A large number of recruitment firms and staffing agencies are increasingly offering CV/Resume review services.  It is becoming more and more difficult to tell which service will give you the best value for money. If you want to get the best out of your CV review, here are a few things you need to consider before you take the decision to spend on a CV review:

A. Profile of your Resume/CV Reviewer

 You have the right to ask who the reviewer of your CV is. If the staffing agency or recruitment firm cannot give you a list of the reviewers and a brief bio or LinkedIn profile, you are likely not to know who is going to review your resume and therefore may not guarantee the outputs.  The profile of the reviewer should at the bare minimum demonstrate extensive recruitment or HR experience, the ability to use an applicant tracking system and an understanding of how technology is leveraged to identify candidates in e-recruitment systems.

B. Ability  of the reviewer to distinguish different types of Resume’s, cover letters for different kinds of roles

Sometimes your interest in having your resume reviewed is to apply for a job or a consulting assignment.  A good reviewer should be able to investigate what you are applying for and support you tailor your document to match the requirements of the job or assignment you seek.

C. Understanding of, and familiarity with standard application template requirements for leading organizations.

Many organizations are increasingly providing templates for use in the application process.  A reviewer that is not familiar with content expectations for different organizations’ resume templates may capture the wrong content and cost you a job.  You need to establish whether the reviewer assigned to you is familiar with expectations of some leading organizations, governments etc.

Knowing these three things will give you much headway in your job search endeavor.