Why You Should Choose Us
Professional CV Writing Services is run by Stephen (Steve) Thompson, who is full-time Professional CV Writer. Your Professional CV will be written by him personally. This site pulls together the individual services offered by his other sites (links below), to put them all ‘under one umbrella’. This makes it easier for you to find exactly what you need.
Steve’s diverse background includes more than 15 years’ experience in industry, having been Financial Director and Head of HR for a global manufacturing group. He ‘hired and fired’ across all levels, from the boardroom to the factory floor, so he has intimate ‘hands on’ knowledge of the requirements of a powerful CV.
Steve’s earlier career included the British Army, a number of years in direct sales, and a strong background in recruitment. He’s a Fellow of the Institute of Recruitment Practice (FIRP) and member of the Recruiting and Employment Confederation (REC). Other memberships include the Institute of Leadership and Management (MInstLM), and the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC)
Steve is also a trained Marketing Copywriter. If you don’t know what this is (many people don’t), it’s often referred to as ‘Salesmanship in Print’. In a nutshell, Steve knows how to sell you!
18+ Years’ Experience
Steve has been writing Professional CVs since 1997, primarily through his other websites (Top Pro CVs, Armed Forces CVs, and Affordable CV). Typically, he writes one CV per day for professional or Armed Forces Clients, spending an average of 6 – 8 hours on each. We fit the CVs for other levels in around these.
3 Day Turnaround
We aim to have your first draft produced within 3 business days from receipt of our fully-completed questionnaire, but, depending on workload, it can sometimes take a little longer. If you really need it more quickly, give us a call – we may be able to juggle Steve’s pipeline a little.
Steve has been made redundant twice – the first time from the British Army (so much for “jobs for life”) – so he knows how important your CV is to your career, your income and your lifestyle. Steve takes your future very seriously indeed.
Multi-Sector Expertise
You’ll never need to explain your experience or skills to us – we’ve been there, done it, got the DVD, trashed the T shirt. Better than that, through Steve we have both the expertise and years of successful experience translating your background into language that employers understand!
Bespoke, Personal Service
We’re not tied to a recruitment agency, and we don’t use software generated CVs that look like all the rest. We provide a truly bespoke service that works. You WILL get interviews with our CV. We guarantee it!
Want Some Advice on Writing Your Own CV?
Although we’ve seen a lot of changes over the years, the fundamentals of selling our Clients to an employer are the same today as they have always been. We’ve listed them below – for FREE – in case you’d rather write your own:
FREE CV Writing Advice and Tips
Don’t waste weeks and months trying to get your foot in the door with a weak CV.
Your CV should be your “Silent Salesman”.
It should immediately:
- Grab the reader’s attention.
- Convince your new prospective employer that you’re better than the next candidate in the pile.
- Defeat the competition. It’ll have to beat CVs from hundreds of other applicants.
…and your CV needs to be strong enough and focused enough to do that in just 8 – 12 seconds….MAX!
Not easy. However…
It’s deceptively simple in principle. You MUST turn your CV into a solid, commercial marketing proposal. It should almost literally grab the reader by the throat and give him or her a good shaking! It’s the key component of a critical sales process that promotes and sells YOU. The CV should scream out that you’re the ‘hot, new, shiny, must-have product’ your target employer just can’t do without! You’re the ‘plug-in’ solution to their ‘key frustrations’ (i.e. what they’re advertising for).
6 Important Keys
The CV needs to tell them the six key attributes they absolutely MUST know about the candidate: what, why, when, how, where, and who (Kipling’s “Six Honest Serving Men”). Most of the CVs we see don’t even cover 2 or 3….
This is particularly important for the people we call “Top Professionals”. If you’re a Manager, Executive, Director or similar ‘senior’ person it’s even tougher to get through the door to interview. Your competition is fierce and well-qualified. They are serious contenders. Your CV needs to be even sharper. Here’s some FREE (absolutely platinum-coated) advice for you:
Cut Out the Weak ‘Job Description’ Language
Don’t just list all the duties and responsibilities from your job description. Ditch any and ALL passive language like “Responsible for”. It’s incredibly weak – it tells the reader what you were required to do. He or she already knows all that rubbish. It doesn’t tell them whether you actually did it. Nor does it explain what you personally contributed or achieved for your employer.
