Career Counseling Services

gmiller598

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I've been unemployed for about 4 months right now. I didn't think it would be this hard but I've been fortunate to have been able to have interviews up to this point and decent success with recruiters but the process is starting to wear thin on me and I'm needing to re-evaluate my outlook right now. In the interviews I've had I generally get told I'm too much of one thing or not enough of another and things just haven't worked out. In between all of that I did get an offer and accept it only for the company to make cutbacks and restructure the job into something I didn't feel was a good career choice. I know various career counseling services will review and change my resume again and give additional coaching on networking and interviewing but I'm really struggling to know if its worth it to drop a ton of money on these services.

I think my biggest challenge is networking and getting to know people from the various companies to get my applications noticed. It just seems so hard to find out who to reach out to when all of the companies just seem to hide behind their online application systems.

I guess I just needed to vent for a bit. I'm just curious of anyone's experience with these types of services. Can they really make a difference in helping me find something relatively soon for what will essentially be a few thousand dollars for their all inclusive package to help with everything or could I just be throwing my money away?
 
When I was let go earlier this year, my company was kind enough to set me up with these guys: https://www.lhh.com/lhhknightsbridge/en and they were very helpful. If there is an office near you I would highly recommend them.
Now, because my old company set me up, I don't know the cost of the service that I received so ymmv...
 
When I was let go earlier this year, my company was kind enough to set me up with these guys: https://www.lhh.com/lhhknightsbridge/en and they were very helpful. If there is an office near you I would highly recommend them.
Now, because my old company set me up, I don't know the cost of the service that I received so ymmv...

That is who I was set up with as well but my provided time is expiring with them. I reached out to another local service who proceeded to tell me what is wrong with my resume the other service created so I’m just struggling with who to believe on what is the right approach.


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I'm a 12+ year Corporate Recruiter with great track record.
I can take a look at your resume and give you some pointers (if needed).
 
What field are you in and what are you looking for. If you'd prefer to take it to messages shoot me a PM. It's hard for us to find good folks, so if it's something I may be able to help with I'd be more than happy.
 
I've not used career recruiting services, but have used a personal coach at my current company. i found them insightful and helpful in raising to the forefront what I already wanted, however, I didn't pay for them, so no idea what the cost is if its worthwhile or not.

Sorry to hear about your lengthy search..if you don't mind me asking, what kind of work do you do?
 
I'm a 12+ year Corporate Recruiter with great track record.
I can take a look at your resume and give you some pointers (if needed).

Thanks that might be ideal to get some impartial feedback from someone who isn't trying to sell me a service.
 
I've not used career recruiting services, but have used a personal coach at my current company. i found them insightful and helpful in raising to the forefront what I already wanted, however, I didn't pay for them, so no idea what the cost is if its worthwhile or not.

Sorry to hear about your lengthy search..if you don't mind me asking, what kind of work do you do?

I won't clutter the forum with my personal details but I essentially worked for a major financial institution doing business analyst/application support work for mortgage servicing systems.
 
That was perfect; took it to PMs from here. Thanks!
 
Thanks that might be ideal to get some impartial feedback from someone who isn't trying to sell me a service.

Yeah watch out for those vultures. I always hated those services that provide minimal help and charge you for an arm and a leg.
Plus, a lot of those services don't know more than the normal population. They may have more connections but even that's shady.
Yeah, PM me your resume or email and I'll take a look at it.
Anything for a fellow THP member!
 
I got your resume. Sorry, Mondays are busy for me in the office; haven't had a real chance to read your resume. It looks thorough and detailed.
I'll get back to you within a couple of days.
 
To answer your main question, once you've been through a decent career counseling service/outplacement firm, you can do better with a small group of people who know you and will hold you accountable with constructive criticism in the search process.

I'm not in the line of work like wonton, but I have seen over 2,500 resumes in my day, and been "in career transition" myself six times (voluntarily and otherwise). I have had one original idea in the job search process and I've stolen everything else, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the first with the idea I came up with on my own. I too would be happy to review your cover letter and your resume. PM me. You will undoubtedly get differing feedback, because tastes vary. However, most effective resumes resemble a performance review. Most ineffective resumes resemble a job description.

Some very old rules of thumbs, likely outdated by now:

Over 90% of positions are filled by networking
It takes one month of search for every $10k of salary
It takes seven interviews to get one offer

Hard, smart work can get you to beat those averages significantly. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity, and the harder you work, the luckier you'll get.

There is some art to networking effectively. In my first big unemployed search, I got more interviews and offers from eight initial networking visits than 600 cold mailed resumes. If you know how to network and write an effective cover letter (IMHO, even though its old school) you are already ahead of 95% of applicants. I recommend two books for people in search:

https://www.amazon.com/Knock-Dead-2017-Ultimate-Search/dp/1440596018

https://www.amazon.com/Rites-Passage-100-000-Million/dp/0942785339
 
sorry it took so long, Greg. I sent you an email back. Have a great weekend!
 
oh and yeah, 100% agree with Reframmellator
Networking makes a complete difference. Don't ever feel that you're bothering someone by sending your resume/wanting to network, multiple follow up emails/calls/texts, etc.
Don't ever let these Career Counselors tell you that they have a formula or database of companies/contacts, industry secrets, blah blah blah.
Most use public information.
There are plenty of technology and resources that you can use for you to beat this.
Be aggressive and Persistence pays!
 
To answer your main question, once you've been through a decent career counseling service/outplacement firm, you can do better with a small group of people who know you and will hold you accountable with constructive criticism in the search process.

I'm not in the line of work like wonton, but I have seen over 2,500 resumes in my day, and been "in career transition" myself six times (voluntarily and otherwise). I have had one original idea in the job search process and I've stolen everything else, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the first with the idea I came up with on my own. I too would be happy to review your cover letter and your resume. PM me. You will undoubtedly get differing feedback, because tastes vary. However, most effective resumes resemble a performance review. Most ineffective resumes resemble a job description.

Some very old rules of thumbs, likely outdated by now:

Over 90% of positions are filled by networking
It takes one month of search for every $10k of salary
It takes seven interviews to get one offer

Hard, smart work can get you to beat those averages significantly. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity, and the harder you work, the luckier you'll get.

There is some art to networking effectively. In my first big unemployed search, I got more interviews and offers from eight initial networking visits than 600 cold mailed resumes. If you know how to network and write an effective cover letter (IMHO, even though its old school) you are already ahead of 95% of applicants. I recommend two books for people in search:

https://www.amazon.com/Knock-Dead-2017-Ultimate-Search/dp/1440596018

https://www.amazon.com/Rites-Passage-100-000-Million/dp/0942785339

Ditto :--)
 
Thanks again for the assistance everyone. I really appreciate all of the feedback I've gotten. Fortunately things are looking up for me right now and I think I'm in a good place at the moment so I don't feel that spending a large sum of money on a career counselor is necessary at this time.
 
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