1. Immediate accessibility by phone is the most important criteria when picking a resume service. Can you pick up the phone right this instant and call and talk with someone? Initial impressions on many sites will lead you to believe they are open for business, but when you call you get voicemail. For a legitimate business, not being able to answer a call during regular business hours is a sign you should move on. If you cannot connect directly with a company initially to discuss purchasing the service or to ask some questions, just think how hard it will be to reach them because you have a problem, need changes, or want to check on something.
2. Local resume services are out there, just like video stores if you look hard enough, but the functionality and usefulness is no longer. You are not being a wise shopper or getting extra assurance that your resume will be better by hunting one down. In fact, you are going to needlessly be paying extra for a brick and mortar service, along with the aggravation of going there. Do your research if you want on an online service, and maybe even see if they have an actual location, but don't sell yourself short by limiting yourself to trying to find a local resume service. Computers, Internet, E-mail, 800 numbers, online chat, etc. have made the resume writing process more efficient and less costly which has practically made local resume services obsolete.
3. Services found through job sites will never be your best option. Just because a company is affiliated with a known job board will in no way assure you of a quality resume. An affiliation with a brand name site does not equal quality. The quality of the resume you receive only has to do with the people that build it. One of the biggest downsides of using a resume service found through a job site is the outrageous cost. A high quality resume does not have to cost hundreds of dollars. The reason these services are so expensive is because the job site is the middleman in the transaction and they have to get a nice cut. They also charge high fees because some of them have a lot of website traffic. If you have enough traffic, you will always be able to find lazy shoppers no matter what you charge.
4. You will see words and phrases like guaranteed, guaranteed results, guaranteed interviews, and money back guarantee when viewing resume service ads. If you see the word guarantee in an advertisement, move on. If what that resume service has chosen to tell you about itself revolves around guarantees, you can be guaranteed of a sales job when you get to their site and begin dealing with them. Nobody can guarantee you anything with regard to interviews and job offers. If you try to collect on a guarantee you will be directed to the fine print on the company's website which will certainly preclude you from collecting a penny.
5. Look out too for the word free in ads, as in free resumes, free resume builders, free templates, etc. Ultimately, nothing useful from these sites is actually going to be free. You will end up wasting a lot time and be annoyed with yourself in the end because you knew better ahead of time. Be on the lookout too for ads that say "best resume services", "top 10 resume companies", "resume review site", etc. These sites are only trying to funnel you into multiple sites that they actually own or are paid to represent. Nobody is paying money for ads out of the goodness of their heart to make you a better informed consumer.
6. When you enter a company's website assess your initial impression upon seeing it. Is it sharp, crisp, clean, modern, professional, and organized? Are there giant fonts, lots of bold text, red fonts, rambling content, blinking, and a general unprofessional feel to the site? Those are all good signs that you may want to keep looking. A nice site will not ensure a great resume, but it is hard to imagine that a legitimate quality company would not invest in a professional website, especially since resumes have to do with presentation. If a company does not care how they present themselves, or does not have the ability to assess what is professional in a site, what do think that will mean for your resume?
7. Do not be overly influenced by writer designations and company affiliations. Everyone has them, but they are not worth the paper they are written on in terms of ensuring a well done resume. I have read ample resumes by certified writers that had typos, grammatical errors, poor sentence structure, and an unprofessional look and feel. If a resume writer is interested in paying to have a certification they can display, the test he or she takes is ridiculously easy to pass. A quality resume writer needs to be a naturally creative person, which no certification can provide, and someone who has significant experience in HR, staffing, recruiting, and hiring. This is invaluable experience because these people have learned how employers and hiring managers assess candidates and resumes.