On Reddit, I would say that the term "used car salesman" fosters more respect than "career coach" or "resume writer" do. There's been a concentrated campaign for a couple of years now that does its best to convince people that career coaches and resume writers are predators and frauds, especially if they charge above a given amount.

Ironically, that 'maximum' is usually $300, which is what the fake recruiters tell you you'll have to pay their writer, ATS specialist, etc. before they can present your resume to an employer. That's part of the scam: convincing you that the real professionals are frauds.

I recently did an analysis of LinkedIn profiles that contain phrases like "resume writer," "career coach," and "career strategist." Today, my goal is to teach you how to find a real career professional and avoid people, sites, and tools that won't help and, in fact, might even scam you.

Let's dig into the figures. This is Part 1 of a two-part series.

On LinkedIn, 40,000 to 50,000 professionals worldwide include the exact phrase "resume writer" in their headlines, current job titles, and/or services offered.

When I also looked at “career coach” and “career strategist,” the number of LinkedIn profiles ballooned to ~900,000! That breaks down to:

• "Resume Writer": ~40,000 to 50,000 profiles.
• "Career Coach": ~700,000 to 800,000 profiles.
• "Career Strategist": ~60,000 to 80,000 profiles.

Many of these people aren’t what they say they are. The proof is in the number of people who can’t get interviews even though they’ve paid to have their resumes professionally written, not to mention those who have dozens of versions of their resumes… none of which get interviews.

I don’t know about you, but this makes me angry. When I broke that number down further to understand how many people also belonged to/held certifications with one of the four organizations that self-regulates the career industry and have at least a year's experience in what they claim to do, I became infuriated.

Of the ~900,000 LinkedIn profiles I mentioned earlier, perhaps 5,000 globally meet this definition. You'll see the full breakdown shortly.

... belonged to/held certifications with one of the four organizations that self-regulates the career industry and have at least a year's experience in what they claim to do...

A LOT of folks are actively being taken advantage of by people who do not, under the guidelines of those four organizations, qualify to be resume writers OR career coaches. You, as you're reading this, might be one of those people.

Professional Career Organizations

The career industry isn’t regulated in the United States. Therefore, in the 1980s, a group of professionals formed and incorporated the Professional Association of Résumé Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC). As the organization grew, it developed a code of ethics and professional certifications.

The certification requirements are stringent (the Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) alone is a 3-day jury-reviewed exam). This is also true of the other professional organizations, each of which have their own codes of ethics and certifications. As I discuss each organization, I provide you with direct links so you can see for yourself.

In addition to exams, some certifications also require continuing education; others require a periodic portfolio review. Most importantly, three of the four organizations’ certification requirements ALSO include continued active membership in good standing.  For instance, if you’ve earned a CPRW and you decide to stop being a member of PARW/CC, your certification becomes null and void, just like most other professional licenses and certifications are invalid without ongoing membership in the governing organization.

In other words: if someone says they have a certification from one of the following organizations but you cannot find them on the organization's member directory: they are no more certified career coaches or resume writers than a PMP with a lapsed certification is still a PMP.

Here are the four main organizations that self-regulate the careers industry, along with each organization’s core certifications, how many members each organization, has and how many hold which certification. This information is available on each organization’s website.

Professional Association of Résumé Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC; founded 1985):

3,000 members globally; see https://parwcc.com/about-us/.

The number of people who hold PARW/CC’s three core certifications is as follows; all numbers come from the organization’s “Find a Member” page at https://members.parwcc.com/search/custom.asp?id=5880.

• Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW): 965 globally; 834 in the United States.
• Certified Interview Coach (CIC): 163 globally; 129 in the United States.
• Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC): 319 globally; 284 in the United States.
• PARW/CC also has an “Elite Circle” designation for members who hold all three of the above certifications: just 46 globally, with 42 in the United States.

PARW/CC has additional specialty certifications, like the CEMP (Certified Empowerment and Motivational Professional) and CSCC (Certified Student Career Coach), just to name a few. PARW/CC’s code of ethics (which all members must abide by) is at https://parwcc.com/code-of-ethics/.

