Resume Distribution Services exist to get your job application into the hands of as many employers as possible, but what do they do? How effective are they?

The prospect sounds promising to anyone looking for a job, especially in an economy where they are hard to find. The fact is that there are more job seekers than jobs available and the result is that the typical seeker will have a hard time getting their resume in the hands of the people who make hiring decisions. Resume Distribution Services offer hope to those who have had little success in the search for employment.

What Resume Distribution Services do

These distribution services send an applicant’s resume to various potential employers depending on the specifics within the document. The idea here is that these companies provide more exposure for an applicant than they would be able to get from shipping their resume around themselves. The Resume Distribution Services are able to distribute the resumes to a much larger network of hiring managers and human resources departments than would be available to an applicant job-hunting on their own. In some cases the employers found by the service may even be offering more money than employers found by other means.

Comparing free and paid services

Job applicants get to choose between two types of Resume Distribution Services: free and paid. While both free and paid services offer essentially the same benefits, those who opt to pay do get a somewhat richer array of features. For example, paid services may have a larger network of employers to whom they will submit resumes. They may also handle much of the work that the applicant has to do in the submission process; whereas with a free service, the applicant must handle certain aspects of the process themselves such as actually submitting the resume to employers on a list the distribution service provides. However, free services do have a major benefit in that they allow applicants to try out the service before choosing to pay.

What the critics say

Critics of these services claim that what they do is send out unwanted applications to hiring managers, effectively turning the resumes of their clients into spam. These critics claim that these emails simply wind up in the hiring manager’s spam folder never to be read. The fact is that these criticisms are unfair. Hiring managers do not normally delete applications because they have a position filled, in most cases they will keep it on hand in case a position requiring those qualifications comes open in the future. Additionally, a Resume Distribution Service may be able to find a job that is not widely advertised and that an typical applicant not using the service will never know existed. A job seeker who fails to take advantage of these services may be removing themselves from competition for a large pool of jobs.

Building the resume

The first step in the quest for a new job is for the applicant to have a complete, and well-written and properly formatted resume that can be distributed to employers. To do this, they may make use of an online resume builder service. This provides them with the ability to craft attractive resumes using a variety of templates to make them more distinctive and professional-looking to employers.