What do you mean by that    I am frequently surprised that people don’t know the answer to that question.  

It actually falls into two categories

Senior Managers who are still formatting their CVs in a way that is more suitable for graduates for example by putting education before Career History or who describe their CAREER HISTORY as EMPLOYMENT or even WORK EXPERIENCE.   Many Senior Managers also include inappropriate descriptions which they should have outgrown.   They may for example say that they are ’punctual’ or describe other personal attributes which are more appropriate for a school leaver. 

At the other end of the spectrum there are graduates or people who are just starting out who ‘big-up’ their achievements.   Believe it or not I actually had a graduate who had only done part time and holiday work  who described himself as a ‘manager’   The problem with this is that there is nowhere to go.   How can you aspire to career developent if you have arrived at management level even before you’ve started

Sounds good, doesn’t it.   So what happens when you apply for a free CV assessment.

Well, obviously it depends upon the individual firm, but there is no doubt about it the ‘free’ assessment is a very powerful marketing tool.    Beware of CV Writing firms that promise that one of their representatives will ring you with your free CV assessment.  What is actually happening is that they are sending the CV Writers on their books details of people asking for free CV assessments.  The CV Writer is then required to make a sales call, usually at their own expense, to try to ‘convert’ you or sell you the full blown CV Writing service.   It is obviously in the interests of the CV writer to do this – they don’t get work any other way.

So when you apply for a free assessment, nine times out of ten your name will be passed on as a sales lead.   OK if you are prepared for this but don’t get caught unawares by somebody who is simply trying to sell you something.

So are free assessments ever worth having   The answer is yes, sometimes.   If a CV Writing firm is promising to reply to you via e-mail then you are in a much better position than if they are replying by ‘phone.   You are not being put on the spot and you can judge for yourself whether what they are telling you is worth while.   Indeed this can be a very good opportunity for you to assess the quality of a CV Writing firm.  If what they are saying makes sense and you can tell that they know what they are talking about, you can at least know that they will provide a genuine professional CV writing service that is worth paying for.