A Silver Lining in the Great Recession

By Jason Holland
In the current economic crisis, there is a business that is booming. In fact, there has never been a better time to get in on this opportunity.
Due to demand, there are plenty of customers to go around - and there will be for years to come. And the Internet makes it easy to run this business on your schedule and from anywhere in the world.
Think of all the people looking for jobs. What if you could help them land their dream job... and get paid to do it? I'm talking $1,000 to $3,000 per week for just part-time work.
The unemployed are looking for an edge. They're increasingly turning to consultants to help them craft resumes that will help them stand out from the crowd.
You could offer this resume consulting service to this huge, hungry market. It's a great way to make a side income while you're working on your online Carefree Business. Or if you like it, you could make it your primary business - the income potential is there.
No previous experience in human resources is necessary. And you don't have to already know how to write a great resume. It's a science. You just need proven outlines and strategies for what details you should include on a resume to make them irresistible to employers. And you can run this business completely online (and maybe a few phone calls), from marketing your services to consulting with clients.

The market is huge for resumes. There are 14 million unemployed Americans right now.
Everyone from college kids looking for their first job to executives laid off due to budget cuts needs help. And there are also the underemployed and those who just plain want a new job. Says Julien Sharp, who got her start as a freelance resume consultant after years in the corporate world:
"Many realize their current careers are not going to grow, so they decide to start a completely new career. They need a resume that reflects how their past experience can support the new type of job they are seeking."
Even in the best of economic times, there are 50 million Americans out there looking for another job with higher pay. So there is always a high demand for this service.
What makes it work is that most job hunters would prefer not to write their own resumes - 79 percent, according to a recent survey. They feel more confident when a pro does it for them.
"Ninety-nine percent of people out of work for the first time in years do not have a current resume," says Julien.
Many of Julien's clients realize a bad resume has been holding them back. And they don't know how to fix it.
"Tom" is a recent client of Julien's. As a financial analyst who had been steadily climbing up to the executive level in his company, he was laid off shortly after the economy started crumbling. Like so many people today, he had trouble finding work. And with four kids (from 5 years old to 16) to support, he was getting majorly stressed.
Turns out, Tom had everything he needed to get a great new job, except for one vital component.
Sure, he had plenty of experience and expertise. But prospective employers couldn't see that because his resume was done so poorly.
Julien sees this type of thing all the time. And it's a major part of her business. She calls helping clients whose resumes aren't getting them interviews her "sweet spot."
It boils down to one thing, says Julien: unsuccessful resumes just show what the candidate did in past positions ...but they don't show how well they did them. Julien made that simple change for Tom after she took him on as a client. And within hours of posting the revised version to Monster.com, he had received eight calls and three emails from employers. Eleven days later, the client had received a job offer.
To rewrite this resume, Julien was able to charge $225 an hour.
You can charge upwards of $150 an hour for quick resume tweaks - something you can do right after you start offering this service. Tackle total resume overhauls, writing resumes from scratch, putting together cover letters... and you could multiply that amount by three or four times. With extra services, like interview coaching and helping people get their resume in front of the right eyes with promotional pieces, you can charge even more.
The more experienced your client, says a long-time corporate manager, the more you can charge. Their resumes will be more in-depth and filled with their experience.
Charles Bryant is one of Julien's fellow freelance resume writers. Before he got into the business, he had no experience at all in resume writing. But he quickly picked up the simple techniques and strategies that anybody can use to craft quality resumes - the same techniques Julien knows.
These days, he makes between $500 - $3,000 writing resumes. And he maintains that anybody can learn what he does and have similar success.
As I said, no previous experience is necessary. You just have to learn how to ask your client the right questions to make sure the right details make it into the resume. Armed with a proven client questionnaire - this is Julien's "secret weapon" - for getting the most important information, and you can craft a great resume that will get your clients interviews and jobs.
You can make great money in the resume business - up to $150,000 per year - and help people find jobs and get back on their feet at the same time.