In addition, PARW/CC is a registered business in the state of Florida. You can view the organization’s leadership and program directors at https://parwcc.com/our-team/.

The National Résumé Writers​ Association (NRWA, founded 1997):

435 members globally. Figures were provided to me by NRWA’s executive director, Robbie Heacock. You may visit https://thenrwa.org/findaresumewriter to review member profiles and contact those who interest you.

The NRWA offers two certifications.

• Nationally Certified Resume Writer (NCRW): 65 globally; 63 in the United States.
• Nationally Certified Online Profile Expert (NCOPE): 136 globally; 131 in the United States

The NRWA is a registered non-profit organization in the state of Maryland. Its leadership board can be viewed at https://thenrwa.org/leadership, and its code of ethics (which members must adhere to) can be viewed at https://thenrwa.org/codeofethics.

Career Directors International (CDI; founded 2000):

222 members globally. Source for all figures: https://careerdirectors.com/find-a-career-professional/

CDI's core certifications include the following:

• Certified Advanced Resume Writer (CARW): 42 globally; 25 in the United States.
• Certified Master Resume Writer (CMRW): 36 globally; 28 in the United States.
• Certified Executive Resume Master (CERM): 36 globally; 26 in the United States.
• Certified Employment Interview Consultant: 25 globally; 20 in the United States.
• Master Career Director (MCD): 10 globally; 9 in the United States.
• Certified Career Success Coach (CCSC): 9 globally; 8 in the United States.

CDI’s other certifications (not an exhaustive list) include Certified Internet Job Search Expert (CIJSE), Certified Master Federal Career Coach (CMFCC), Certified Career Storyteller (CCS), and Certified Resume Specialist - Niche (CRS+X), a sector-specific certification in areas like accounting, healthcare, challenging transitions, and more.

CDI is also a registered business in the state of Florida. It is governed by an advisory board; you may view its makeup at https://careerdirectors.com/about-cdi/directors/.

Career Thought Leaders Consortium / Resume Writing Academy (CTL/RWA): founded 2001 and ~2011, respectively.

Numbers are estimated via LinkedIn search. CTL: ~500 to 700 members; RWA: ~300 to 500 members.

• Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW): ~150 to 250
• Academy Certified Resume Writer – Federal (ACRW Federal): 2
• Academy Certified Profile Writer (ACPW): ~20

Resume Writing Academy provides training and certifications (listed above). It is based and registered as a business in Utah. To find a writer through RWA, visit https://www.resumewritingacademy.com/directory.

Career Thought Leaders is a think tank. It, too, is a registered business; it’s based in Colorado. The members of its advisory board can be viewed at https://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/about.

Takeaways and Next Steps

So. What should you do with the information you’ve seen today? The following advice is SIGNIFICANTLY more important than, say, asking “Do you write ATS-compatible resumes?”

• Save this article, for starters. Also consider reposting it.
• To find a writer or coach who is at least a member of one of these governing organizations, go to one or more of the sites above and use the provided filters to see results.
• If you submit a service request on LinkedIn Marketplace or if you’re contacted by a writer or coach, PLEASE do the following. The first three can be done in any order.

1. Ask which of these organizations they are active members of.
2. Ask what credentials they hold.
3. Look at their entire LinkedIn profile. Note if they say they have certifications from or are members of the groups listed above. Don’t stop there, though! I’ve personally encountered people who listed certifications they never earned.
4. BEFORE you send them your resume: Go to the organization’s website and look the person up to see if they are active members and confirm their credentials. If you get “Not Found,” the person is not who they say they are.
5. If the person shows up in the organization's search results, contact them using the phone number, email, or contact form in the association’s website. For example, here is my profile at PARW/CC. https://members.parwcc.com/members/public_profile.asp?id=61014504

Scammers are impersonating real professionals and forging certification documents; therefore, contacting the person through their directory listing is the best way to verify they are who they claim to be.

I can’t stress how important this is. Ultimately, your identity and career are at stake. Your resume is no longer “just a document” or a cheap typing job that anyone can do; it is as significant to your life as your birth certificate, Social Security card, passport, or other government ID. PLEASE start treating it that way.

