Height of Meanness or Stinginess?

I do some work online of proofreading, editing as well as resume writing for people on a couple of sites. I find the work interesting and certainly stimulating as the kind of work is very diverse.

I have proof read and edited cook books and learnt some interesting recipes. The budding authors have sent me chapters and even whole books to edit and polish, from poetries, stories to self-help books. Then, there were papers being readied for publication or presentation of academic nature or business plans. The diversity of the writing is what makes it all interesting. I have formatted a compilation of short files made for various categories of quotes. The level of writing skills differ considerably as those who are skilled will just ask for proof reading services with some formatting while novice writers will want considerable editing done. I do not charge a lot and prefer to help people but also get a small remuneration.

Often people want proof and samples of my work to see if my services would be acceptable. Now it makes me wonder how they can judge this with their own lack of writing skills. I can provide snapshots of a few odd paragraphs which include track changes but nothing more than that. Then, you have people who wish to get work done, a very small piece to be edited, but ask me to take a test! Neither the work is substantial nor the price asked for doing it bank breaking and you want a test? Then I get a WinZip file with God knows what all in it. I guess the test was to find their test file! I do not think I want to give tests and await results as that actually consumes more time than it would take to do the actual work. Some buyers do not appear to be kind of people who would require specialist service but I guess they do not have time for trivial things like well written and presented writing and that gives me the work.

As for resume writing, that also has brought in interesting variety. I have done resumes for people from all over the world. They can be established professionals or starting out new, post formal education. There have been people who were either running their own business or been in the same employment for a while. These are the resumes that require a lot of effort as I need to weed out the right phrases to describe the role and the achievements in the execution of those responsibilities. The formatting has changed considerably and has to be succinct and concise with regards to the actual specialist skills, soft skills and achievements. There is an emphasis on professional qualification to display the attitude of continuing professional development. Generally the jobs within the last 10 years need to be detailed, while those prior are just listed. Many do not like the idea, but it is important to include interests / hobbies at the end. This helps the reader to see that you are a well-rounded person. I have had a few people curtly tell me that they keep their private life separate from professional one.

I have had people get annoyed that the wording in their ‘job descriptions’ was just copied and pasted with a few words changed. But is it realistic to have a completely rewritten job description? After all it is what your company has deemed to be your work. I can polish it and contract it so that it is not very lengthy. The skills of developing the resume, in such cases, are mainly with bringing out the achievements and skills. I have had people get upset and cancel as they expected me to rewrite the resume for different jobs, as they were pleased with what I had done. I did warn them that the difference from the original would be in the nuances, as embellishing is different from outright lies. I cannot in all honesty write in skills when they are not a part of the job description of any of the jobs in the resume. Even if I did it, surely the employer would be astute to see the lies. In fact, it would be more detrimental to the chance of being interviewed should this lie be noticed. I know, often we can think that yes I could do that or learn it quickly and so I will apply for the job but fabricating your resume is not the way to go. Build up on the transferable skills and work your appropriateness for the job in the personal statement and cover letter.

I think people do not realise that most human resource department and the job agencies tend to do work searches on the resumes and cover letter as a first line of eliminating inappropriate ones.  Therefore, the importance lies in ensuring the right words being used and not falsifying the data. Some people are good and will respond to the request for more information promptly. It is so much easier if one can get the right dates, addresses / cities where the individual was employed. Having a list of courses, workshops and where and when they were achieved is important and most do not have that information in detail in their old resumes.

I can work with all the eccentricities and always provide work on time.  In case of people who have failed to respond, I tend to write in red what needs to be inserted at specific places. Some resumes come in with about 9 pages and have to be whittled down to 3 – 4 pages while some are barely make it into page 2. The cover letters can be generic or specific to a particular job application. There is a skill of writing these 2 different versions and yet keep the individual at the centre of it. People realise they need help in doing their resumes but they have an opinion and get upset if corrected. Again, if you know what should be done and can do it, why are you buying the service? You are coming to me because I am a professional and selling you a service at a miniscule cost. I can give examples of resumes, as I have anonymised a few to use them as such. One or two have tended to get aggressive and taken up a bullying tone and then are shocked to see a feedback highlighting that as the issue with the buyer.

Oh the best thing is seeing how many people want me to believe that they really did not see the appropriate tabs to click in relation to the price of each item they were buying. Often, if the person who I can see is desperately looking for a job and asks for a specific cover letter for just basic price, I do it. But that does not mean people can expect freebies. Some people have bought the order and when told that they have underpaid can feign such innocent ignorance. I had someone send in one order which I did and then they said they had more editing to be done. After checking that I was free to do I was sent the work. I took it on faith that they had paid the correct amount. It was only when I got half way through the work (since it was individual short files) that I realised they had sent me lot more then paid for. When I pointed it out, there was such innocence stating that they misunderstood and that the amount paid was for that basic plus the additional words. They actually had to pay for the basic plus the additional which included the word limit and so I ended up being underpaid. This buyer has promised more work and actually stopped with just one more order as they had to pay the proper price. Again, the price for my expertise is pittance but people wish to take advantage of that as well.

Indeed, I have had orders cancelled after I have started work when I have pointed out that the word limit they have paid for is not even half of the actual word count. I also pointed out that they paid less that the price of the declared word count, came as a shock horror to the buyer. Do people genuinely think I will not notice? Or are these people so inept that they cannot read basic instructions regarding payment. In either case it is a sad vision of humanity for they are either ignorant or cheats. I have decided to be upfront and quote proper price when someone asks if I can do a particular job and not leave it to them to read and click on the right tab. As for people who want to test my skills before they give me work, I have no time for it, if the job is very small. Indeed, if someone is giving me a substantial document, I would be happy to do a page for them as a sample of my work after all that large work will incur a substantial payment.

I have been doing this work for the past 7 months and certainly have learnt a lot about diversity of writing, professions, experiences and skills. It keeps me occupied and polishes my own skills while providing me with some pocket money.