1. Immediate accessibility by phone is a key factor when selecting a service. Initial impressions on many sites may 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 with a company to ask some questions, just think how hard it will be to reach them if you have a problem.
2. Services found through job sites will never be your best option. A company affiliated with a known job site will not ensure a quality resume. Resume quality only has to do with the people who develop it. A major downside of using a service found through a job site is the outrageous cost. A quality resume does not have to cost hundreds of dollars. These services are expensive because the job site is the middleman and they have to get a nice cut of the fee.
3. Resume ads often say guaranteed interviews, guaranteed jobs, and money back guarantee. If you see guarantees in an online ads, run. Obviously, nobody can guarantee you anything with regard to interviews and jobs. If you try to collect you will be directed to the fine print on the company's website which will have many terms that will prevent you from collecting a penny.
4. Look out for the word free in ads, as in free resume builders. Nothing useful is going to be free. You will always end up wasting a lot time and be annoyed with yourself in the end because you knew better. Be on the lookout too for "best resume services", "top 10 services", and "resume service reviews". These sites are only trying to funnel you into sites that they own or are paid to represent. Nobody is paying for ads to make you a better informed consumer.
5. When you enter a site assess your initial impression upon seeing it. Is it modern, professional, and sharp? Are there giant fonts, lots of bold text, red fonts, rambling content, and a general unprofessional feel to the site? Those are all signs that you should keep looking. A nice site will not ensure a great resume, but it is hard to imagine that a quality service would not invest in a quality site, especially since resumes have to do with presentation.
6. Do not be influenced by resume writing certifications and designations. We all have them, but they are not worth the paper they are written on in terms of ensuring a quality resume. If a writer is interested in paying to have a certification they can display, the test is easy to pass. A quality resume writer needs to be a creative person, which no certification can provide, and someone who has significant experience in HR, staffing, and recruiting.
7. Local resume services are out there, but computers, the Internet, E-mail, 800 numbers, etc. have made the resume writing process efficient and less costly, which has practically made local services obsolete. You are not being a wise resume shopper or getting extra assurance that your resume will be better by hunting one down. You will needlessly be paying extra for a brick and mortar service, along with the aggravation of driving there.