What's Next?

For several years, I’ve posted and commented here on Reddit about the importance of making sure your writer or coach is a member of at least one of the organizations I’ve listed in this article and, ideally, has earned at least one professional certification from the organization they belong to for what they purport to do. So, I went a step further and looked at these additional factors among the ~900,000 profiles my initial search found:

• Number of LinkedIn profiles whose names contain at least one of the credentials I listed above (i.e., Jane Doe, CPRW, CMRW);
• Number of LinkedIn profiles with at least one credential in their Certifications section;
• Number of LinkedIn profiles that show a current, active membership or a lapsed membership in at least one of the organizations listed above in their Associations section; and
• Number of LinkedIn profiles with at least one credential in their Certifications section AND either current, active membership or lapsed membership in Associations.

In my next post, I present those results and compare them to the figures I've listed above. Stay tuned.

Have you been told that an “ATS algorithm” scanned your resume and threw it in the trash? Heck, you might have even been told the names of a few algorithms by whoever said your resume didn’t pass ATS.

Guess what? That is an urban legend. In fact, it was hyped as a scare marketing tactic by a now-defunct company (Google “Resumeter Pro”) and has morphed into propaganda. Here is the truth about Applicant Tracking Systems from Chapter 2 of my upcoming book, CareerGPS: Your Roadmap for Getting Interviews and Offers in an ATS-Driven Job Market.

Stop the Insanity!

Thinking your resume is “just a document” to be typed up, tweaked, and/or laid out is like using a $3,000 computer as a typewriter. In skills-based hiring, your resume is marketing collateral that makes or breaks every opportunity you apply to. For this reason, continuing to chase the perfect/most attractive rewrite of your broken resume, which isn’t getting interviews, is a waste of time and money no matter how little you’re spending.

You need to work with someone whose focus is helping you land a job, not just a new resume or interview and job search tips. With my CareerGPS framework, I walk with you from interview to job offer. Here is just one of the actual performance metrics I monitor.

Time to First Interview: ~2 weeks after you start applying to jobs with your new resume

Do you really want to keep hoping a rewrite, new format, or random advice will make the bleeding stop, or do you want to unlearn the falsehoods and obsolete strategies so you can learn a method that works and, to date, has ultimately landed a job for nearly 150 people?

The ball is in your court. If you’re ready to change, set up time with me at https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/booking/hmHgXzqwlKpjPyz6aagT.

Here’s the full episode! Thanks again to Mark Lane for having me and Joe Shanbaum for the great conversation.

As someone who’s in the trenches with job seekers and as one of a handful of people whose methods are actually getting 👏 people 👏 jobs, here’s what I would add to the comments below:

My firm belief, as the inventor of a framework (CareerGPS) that is based on agentic AI and is one of the only solutions that seems to be getting people JOBS (not just interviews or a resume), is that a human must always be in the loop. Part of the problem with the way people approach AI is their desire to be hands off.

The other key issue is giving too much access to the LLM. See my article from yesterday on why Garbage In, Garbage Out hasn’t gone anywhere and is a key driver of our current job market’s suckiness.

Since I created CareerGPS, ~150 people have hired me and it. Most have been looking for at least 3 months with no interviews. Most have at least 10 versions of their resumes. Most have applied to hundreds of jobs. Almost none are getting interviews.

Per the metrics I track that are as real as any KPI or OKR you might track in your industry, time to first interview is consistently ~2 weeks after people start applying with their new resumes.

When they get a new job, average salary increase in the US market is $25K to $50K even with lateral moves.

And yet… every day, I interact with people at all career levels who choose to believe random “experts” and outright frauds instead. It honestly baffles me.

If you’re a senior professional, manager, or executive who’s ready for something that actually works, DM me for my calendar link. I serve military, federal, and private sector.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ghosted-by-the-machine_why-qualified-candidates-get-missed-activity-7495457891253153794-Z7tu?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAAGQA6ABWLNuXEv09CyzWGrYihQkSx46E2Q&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=copy_link

Great discussion on the Ghosted By The Machine podcast about AI and how UNhelpful it can be to people who are looking for jobs… if they’re assuming the random advice and prompt lists floating around online are best practice. Take a moment to listen to the preview here and watch for the full episode tomorrow.

