How much money would you be willing to spend to find your dream job? $100? How about $1000? Maybe $10,000? Every person will have a different answer to this question, depending on where they are in their career.

I recently sat down with a candidate of mine to discuss the various options he faced as he prepared to look for a new job. My candidate was stuck in his job, hating it more and more every day, but before he quit he needed to do the maths and find out how much it was going to cost him to find a new job.

Applying a few mathematics equations we were able to come up with the cost of being unemployed and, in doing so, answered the question about whether investing in a professional resume was a good idea.

Before we begin let’s make a couple of assumptions:

• The candidate is currently on $50,000 (gross). however is seeking a salary increase of 15% which is an additional $7,500 therefore a total salary of $57,500 (gross)
• 50 working weeks in a year
• Average time to find a new job is estimated between 3-4 months (for this example, we will say 14 weeks)

In order to work out the weekly salary we take $50,000 and divide it by 50 = $1000.00

Therefore if the average time it takes to find a new job is 14 weeks the total cost of lost salary is:

$1000.00 x 14 weeks = $14,000.00

What happens if it takes longer than 14 weeks? In the competitive job market where hiring managers are receiving in excess of 300 resumes per job it can take twice as many weeks to find a new job. In terms of loss of salary on $50,000 this works out to be:

$10,000 x 28 weeks =$28,000.00

Let’s now presume the candidate has his resume professionally written from the very first day.

A professionally written resume will ensure that hiring managers take notice and therefore will automatically increase interview rates. Generally speaking, if a hiring manager receives 100 resume applications they are likely to only choose the top 5-10% of candidates.

If a candidate has the skills, experience, expertise to perform the job, a good resume writer will repeatedly place you in that top percentage bracket. (Of course, there are many variables outside of your control including employer perception, personal preferences and the skills and quality of the competition).

Let’s assume that having a professionally written resume will increase your chances of gaining an interview by 50%. If a candidate applies for 10 targeted jobs where they have the qualifications and skills required, the odds indicate that 50% of the applications will result in interview requests. Therefore, you can expect 5 potential interviews within the first couple of weeks of applying for jobs. The more interviews you receive the more choice you will have. Nothing is better than having 2 job offers on the table!

Generally speaking the entire job selection process can take up to 4 weeks (first round interview, second round interview, background checks etc). Rather than taking 14 weeks to find a job costing you $14,000.00 in lost salary, having your resume professionally written has reduced this time to 4 weeks at a cost of $4,000.00.

HOWEVER – The candidate with his new professional resume is seeking a raise of 15% or a total salary package of $57,500. Therefore the investment in the resume has generated the candidate a profit of $3,500! And has reduced the time spent on looking for a new job from 14 weeks to 4 weeks.

The investment in a professionally written resume could be the greatest investment of your life. A small cost can lead to big long term gains. Can you afford to be out of work for an extended period of time?

© RedStarResume Publications – www.redstarresume.com

The journey to finding your dream job starts with a brand new resume.