you are serious about career progression then read on…
If you trust fantastical claims that various typical CV businesses make then you would assume that your CV would be crafted by the ‘top CV firm,’ ‘best UK talent,’ or ‘finest CV writers.’
Do people believe such claims?
Some people scratch beneath the surface and discover that things they are told by certain firms is not what it seems. Surprisingly though, many people (intelligent executives included) don’t scratch at all. Indeed, many are blinkered by flashy sites and impressionable statistics with persuasive salespeople.
Should people take claims at face value?
In an ideal world with honest companies you’d hope people would be able to do that - but let’s assess this in more detail and you can judge for yourself.
The first fact to consider is that various different companies spout very similar claims.
Can they all be right?
This is a very good question. And very few people (including intelligent senior professionals) ever stop to ask themselves, “Is it even conceivable for all these firms to be telling the truth?”
After all, logically, there can only be one ‘best company.’
They can’t all be right, and as such, by default, most are wrong. But wrong in error? Or wrong by design?
When you think about it rationally, it stands to reason that many such claims can’t conceivably be what they purport. And that can’t all be by chance or coincidence. If so, then what does this say about the integrity and authenticity of the companies involved?
Another question that many do not ask is this:
– If a CV service company actually believed their own claims, then why wouldn’t they back it up with a real (money back) guarantee?
That would show belief in their writers and ability to make good their promises. The fact that many ‘claims’ aren’t properly backed up speaks volumes.
Gimmicks also abound. ATS is a notable one, long consultations are another, and most reviews aren’t what they should be either. Some firms also have prominent ‘guaranteed jobs/interviews’ headers to draw clientele in, but most don’t realise that it’s not a real money back guarantee until their ‘guaranteed job/interview’ fails to materialise and they belatedly notice the small print.
Please click to discover more about CV sector malpractices.
There is the good, the bad and the average in all sectors, but in the CV industry there’s the stupendous, the hopeless and the appalling too!
Who will create my CV?
It’s another very good question!
In some instances, you get to liaise and engage directly with a writer. Elsewhere, there is less engagement and less clarity about who is doing what. Some firms also withhold some consultant details.
No. And some firms who appear to be transparent, aren’t quite as transparent as they make out. Alas, it’s left to each individual person to judge what they deem authentic. One problem is that many people just take things like claims, reviews and statistics at face value without ever considering authenticity.
We’ll discuss this in more detail further down this article, but one point of note at this juncture is that if a firm transgresses the line in terms of transparency or any single form of duplicity, it tends not to be the sole transgression. So, if you spot one thing that doesn’t ring true, then it’s a cue to be more vigilant about other claims.
Company claims that their writers are ‘experienced, top CV professionals’ isn’t always the case. Real top CV writers are few and far between. Instead, what you get most of the time are freelancers who work for multiple companies (or flitter from one firm to the next). Some freelancers do specialise in CVs, while most churn out inferior CVs more as a side-line rather than as a specialist CV consultant.
Some CV firms (probably far more than you realise) are run not be real CV experts, but by laymen.
We have been leaders in the international CV writing sector for over 20 years. If anyone knows the sector, it’s us.
Think again!
Some ‘professional’ firms have even hired us to fix their CVs for some of their dissatisfied clients.
For example, the layman boss of one such firm charged customers premium rates for a ‘premium’ service that involved his secretary just tweaking standard templates.
Significantly, far more CVs are produced by laymen and inexperienced subcontractors than people realise. In this day and age AI is increasingly used by some firms too, and not just when it comes to creating CVs, but also automating purported honest CV reviews. Some supposed ‘top’ firms also use AI for client acquisition purposes.
Most people put their faith in companies and their salespeople. That’s their call. All we can do is highlight that this faith is not always warranted.
After fixing thousands of ‘professional’ CVs over 20+ years, it’s evident that many professional CV consultants lack natural writing talent.
There is much more to genuine top-quality CVs than meets the eye – far more than even most professional CV writers even realise themselves!
Becoming a genuine top CV writer is not easy and it does not happen overnight. Part of it is innate, and part of it needs to be acquired.
Yes, anyone can create ‘a CVs of sorts.’ However, stepping up all the extra levels to genuine top quality requires special and very elusive skills. Among other things, you need meticulous attention to detail, natural creative writing talent and marketing expertise.