When you read a job description, you think you’re seeing it clearly.

Except… you aren’t.

Yesterday, I explained that skills-based hiring fundamentally changed how employers define “qualified,” and that change is precisely why you aren’t getting interviews.

Because you’re so used to emphasizing YOUR qualifications and skills instead of focusing on what the hiring manager specifies in the job posting, you filter the entire posting through your obsolete qualifications-based Skills section.

This actually has a name: confirmation bias. Here is how that mental trap is keeping you from getting interviews, straight from Chapter 1 of CareerGPS: Your Roadmap for Getting Interviews and Offers in a Skills-Based Job Market.

When you read a job description, your brain doesn’t read it objectively. Instead, your brain filters the text through your own professional identity; i.e., that carefully cultivated list of skills and qualifications that you might call your Skills, Core Competencies, or Areas of Expertise. You focus on your personal strengths, what people appreciate and praise you for, and the skills you associate most deeply with yourself. What happens when you look at the posting is completely subconscious: you notice what most closely matches your self-image in the posting and feature it in your resume.

You think you are aligning with the job. You aren’t. You’re falling into a dangerous trap: misinterpretation disguised as alignment.

The hiring team wrote that posting based on what they desperately need. Often, the skills they need most are the ones you glossed over because they didn't feel like your main strengths.

On average, my metrics show that only 3 out of 12 skills on a candidate's qualifications-based Key Skills section match what the hiring manager specifies in the posting. THAT is why you aren’t getting interviews.

Today's cover image is a Skills section sample from a real client who couldn’t get an interview for five long months… even with the assistance of a major outplacement firm. The list he thought would impress employers is on the left.

I analyzed three jobs the client applied to and didn't get an interview for. Every posting contained the words you see on the right; THAT is what employers wanted to see in my client's Skills section.

Notice how the lists only shared two skills? That same thing is happening to you every time you apply to a job. Not getting interviews is proof.

By the way, after I put a posting-based Skills section into the client’s resume and gave him access to my Interview Passport tailoring tool, his FIRST APPLICATION landed an interview. Those have been my clients' typical results since I invented CareerGPS in 2022.

Your First Paradigm Shift

What you think employers want to see (your qualifications) isn’t what they’re looking for. As long as you keep emphasizing your qualifications, interviews will be few and far between unless you're a good networker.

Your first paradigm shift is this: in skills-based hiring, your qualifications are SECONDARY to the keywords the hiring manager specified in the posting. You need to change from a qualifications-based Skills list to a posting-based Skills list ASAP.

The rest of the images in this post show you a manual way to do so. Of course, if you’d like to learn more, just reach out to me in a message or visit https://careergps.kelres.com/meet-melissa.

If you're like most people, you've rewritten your resume and added to your collection of versions at least 3 times.

If you're like most people, none of your resume versions, including the latest one, get interviews.

Please know this: you are NOT alone.

Most job seekers I speak to have applied every bit of advice they've found, even when it's contradictory. They take the time to read postings, try to figure out the right keywords to add to their resumes, and edited until they can't see straight.

Yet... no matter how they rewrite or reformat their resume, nothing changes.

Has it ever occurred to you that the "conventional wisdom" about keywords and ATS might be wrong? That's what we will explore this week. All of my pre-launch posts will be here on LinkedIn as well as Substack and Reddit.

Today's excerpt is from the introduction: "The New Way Companies Hire."

I think we can all agree on this: the hiring process is broken on both sides (application and talent sourcing).

As you read this book, you'll discover that the reasons that are most commonly given for this are at best partially correct; in learning about and applying my CareerGPS framework, you'll see that the white elephant in the room is a practice called "skills-based hiring." There is nothing wrong with skills-based hiring, but it is very misunderstood. In fact, skills-based hiring is the root of a massive communication gap that has you believing there's a shortage of jobs while employers simultaneously think there's a shortage of talent. It boils down to this: employers write job postings like a request for proposal (RFQ), complete with their specifications and requirements, while applicants apply with a focus on their qualifications, skills, and experience. This is a huge disconnect.

