“A lot of resumes are only good as the person who wrote it – and many times that’s a resume writing service,” remarks Marilyn Richards, executive VP for Snelling Staffing. She adds, “Unqualified candidates now have resumes which look better than their actual background; not to mention people can easily falsify information or embellish a resume.” Typing “resume” into the search engine turns up thousands of start-ups who advertiser resume assistance services to help job seekers improve their chances of finding a job. Yet experts say that sometimes free resume advice and a more do-it-yourself approach is best.

“You have to be really good at discerning what they’re asking for in the job posting, and then give them back what they want,” explains Carrie Kahn from the ECC Workforce Development One Stop Center. This community college career center in Buffalo New York provides job counselors who work one-on-one with job seekers to customize resumes and cover letters. They can also search job and summer internship listings on computers, take workshops in resume writing and interview techniques, receive referrals to local employers and take GED classes, and all free of charge! “We’ve increased traffic, the number of customers by 56% from September through December of this year comparatively to last year,” Kahn admits, saying that more people are recognizing that they can get free help with resume writing within their own local community centers.

Another free resume source is the online job boards like www.careerbuilder.com, www.monster.com, www.hotjobs.yahoo.com, www.vault.com and www.idealist.org. These one-stop-shops let you post your resume, receive feedback and search entry level jobs and advanced level jobs all in one portal. If you have time to read, then you will find that there is a treasure trove of information on these sites. If you’re interested in government jobs, you can find advice and job listings at www.usajobs.gov. Why pay for insider contacts when you can gain so much free advice online?

A neat site to check out is www.howtowritearesume.net, which offers loads of free resume advice. You can avoid formatting frustrations commonly encountered in MS Word by creating your layout with the click of a button on the site. You can also easily update your resume whenever you need to. Their unique “phrase builder” section helps you create thought-provoking headlines, qualifications, titles and achievement words, which will be searchable in the corporate databases too. This is just one of a number of free websites that help job hunters meet the demands of a competitive market.

Beth Kaminski is the leading expert in the field of treatment for anxiety attacks and cure for anxiety disorders. For more information on tips to stop these attacks as well as how to prevent panic attacks, visit her site today.

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