First-rate methodology is also required in addition to genuine writing expertise. It’s one reason why most professional CVs are flawed. Incidentally, it’s also one reason why we are so confident we can improve every single CV sent to us.
There is far more to methods (and even CV fundamentals) than even most professional writers realise. And that’s another article in itself!
If you are a genuinely talented writer who wants to work for us, then in addition to genuine talent we also require excellent people skills and the ability to feel when something could be better still, and then go the extra mile refining things to perfection – even if the client would have been perfectly happy how it was originally (and will never know the additional time and effort you put in on their behalf).
Not judging by the state of a lot of supposed ‘top CVs’ we are sent to fix. You’ll never know just how long your CV writer spends on your CV, but many professional CVs that we receive to fix seem rushed and ill-conceived. Some firms give their writers set deadlines on each CV, and some of these deadlines are completely out of sync with producing anything of quality. Yes, it means you get your CV of sorts quicker – but in all liklihood not the CV you need at executive level!
When it comes to writer recruitment in the CV sector, this isn’t what clients expect or are led to believe either.
How do we know this?
Well, over the course of 20+ years, we’ve received a great many applications from professional writers (including those from other so-called ‘top firms’).
Who applies as CV writers?
As well as those with professional CV writing experience, there is also the likes of recruiters, headhunters, copyrighters, journalists, creative writing graduates, content writers, career officers and HR executives. Some professionals with administration and management backgrounds also sometimes apply, as do some students, communications specialists and virtual assistants.
On what grounds do they apply?
The recruiters, managers and career officers say they are used to dealing with CVs, the writers, journalists and students claim that they can write, and those with prior professional experience seem to be under the impression that this is important.
Is pervious experience important?
Yes and no. It depends on the experience.
Ten years of quality experience with a genuine top firm is worth more than 100 years’ experience with a standard firm. If the majority of CV firms produce flawed CVs (and they most certainly do), then it follows that those trained in flawed methodology perpetuate it.
Do people/firms realise this?
No, not as far as we can see.
When judging writers, people (and CV firms come to that) tend to just look at the length of experience, rather than the quality of experience. It’s one reason why so many freelancers do the rounds of CV companies and why many professional CV writers are much of a muchness.
Very differently to everyone else!
Perhaps surprisingly, we see experienced applicants as a negative.
Why is this?
Firstly, those with prior experience often assume that just because other firms have similar standards, methods and products, then this applies to us too. This illustrates that they do not know us, and they are unaware of the gulf between typical CVs and ours.
Secondly, they tend to presume that they already know it all just because they have prior experience. Somewhat paradoxically, laymen tend to be more receptive and more willing to be (re)educated than those already entrenched in flawed and dated methodologies.
Thirdly, applicants with prior experience often seem reluctant when asked to take our tests. In contrast, candidates who don’t have prior experience have no problem with this.
Fourthly, applicants with prior CV writing experience struggle to get past even our first test. We’re not discounting applicants with experience, but their track record doesn’t bode well.
Fifthly, some experienced candidates tend to go over the top. For example, claiming exquisite writing ability which is at odds with their own standard CV, or including fantastical statistics. (If you have read what we say elsewhere about statistics then you can imagine our opinion on that!).
We value genuine writing talent, attention to detail, going the extra mile, honesty, integrity, reliability and customer service excellence.
Judging by the CVs we are sent to fix, and comments from clients over the years, such qualities seem lacking in various other quarters.
Some companies include writer qualifications on their websites. Other firms don’t. You’d have to ask them why not. As for ourselves, we only consider applicants with at least a degree, and we do indicate qualifications on our site.
Occasionally we receive applications from ‘certified resume writers.’ Typically, ‘certified resume writers’ somehow see this is as a positive when they apply to work with us.
If you are unfamiliar with this, in the USA candidates can become ‘certified’ if they follow the (private) organisation’s methods and pay a certain fee. Even though it’s not a degree, some ‘certified resume writers’ do put letters after their name. It is fairly popular in the USA, but hasn’t really caught on here.
We’ve received many ‘certified’ resumes to fix over the years (primarily from US clients). Clients tend to be subsequently surprised at just how much we improve for them.
Outsourcing abroad is also more common than people realise. We too have received invitations from firms in places such as India offering to create CVs in double-quick time at low rates. Naturally, we don’t entertain such business. But that’s us. Some other firms do. Disturbingly, clients sometimes don’t know who (or where) their writer is. They also sometimes don’t know if English is their first, second or third language.
