Should job resume or dating site descriptions be prepared by hired professionals?

 
If you are taken aback by the title of this coming week's discussion for the Ideas Cafe, why?

Is it because we assume that job resumes "should" always be prepared by the job applicant as presentation of their background is one indication of how good a worker they are?  Even for jobs that do not require writing or presentation skills?

Think about how society expects job applicants to behave when going for a job interview; that the person should dress better than usual, be more polite than usual, expand on their positive points and hide their weaknesses.


It is not as if the employer does not know this.  Employers likely will think badly of applicants who do not dress well or behave in the expected manner.  Or seen as "not showing that they are interested in the position" if these expected behavior is lacking.

Why is it acceptable for job applicants to wear clothes and shoes that they do not make themselves but are frown upon when they have someone else prepare their resume for them?

Oh, but of course, it is because the job do not involve tailoring and shoe making.  Do tailors and people in the fashion industry make their own apparel for job interviews?

Yes, job interviews happen so rarely in one's career that even in the clothing industry, it is not practical to see the applicant's ability through the cloths they make and they can be excused for wearing store bought cloths. Their choice of cloths is enough to show their fashion sense.


The same can be said about preparing job resumes.  It is not something that is done often and it is the content - what the job applicant has to offer that is important, not who prepared it.  Their choice of who they choose to prepare their resume shows their ability to choose who to delegate jobs to.  Isn't effective delegating one of the most important management strengths?

So, perhaps expecting job applicants to prepare their own resume is just one of those practices that should be retired?

As to dating website descriptions, the same applies.  It is not something that one do often and a professional should help make sure the person is presented well in order to make a good match.  In fact, should we not be avoiding those who have had so much practice in dealing with dating websites that they must have been doing it all the time?

Besides, there is an expectation that most photographs used here are the best there is, likely professionally done, and perhaps done some time ago.

We do not look down on people wearing makeup for their photographs so why should we look negatively on a description properly prepared ?

Maybe it is to do with social convention, with our expectations of how things should be. 

Then it is the reader that should change?

What about open disclosure.  Surely we should look positively on someone brave and honest enough to openly say that their personal description is professionally done.  No?  Aren't we a strange bunch of people? 

In both job search and partner search, is there too much wishing and not enough reality?

For a sample of what dating description professionals do, see this as an example of the before and after to see what you think!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9YBYSZZtQA