Black Women with Full Benefits: Memoirs of a Resume Writer

Editor: Kelsey Hickey

Do you know how to write a professional resume that can ensure you get increased callbacks, interviews, and offers? I do. I’m a professional resume writer and career services specialist. Overnight, I turned my apartment into a fully functional Virtual Human Resources Department. 

I quit my job as a daycare teacher last week because the coronavirus pandemic was spreading throughout our center. However, the decision-makers would not release us from working or cover the costs of being an essential worker. Teachers were quitting left and right and walking straight out of classrooms because the number of kids never decreased, only increased. The chaos and sickness were too much to bear. I decided to remove myself and go quarantine to gain some semblance of sanity during this trying time.

It’s also difficult to change diapers with a mask and giant face guard on, but I will miss those kids. We were unable to take the children outside because the rules for childcare during the start of the pandemic were outstanding. Children who cannot go outside destroy classrooms. Y’all be easy out there.Sadly, my bills did not quit along with me.

I needed a job that I could do without ever leaving the house. I developed a special fear of catching the virus since I beat it at a top-three spot for infection in the U.S. I decided that I was going to commit to working from home full-time, and started doing deep analytic research in the trenches of Reddit to figure out how people make money at home. “Remote work” was the tag I chose when I was scrolling on Indeed with my resume writer’s resume.

I was advised by my best friend in Austin, Texas, to look all over the nation for jobs. Now that everyone is doing everything from the comforts of their home it would get competitive. I wanted to be able to sustain myself enough to pay rent and utilities until the government chimed in to help out the people. I wanted to be self-sufficient in my new career. I had experience writing professional resumes, and facilitating career coaching at a paralegal service company. However, I was only making an hourly wage like most college students at the time.

I was the lead writer at the company and technically trained in all areas of human resources and career development. Sadly, I did not make enough money to be fully independent at the time. Professional resume writing is such a lucrative industry, but not when you’re only an employee. Isn’t that always the case? I ended up leaving the company but continued doing minor writing gigs on the side that found their way to me. I never went out seeking or procuring any freelance resume writing or writing positions until the night I quit working at the daycare. I made way more money as a two-year-old teacher than I did as a writer. Since I would still take on some writing assignments here and there, I did not feel the need to pursue my true calling.

I also felt like it was a better deal since I was collecting the full bill of my work on the side rather than the hourly wage of an employee. Plus, daycare teachers get benefits, while resume writers do not. I truly thought I was getting a better deal out of being an employee. Incorrect. I wrote my own professional resume writer’s resume, clicked “remote work” and started doing what I do best. Specifically targeting jobs and curating documents to fit the company vision for success. I know hundreds of efficient tactics for garnering the attention of hiring authorities that I would tell my clients to use for their job search processes. Yet, I had never taken my own advice.

The callbacks were and still are coming in hot. I had to create a fully functional Human Resources Department inside of my home overnight. I have started two positions with full benefits and hosted a webinar on resume writing, and interview preparation. I now have a list of clientele waiting to get on my schedule to talk about their interest in signing me on to their writing team. My latest project is providing professional career consulting services for the Turkish Ambassador of Retail Marketing. I have so many international clients who speak English well but are unable to write at a professional business level. They are willing to pay me my worth for an overlook, and to edit their legal files.

I started doing blog content, writing, and editing for independent web developers and started a ghostwriting project for an e-book. The proof is in the resume, and all I had to do was put it out there and use my skills for myself instead of everyone else. Life has now changed, and I had all the playing tools the entire time. A lesson in self-help.