You may think that this isn’t applicable if the firm you engage is UK-based and includes a telephone consultation. And most of the time, it isn’t applicable. However, you should be conscious that there is nothing preventing companies from recruiting UK-based staff for phone consultations then subcontracting the actual writing out to Asia.
It’s a matter of trust.
Trust is an extremely important and greatly undervalued value in the CV sector.
When you invest in a CV firm, you do so blind to a certain degree because, as discussed, many companies make comparable claims, and as established, when you examine everything rationally, it’s evident that some claims are incorrect, deceptive, baseless or all of these things.
It is a very pertinent question, and the less ethical certainly don’t make it easy.
Notably, as mentioned, many people just accept things on face value and are prone to being swayed by things such as claims, made-up statistics and gimmicks.
Much of the time, trust doesn’t even enter the equation.
What about reviews?
Many place a big emphasis on reviews.
That’s fine if everyone plays by the same rules, but in the CV industry that’s not always the case. Certainly, many reviews and testimonials in the sector are genuine, it’s just that many are (let’s be polite) less than reliable.
As an example, a few years ago a ‘CV services review site’ was launched. The first version pretty much told users to ‘forget all CV firms, because company X is the best and all the others are useless in comparison.’ Those aren’t the words verbatim, and we won’t name the company in question, but you see the kind of lengths some companies will go to pull the wool over customers’ eyes. Eventually, the penny dropped that people were seeing through the sham, so the company in question changed things. The next version of their site listed several CV companies (all with ‘okay’ ratings) – well, all except one which received glowing reviews - and no guessing who’s!
This site seems to have slipped out of the search engines (at the time of writing), but similar kinds of thing still persist. For example, at the time of writing, LinkedIn has a page listing the supposed 10 best CV writing services. This page ranks highly in the search engines, and surprise surprise, their own service is listed top! In the era of corporate partnerships and affiliates you would imagine that more professionals would be aware of vested interests, they’d be wary about ‘revenues over customers’, and they’d be guarded of reviews (and review sites). Astonishingly this isn’t the case and many people put more faith in reviews than they do their own head, gut and common sense.
What about examples?
Some companies, us included, have a CV example on their website. Other companies don’t. You’d need to ask those firms why not.
We have touched on some key differences above, but we’ll list some more indicators below:
Some companies provide details of their writers (and qualifications) on their website. Other companies don’t.
Some companies respond to queries by telephone, email and live chat. Other companies don’t.
Some companies do little more than tweaking templates. The better firms don’t.
Some company’s CV appraisals are authentic. Others are just tweaked templates (and sometimes even automated).
The best companies can explain their methods logically. The lesser companies can’t.
With some companies, you deal from day 1 with an actual writer. With other companies it’s a salesperson on commission.
Some companies have small teams of genuine experts doing their best for clients. Other firms are, to all intents and purposes, CV writing factories with large teams of writers churning out products en-masse.
Some companies use scare tactics (such as ATS). Other firms don’t. (There is more to ATS than meets the eye, and this could be the subject of another article).
Some companies resort to marketing gimmicks. Others do not.
Some companies make false promises, the best companies don’t.
Some companies puersuade via unverifiable statistics. The best companies don’t.
Some companies make claims that they do not back up. The best firms do not.
The above is not a full list, but it should give you food for thought to help you make a better-informed decision.
In this modern era, it is not always clear who owns what, who has a vested interest, or even which firm (or writer) is really doing the writing.
Big business has extended its tentacles, has penetrated, and increasingly has more influence in the CV writing sector market. Via acquisitions, partnerships, affiliates, advertising income or whatever, smaller, independent firms are being squeezed out by big business with their money, flash sites, AI-powered customer acquisition tools, partnership brokers, online influence, marketing teams, 24/7 salesforces, outsourced writing firms, and industrial-scale operations.
The only thing they appear to lack is authentic CV writing expertise!
Unfortunately, many executives don’t realise that they have been misled until weeks, or months down the line, when the promises they were sold do not materialise.
Your CV is supposed to be a sales and marketing document, but most professional CVs are not the sales and marketing documents that executive clients think they are. That is the biggest reason.
What else?
As surprising at this sounds, people do not judge their own CVs properly.
Instead of evaluating it as a sales and marketing document, they instead gauge it visually, and as a career biography.
