I'm a certified career coach practitioner who does my clients' resumes myself. There are career coaches who don’t like doing them, seeing them as a “document” that needs editing for dates, titles, keywords. And if they’re not writers, well, why not have someone else do it. So they hire “someone” to do it.

A company President I talked with earlier this year had his resume done by a service that is recommended by one of the biggest business magazines in the world, probably a marketing partner. When he saw the resume a few weeks later, he felt uneasy about it: it wasn’t “him”. It made general statements about company President “responsibilities”, had nothing about his achievements, said nothing about how he led companies or what he was like to work for, and it was visually unappealing. Seeing the awful result, he asked the randomly-assigned “writer” about his qualifications. Answer: “I was a CEO of a tech company”.

Sorry, not a valid qualification.

As well-intentioned as that former-tech-CEO-now-“resume writer” might be, he is probably getting paid $25 an hour to churn out resumes that are based on boilerplate material. And you can bet companies who hire non-coaches like this are going to be using AI instead of humans very soon – and the result may actually be better!

So others may “send it out” to get the resume done. But for me, it's an exercise in which I partner with job hunters. It involves deep discussion of success stories, motivation, career goals, values, personality, interests, skills they love using and similar. It’s deep listening time; if the candidate sounds low on confidence, I remind them of what they have done that has been astounding and tell them it's not bragging to talk about it, it’s informing the hiring manager.

If the candidate is angry I reflect that back to them and we talk about how they can defuse those feelings so they can keep moving forward. If they have not worked in a while, we talk about how to answer the inevitable question, “So what have you been doing?” with something that’s related to the open job.

Only a trained human who’s worked with thousands of real, human candidates can do things like that. Not AI. Not a hobbyist who means well. And not a paid-by-the-hour “resume writer”.

Any of my clients can tell you that the resume is thus far more than a history and keywords document; it's a statement by the candidate -- that lands interviews. It is “them on the screen”. Dates, titles, and keywords flow from this.

In 1 or 2 one-hour-long sessions, I quickly get to know their work selves deeply. They feel heard. Feel they are putting themselves forward, and better understand how it’s not “bragging” to tell their stories, but it’s really about being informative with the person who needs to make the hire. And to show them their new resume in a few days. The candidates says “Until now, I couldn’t talk about how I fit the job; now I can.”

It’s so satisfying to keep learning how to help my clients, as technology changes and the hiring world keeps changing. In response to the changing world, I continually make changes to format, wording, and more. And add to the coaching topics like “how to use AI to find target companies that fit you.”

Thus they come back for updates and send me their friends and family. I've worked with some clients 3-4 times over the span of their careers, and it’s wonderful (and fun!) to see them grow and progress, especially if it follows their career plan.

That’s why I love this work: each client is refreshingly individual. No two of you are alike. Each of you connects with the world in your own, individual way. The result for me is endless learning, constant challenge, continued engagement with meaningful work, work I do that helps families.

So have someone else do a client’s resume? Not a chance. I’ll continue to selfishly enjoy doing them myself, thank you!