Review of the #1 Resume Samples Package Online

I’ve always shied away from resume samples and templates in the past. But when I switched over to becoming a freelance contractor with the prospect of having to look for work every few months I thought it would be as good an excuse as any to see if these resume-in-a-box packages were all they’re cracked up to be.

After some diligent research I settled on Ronan Kennedy’s Sample Resume & Cover Letters because it seemed to be very popular and I liked the look of all the job hunting, interview tips and career advice bonuses packaged into the deal. I was hoping for a one-stop-new-job-shop and this looked like it so I paid my $19.97 and quickly downloaded all the files – some as PDFs and some in MS Word format.

What’s Included in the Package

The sales page for this resume samples product focuses mainly on the resume samples and cover letter templates of which there are many (almost 200 pages) covering just about every type of job role and industry. Also in the main document are thankyou letters, other follow up letters, acceptance letters, rejection letters and unsolicited letters.

To add to this the author includes another two template documents, one for additional cover letter and thankyou letters and third one for more follow up letters which play an important role in the author’s job searching strategy I was later to learn.

One of the main reasons I decided to go with this resume samples product was the guide to actually writing a resume as well as the large pool of copy and paste templates. Having spent some time researching this subject online I was expectant to find new and useful information in this product I had paid for.

I wasn’t disappointed with the content although I didn’t find it groundbreaking, maybe this was down to raised expectations having read around and compiled a lot of this information myself.

For me this part of the product was ‘the meat’ of it hence the rather more scrutinous treatment. On the whole it delivered some high quality information in good detail and with useful examples to illustrate key points.

On reminding myself that this guide was a free bonus included with the resume samples I satisfied myself that it did deliver good value.

The section on career assessment is in my view the best part of this whole package. Rather misleadingly titled as “Cut Your Job Search Time in half” this guide acts as more of a self appraisal which when done thoroughly will ensure you only target the roles that you are most likely to get called forward to interview for.

Effectively this section does what a career councillor would by means of asking you a series of questions about yourself, your personality, the types of tasks you enjoy performing at work, the things you tend to procrastinate over, your natural strengths and other ways to distinguish your unique skill set.

It is a very interesting read which outlines a step by step process to – knowing yourself, knowing the job market and marketing yourself effectively based on your natural strengths to those roles that are looking specifically for them.

This is what I was really looking for when I decided to buy a resume samples product to help me with job searching and resume writing. One thing that I notice was the suggestion that to really do this properly the services of a career councillor and professional resume writer were needed – which the author just happens to provide.

I was happy that the amount of information provided was sufficient for my needs. The main let down in this guide was the abundance of spelling and grammatical mistakes which really shouldn’t occur in a paid-for product.

Another attraction to this product is the inclusion of a thorough step-by-step 44 page guide to interviewing effectively. Starting with research and preparation through to sample questions and answers I was pleasantly surprised with the extensive amount of information.

As with the other guides the points are illustrated with helpful examples and useful background information.

The heavy emphasis on company research and how to go about obtaining the information ensures potential candidates reach interviews confidently and well prepared.

Here was another bonus freebie that more than delivered the value of the overall price.

One of the smaller supplements this resume samples package is really a 2 page word document explaining how to fully research companies with some very useful links to perform this task.

The social networking aspect of job searching was new to me when I read this. Job searching on the Internet to me had always meant responding to job ads and posting up resumes for employers to find.

The idea of networking through various online professional communities always seemed more relevant for entrepreneurial types and not job searchers.

One constant technique throughout this entire product that the author puts great emphasis on is the use of personal references and recommendations. Whether researching a company, writing your cover letter or interviewing – one sure fire way to stand out and make an impact is if you can mention the name of someone in the organisation who you’ve already made contact with.

For example in the cover letter templates many of the start with “Further to my conversation with…… I enclose my resume…”

Or for interviewing you can answer questions about the company in ways like “When I asked ……. about ……. she told me that… “

It’s a method of going the extra mile that had never occurred to me and one I will definitely be using. The author places great significance on this and thus includes a guide to networking which really is just an explanation of the concept and some useful links. There are many references to this method throughout all the guides in this product.

Criticisms

On the whole I was very pleased with this purchase and will use it. My curiosity of resume samples packages has now been satisfied. The major let down is the occurrence of so many spelling and grammatical errors. A professional publication that is sold for money should really not have any errors of this kind at all.

It’s hard to sound authoritative about such an important subject as making first impressions on prospective employers when your own presentation of your product does not adhere to the principals you’re promoting with such emphasis.

The importance the author puts on proof reading and ensuring your resume is free of any spelling or grammatical errors have obviously not been applied to his own publication in this case.

I even managed to find an error in one of the resume samples – it was an example illustrating a point in the resume writing guide (page 23) as opposed to in the copy and paste templates but it still managed to raise a smile.

Lack of Overall Direction

I think this product would be better had it come with a quick overview of how to get the most out of it. If I were to go back and read it again I would choose an order along the lines of:

I suppose it depends on what you want from the product, but to get the whole effect and all your money’s worth I would read the guides in that order before using the actual resume samples. For this reason I think a small document outlining a step-by-step way to using all of these guides in the right order would be a welcome addition.

Conclusion

The information in this product is undoubtedly first class. It is a great shame about the lack of proof reading and attention to detail which is so strongly advocated throughout.

If you can get past that then you won’t be disappointed by the value of the content. The product could be improved further by a step-by-step roadmap of how to get the most out of it rather than leaving it to the reader to piece it all together.

I write all this from the view of someone who bought the product not so much for the main attraction - the resume samples - but the added freebies which to me make up the real substance of this set of guides. You may just be after a large collection of copy-and-paste templates of which there are many.

To conclude I rate this as a very high quality product which delivers excellent value for money. Take out the superficial errors and include a ‘how to use this guide’ section and it would be an outstanding product – but the info is all there and more so I am very happy with my purchase. Click here to find out more about Sample Resumes & Cover Letters.