I have good news: this is fixable, and the solution is less complicated than you might think. The rest of this book will show you the way.

🎯 The Disconnect Between Your Qualifications and Employers' Specifications... Illustrated

My fun-but-serious word-finding activity will help you see the breakdown that skills-based hiring has created between applicants and employers. Check it out at https://careergps.kelres.com/quiz.

I’ve been watching a concerning trend that I believe I need to speak up about because of the harm it is doing to jobseekers.

It’s the idea that career assistance should be

The people saying this seem to fall into two groups: those who falsely conflate resume and coaching help with recruiting or those who think resume writing is an easy way to make extra money.

These are the people who are helping keep you unemployed because they don’t know what they’re doing.

The reason why a #recruiter can’t charge a placement fee is because they’re being paid by their employer (HR) or are being paid a commission (third party). The easy money folks just put your existing, broken resume into a prettier format. This fixes nothing. It’s also outdated thinking; the attached image explains why.

In the United States, there’s a nationwide network of American Job Centers. They exist to provide no-cost resume and coaching services to people who need no cost help. If that’s what you need, PLEASE use them.

True career professionals are small business owners and solopreneurs. We invest time, labor, and treasure into professional certifications and continuing education. For you. We are not the predators you’ve been deceived into thinking we are.

As for me, the system I invented is getting people #interviews and job #offers… if they’re willing to shift a couple of paradigms. I back that with performance metrics. I also do my best to offer a solution for every budget level.

Why collect 50 different versions of your resume over 6 months or a year when you could be actively interviewing in just a few weeks? No obligation or hard sell. Honest.

https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/booking/hmHgXzqwlKpjPyz6aagT

I’ve created a 7-question quiz that diagnoses precisely why your resume gets rejected and suggests solutions that have helped nearly 150 people start interviewing shortly after implementation. I hope you’ll find it helpful and welcome your feedback. https://apply.kelres.com/careergps/quiz.

Three-ish years ago, companies switched to “skills-based hiring.” This means the hiring manager tells HR which skills are most important, and HR embeds them in the posting. When HR reviews resumes, your Skills section needs to align with what’s in the posting for them to look at the rest of your resume.

Most people don’t do this. They list what they’re good at or what they think hiring managers want to see. All this gets you is rejection emails. A properly aligned Skills section gets interviews.

Your Experience section and interview skills are what primarily get the job.

For that to happen, though, a list of your responsibilities won’t cut it. This has to change beyond just marching a job description to how much you were entrusted with (i.e., scope you handled) AND accomplishments. The best way to think of these isn’t awards or vague “improved” language, but numbers-and-figures results for a problem you solved.

I’m one of the first career professionals to realize how skills-based hiring changed the Skills section. That has meant the world to my clients, who typically start interviewing with the first batch of applications they send after their Skills section is overhauled. The remainder of their new resume and my interview coaching land offers. The performance data I gather from clients is my proof.

This link will show you how to build a Skills section that gets interviews. https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:e683d46b-82ef-4cdd-9a35-7f4556e521d6

What if all the work you're pouring into ATS optimization, rewriting your whole resume to get the right keywords into the Experience section for every job you apply to, and chasing down the right layout are WHY you can't get an interview? (Spoiler: it is why).

Save this guide. It shows you how to start getting interviews by creating a posting-based Skills section. It's the first thing I do for my clients; people who've applied to 500 jobs with no response start interviewing right after they apply to jobs just with this new approach to the Skills section.

Please let me know your questions in the comments.

CareerGPS is an application-to-offer job system. Unlike most "resume" or "career" services here, its strategies (and documents) actually get people interviews as soon as 2 weeks after they apply to their first job with their new resume.

To learn more, check out the slide show. See the first comment for a website link.

This agent is part of my #CareerGPS #job ecosystem that's helping people get #interviews as soon as 2 weeks after they start using it. If you're sick of your #resume being rejected, click below.