Changing payment for resume reviews - input needed?

[suzer]

For those of you who know about my resume work, the amazon wishlist has worked out well for the most part, but I've had a couple of problems lately, and have had my first client not pay the full amount. Given this, I think it will be better to ask for cash, and am thinking per my research that $50 an hour is acceptable, with most resumes taking between 1 to 3 hours, the majority taking about 2 hours to complete. This also means I will be asking for payment before releasing even a 1st draft in the future.

 

I'm interested in feedback from others on PIA with small businesses, as well as whether people think they would be willing to pay $100, on average, to have a full resume review/re-write.

[Guest soggy]

For those of you who know about my resume work, the amazon wishlist has worked out well for the most part, but I've had a couple of problems lately, and have had my first client refuse to pay the full amount. Given this, I think it will be better to ask for cash, and am thinking per my research that $50 an hour is acceptable, with most resumes taking between 1 to 3 hours, the majority taking about 2 hours to complete. This also means I will be asking for payment before releasing even a 1st draft in the future.

 

I'm interested in feedback from others on PIA with small businesses, as well as whether people think they would be willing to pay $100, on average, to have a full resume review/re-write.

 

Hi,

first of all I think $50 an hour for your service that will help people gain employment is a very resonable fee, I would be willing to pay it if I was entering the employment market in a country where I did not have any great experience.

It is your business, and you can ask for all the money up front, however in my opinion there needs to be an some trust between a business and its customers, this will, from time to time mean that you will not get paid for the work you put in in good faith, but as customers we have all paid out money in the past to businesses that have not delieverd what we expected.

Do you know of any other services being offered similar to yours?, if they all ask for payment up front you may not have a propblem with it, do you just do this for PIA and other forum members? if so, with your reccomendations you may be able to charge you fee upfront, if you market your service "outside" of forums and friends you may have to do what everyone else does as far as payment is concerned. How much you earn and how much you work overall are more important than the odd loss ( although at the time )

Good luck in your decision!:)

 

Simon

[Guest Libby1971]

Hi Suzer

 

I haven't used you but I think that $50 an hour is one thing but asking for $150 for a CV/ resume is alot of money. I appreciate that you put alot of time into it but I think that in this recession economy people will find other things to spend their money on.

 

If you charge people, will you have to register this as a business?

[Guest Lulujim]

Hi - I think asking for 50% as a down payment and the rest on completion of the job is fair. People very rarely pay out the full payment before anything is done nowadays, people are just as wary that you might vanish as you are of them doing the same.

Asking for all the money upfront would deter people in my opinion - and is a lot for people who are out of work. It also means you'd have to decide on how much to charge per cv rather than by time taken, and this may work out worse for you if it's more work than it first appears, or worse for the customer if it only takes you an hour as opposed to 2 .....

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[suzer]

Hi Suzer

 

I haven't used you but I think that $50 an hour is one thing but asking for $150 for a CV/ resume is alot of money. I appreciate that you put alot of time into it but I think that in this recession economy people will find other things to spend their money on.

 

If you charge people, will you have to register this as a business?

 

Libby professional resume writers charge $100s for their services; one of my cousins paid $400 to have his done. $150 is actually still reasonable, but I am curious as to whether anyone here would pay that amount. Average time spent is 2 hours, so most would only pay $100.

 

Yes to registering it as a business, although how much you make depends on how it needs to be registered, taxes & GST paid etc.

[suzer]

Hi - I think asking for 50% as a down payment and the rest on completion of the job is fair. People very rarely pay out the full payment before anything is done nowadays, people are just as wary that you might vanish as you are of them doing the same.

Asking for all the money upfront would deter people in my opinion - and is a lot for people who are out of work. It also means you'd have to decide on how much to charge per cv rather than by time taken, and this may work out worse for you if it's more work than it first appears, or worse for the customer if it only takes you an hour as opposed to 2 .....

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

True thanks. The thought was that I would do the work, but not release the product until I am paid. This way I would know how much time went into it. I am just feeling very frustrated at the moment that my most recent client, who I did a rush job for upon request, for a more complex resume than most, has waited 2 weeks to pay, then not paid the full amount.