Recently I engaged Robert H. Johnson of Career Florida to help write my resume. After completing one of his books, and liking his style of writing, I thought he would be a good person to author my first "professionally" written resume. After Mr. Johnson delivered his first draft — which by the way turned out to be his final draft after cashing my check — I was shocked to discover one of the most poorly written documents I have ever read.
Although Mr. Johnson is quick to point out his degree in creative writing and 20 years of experience in the resume writing / career counseling field, the document he delivered lacked even the most basic understanding of freshman grammar and composition. However, to Mr. Johnson's credit, as he was quick to point out, he did not make one spelling error. Wow, what an achievement!
After telling Mr. Johnson that the resume contained multiple sentence fragments and run-on sentences, and was un-useable for my job-hunting purposes, he started to show his true professionalism by berating me (his client). He then attempted to justify the document by making the analogy that he was a doctor and I was a mere patient, and that I should start to listen to a true professional. Upon telling him that my feelings were corroborated by several of my industry colleagues, he then started to berate them and started to question if my friends or I knew anything at all. At this point in the conversation Mr. Johnson started to spout off some weird schizophrenic ideas about a resume challenge, and after declining to put my reputation on the line to mend his ego, he then started to hysterically scream, you don't have the balls. Soon after this, Mr. Johnson slammed the phone down and proceeded to write a nasty letter about how insulted his was by my telling him that his resume attempt was weak and needed a re-write. Apparently Mr. Johnson doesn't believe in the writer's adage that writing is re-writing.
So at the end of Mr. Johnson's note — which by the way was well written, but did not even closely resemble his attempt at a professional resume — he said he would send me a $ 25 refund because he couldn't endure writing a cover letter for someone who had so insulted him. Of course keeping in style with Mr. Johnson's lack of integrity, after three weeks the refund has yet to show. Upon calling to ask him where the refund was, he said, it's in the mail.
In conclusion, and in my opinion, I would suggest that no one ever pay for a professional resume writer, especially Robert H. Johnson or Career Florida, because in 99% of the cases once the check has been cashed your resume is complete whether you like it or not.
Tony
Norwalk, Connecticut
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