Only Positive, Vibrant, Action Verbs Will Cut It
You must use strong, positive, vibrant language and ‘action’ verbs to describe your performance. Give actual numbers to quantify how much you contributed and what a difference you made. And tell each of those ‘mini stories’ in a way that connects with their business needs.
Tell the employer how YOU will save them money. Tell him how YOU will streamline procedures and speed up processes. Tell her how YOU will improve staff retention. Tell them how YOU will increase their profits, and much more…..
Get the idea? It’s all about how you will help THEM – not about how they should help YOU!
Unless you do that within 8 to 12 seconds of the reader opening your CV, you’ve no chance…..
But here’s some GOOD NEWS…. If you can’t do it, we can do it for you.
The toughest ‘sell’ these days is ex-military Clients – they hit the market with loads of transferrable skills, but CV writers struggle to get employers to see the benefits that Service Leavers can bring. We’ve helped well over 500 ex-military Clients into civilian employment. See my LinkedIn Recommendations.
My point? Why am I telling you this?
Because we have also catapulted 4 or 5 times that number of civilian ‘high flyers’ into top jobs. The “proof of the pudding”. If we can sell these people, just think what we can do for you!
What Our Satisfied Clients Say
Our CV will get you an interview. Fact.
But don’t take our word for how effective our CVs are. Here are just a few of the comments we’ve received from satisfied Clients. You can also see these “straight from the horses’ mouth” by visiting Steve’s LinkedIn profile:
“Hello Stephen. Two words for you: ‘Great Job’ and thank you for the revised CV. I just got myself a new job! Lots of success for you!”….Andre M (Germany) – Affordable CV Client
“Stephen is one of those rare individuals who go above and beyond what is required of them to get the job done for you. The service and results I received were second to none. I would recommend Stephen and Top Pro CVs very highly to anyone.”….Jean I (Edinburgh) – Top Pro CVs Client
“I would highly recommend Steve as a CV writer to anyone who is looking for a fresh, professional way to present themselves in a competitive job market, if you want results then its a good investment in your career.”…. Prudence G (Luton)” – Top Pro CVs Client
“Stephen provided me with the confidence, excellent service and knowledge that I needed to help me make the daunting step into civilian life. I have been offered work as a contractor in the private sector with one interview lasting less than ten minutes!” …. Phil (Ex-Military) – Armed Forces CVs Client
“As a high-earning City banker with a major player in London and 6 years exemplary service I expected to be earning a good salary for a long time to come. My future plans were based on that. Then the ‘bombshell’ dropped and I, along with 32 others, was made redundant with 3 days warning! Now you can argue employment law notice and consultation periods till you are blue in the face, but this was reality. OK – I had a reasonable ‘lump’ to tide me over for about 6 months, but it was still like being kicked in the b***s.
I looked around on the internet for a CV Writing Service and eventually (about 3 weeks later – remember I had money in the bank!) got Top Pro to do the work. I was very impressed with the professionalism demonstrated throughout the process and with the superb finished product.
Two weeks later I sent the CV out to 3 companies. I was offered 2 interviews within a fortnight, and the third company offered me the job WITHOUT EVEN SEEING ME! I couldn’t believe it! As it happened the job offer was from a company I did not want to work for, but a month after that, after going through the 1st company’s recruitment process I was back in employment. And I still had money in the bank.
A lot of my co-workers at ********* are still looking for jobs, and most of them haven’t even had an interview yet.”…. Michael S, South London – Top Pro CVs Client
“I just can’t thank you enough! After failing miserably to get an interview with my own, very pretty and flattering CV, I reluctantly came to the conclusion that it wasn’t me it was the CV.
I had read books and articles, downloaded Word templates from the ‘net and all sorts of other things to really produce my best effort. But this isn’t school and I didn’t get any gold stars. I just got polite ‘thank you for sending us your CV’ and ‘we are sure you will find something soon’ letters, but mostly I got no reply at all.
Your CV and Covering Letter got interview offers within 2 weeks of sending them out and I am now back in a job. Thank you thank you thank you!!!”
Melanie P, Newcastle (County Down, Northern Ireland) – Affordable CV Client
Can You Really Afford To ‘Keep On Keeping On’?
Order Your Career-Winning CV TODAY!!. . . . . and have your Professional CV in your hands in just 3 – 5 business days!