Notably, employers don’t view CVs from that same perspective. However, as long as it looks presentable and sums up career experience then most people are content with that and assume it is as good as it gets.
Isn’t it?
No. Far from it!
Let’s take a rough analogy.
Imagine this scenario:
A car salesman persuades you that their silver Bentley will be ideal for assisting you land jobs. He says that drivers arriving in Bentley style at interview land well-paid jobs on average 4 x faster than non- Bentley owners. Better still, he says that salaries are 33% higher. Additionally, the salesman goes as far as to guaranteeing that you’ll get to the interview and also have a 26% better chance of being offered the job on the spot.
Wonderful.
You duly sign on the dotted line, wire over your savings and snatch the keys.
Heads turn your way as you drive to the first interview. It’s a beautiful car, and you are thrilled. After ten miles you notice a clunking noise and the steering wheel veers to the right. Five miles from your interview the Bentley stutters and slows to a halt. Steam rises from the engine so you give it 30 minutes to cool. Oh no! You miss your interview. But undeterred, you continue to the next one. Extraordinarily, the same thing happens at the second interview. And once again at the third. Exasperated and disheartened you trundle back to the Bentley garage. En-route you clock Honda, Skoda and Toyota owners shaking hands with the three employers you were scheduled to meet. You grind your teeth together and slam your foot down.
You are welcomed by the smiling Bentley salesman who enlightens you that the small print does not mean your money back, but that they will just alter things for you. You are steered to a seat, cross your arms over your chest and snort heavily while out of the corner of your eye you see the salesman shuttle over to your Bentley with a pot of grey paint.
The above is an amplified analogy, but it does have a serious message that isn’t too dissimilar to what commonly happens with a lot of typical professional CVs.
In this instance, the candidate puts their trust in the salesman and is swayed by claims, statistics and visuals. What the candidate didn’t examine was the fundamentals – the clunky engine from Latvia and the crooked chassis from Bangladesh.
If CV companies don’t get fundamentals right (and most don’t) then those who engage such firms shouldn’t be so surprised when results don’t occur as expected.
In the scenario above, the three hired people chose cars, not because of flashy looks, but because they were presentable with well-oiled engines and impeccably aligned chassis - working together in harmony to do the job that they were meant to do.
The moral of this scenario is that of substance over the superficial. Fundamentals are more important in the world of CVs than most executives realise. Overlooking fundamentals can not only steer decision-making in the wrong direction before a purchase, but it can also hinder people’s understanding of stalling and misfiring CVs afterwards as well (puns intended!).
In this article we have made quite a big deal about claims, and backing them up.
Why is this?
Firstly, having the confidence to back up claims is a key differentiator between the honest and dishonourable. And in the CV sector, where transparency is in short supply, you do need all the help you can get.
Secondly, we have every confidence in our ability, we’ve been putting our money where our mouth is and backing this up with a real money back guarantee for years – enhancing the CVs of firms from all around the world (including supposed ‘top firms’ with flashy sites and fantastical statistics).
Is it a mere claim or can you prove it?
We can most certainly prove it. Please feel free to check out our guarantee details.
Is this easy to prove?
Yes and no!
We regularly enhance other firms’ CVs, and have done for 20+ years. So proving it is not a problem. If anything, that is the easy part.
The hard part was amassing all the skills, knowledge, expertise and methods in the first instance to give us the foundations to write the special way that only we can (powerfully, concisely and naturally - and in alignment with sales and marketing principles).
None of that comes easy. For us, it meant engaging with recruiters as well as responding to client questions and listening to customer and employer feedback - not to mention a great deal of research, testing, trials, tweaks, experiments, refinements and hard work writing CVs every day for years.
Without all of that we would be just another CV firm. But with all that, as well as that little matter of natural writing talent, marketing expertise, creativity, and attention to detail etc, we are in a league of our own, and we have been for many years.
We know that choosing a CV company can be a minefield. As well as to clashing claims, fake reviews and persistent salespeople, there’s also that little matter of trust to bear in mind too.
We wrote this detailed article in the hope that it might open a few eyes, but more than that, we wrote it because, as genuine, honest people with integrity, we are sickened by disgraceful malpractices in this sector. We believe that executives not only deserve the truth, but they also merit a lot more from those they put their faith in.
We cannot speak for other CV companies, however, what we can do, and what we promise, is to do our utmost for those deserving executives who put their trust in us.
If you would like our unique assistance then we would be happy to help you.