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Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president of people operations.
Some job seekers do it because they're not confident in their writing skills or they don't have the time. Others decide to pay up once they grow tired of never hearing back from employers.
But no matter what your reason, Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president of people operations, advises against it.
In September, Bock wrote an article on LinkedIn about the biggest mistakes he sees on résumés. It received over 3,500 comments - so he decided to address the most popular questions in a follow-up post titled, "The Biggest Mistakes I See on Résumés, Part 2: Your top 8 questions."
He says one question that came up again and again was, "Should I pay someone to write my résumé?"
His response: "Nope."
Instead, he suggests you find someone like yourself who has already landed the job you want. "If you're a veteran, find someone from your service who works in the job and company you want. If you're a student, find an alumna/-us who has your dream job (your career center will have résumé books you can mine). Emulate their résumé. (Notice I didn't say "copy" ... big difference!)"
Bock recommends looking closely at how this person describes their experiences and accomplishments. "They wrote things in a way that got noticed," he says. "They got it right. Do what they did. Don't waste your money on something you can get for free."
He warns readers that his advice and feedback are his own opinions - not official company policy. "My qualifications are that I've personally reviewed more than 20,000 résumés, coached hundreds of high school and college students, veterans, and people of every age on how to get a job, and lead a recruiting machine that has seen over 20 million applications," Bock says. "But there's still a bunch of stuff I don't know, so take what I write with a grain of salt."
Click here to read the full LinkedIn post.
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