Making your resume stand out from the crowd is always a challenge. A lot of people provide resume critique and even resume writing services. My daughter tried one a while back that wasn’t very good, so beware what you’re buying if you try one. Ask for examples of its work and customer names to contact.

I recently came across a site, Doostang Career Services, that does resume critiques for free, as it tried to sell you a resume service. I submitted a resume of mine to see how detailed a free critique would be.

It was more detailed than I expected and contained some tried and true resume writing advice. Examples of what it told me included:

• I found your design to be visually uneven. The appearance is not polished,
• Your career summary is not as strong as it should be. This is a key component to compel the hiring manager to keep reading. The purpose of this section is to define you as a professional and cover those areas most relevant to your career level and job target.
• From the way the resume is worded, you come across as a “doer,” not an “achiever.” Too many of your job descriptions are task-based and not results-based. This means that they tell what you did, instead of what you achieved. This is a common mistake for non-professional resume writers.
• I didn’t find compelling language that brings your work to life. I saw many passive words and non-action verbs. Phrases like “created” and “developed” are overused, monotonous, and add no value to your resume. Strong action verbs, used with compelling language to outline exemplary achievements, are essential parts of a well-constructed resume.

The site charges $349 to do a resume. I’m not looking for a rewrite at the moment and so didn’t investigate further to see exactly what that buys or what past customers think of it. I’d advise doing both before spending that much money.

John N. Frank