Careers Plus Resumes - They are insane!

(Originally posted Jan 29, 2010 on my old Wordpress blog)

I have been absolutely dreading the whole resume nightmare. I decided that because of my unique employment history, I need a professional resume writer to tackle the task so I have been researching various websites and services. It’s very difficult to assess some of these websites because there is not really a way to ask questions before signing up and paying for them. I have very specific needs and I want someone who has solid experience with career changers, since that is the entire reason I am willing to hire someone for this in the first place. I don't need help with job descriptions and wording since I think I do a pretty damn good job of that myself, but I do need help with figuring out the format and how to address the major career shifts (i.e. medical research in a hospital to horse trainer/riding instructor) and gaps (which weren’t so much gaps as multiple part-time jobs and reconfiguring my life post Hurricane Katrina.)

Anyway, so after visiting several of the major resume writing sites out there, I decided to google each of them to find any reviews, complaints, satisfied customers, scam alerts, etc. Resume writing is not a cheap service and I’m not going to plunk $250-$400 down without having some kind of assurance and confidence that I am going to be getting my moneys worth! One of the companies I googled was “Careers Plus Resumes” (http://www.cpresumes.com) which led me to a complaint board with a complaint about them. I ended up registering on the complaint board because I wanted to contact the poster so I could ask them a few questions. Then I noticed that another user had posted three messages in a row defending the company and claiming to be a satisfied customer, which immediately raised a red flag. If he was truly a satisfied customer, why would he visit and register on a complaint board just to respond to a complaint about the company? When I am happy with a service, I don’t go looking up information and complaints about the company to defend them! I might give a positive review somewhere and move on. I certainly would not try to debunk another persons experience- even if it was nothing like my own! The whole thing is very suspect and I think it’s reasonable to assume that it is actually someone from the company who feels the need to defend themselves, which in turn makes them look extremely unprofessional. There is no reason for anyone other than company employees to invest in such a personal defense. So I made a very rational, measured comment that by posting such a vigorous defense of the company, they were actually doing more harm than good because there would be no reason for a satisfied customer to seek out and defend a company against one little complaint on the internet. I added that I was definitely opting NOT to use Careers Plus Resumes, as it seemed very strange and unprofessional to pose as a satisfied customer. (Well, I didn’t actually write that last bit, but you get the idea.)

Having ruled out that company, I went on to research the others on my list and forgot all about it until I got an email message from a newly registered user on the site who claimed to be the CEO of the company and who had threatened me with legal action for posting negative comments. First of all, I only posted one comment- as a reply to another comment. Second, I was not the one who wrote the complaint. I have had no direct experience with this company! Third, my comment did not include any false information. Lastly, legal action? Seriously? On what grounds? It was one of the most pathetic attempts at intimidation I have ever seen and it failed miserably. This is the exact message copy and pasted:
  
"My name is Justin Olsen, President/CEO of Careers Plus Resumes, Inc. We have evidence to believe you are either a direct competitor or an administrator of this website. Our corporate attorney has partnered with our local Law Enforcement agencies and have detected and logged your IP address which is a physical address of your computer and can be traced to your exact location. We are hereby demanding that you cease and decist from posting anymore defamatory/false statements about our company and have the other posts removed immediately or we will pursue damages in Federal Court to the fullest extent of the law. You will be held liable for damages and attorney fees for your criminal actions against our organization. Good day."

Aside from being laugh-out-loud funny, it is false and ridiculous on so many levels. I responded to him saying as much and I’ve since received several other “threatening” messages from several “different” users, all of whom coincidentally registered within the last 24-48 hours and who have only made posts concerning (and defending) Careers Plus Resumes. The funniest part of this whole thing is that I wasn’t even the one who wrote the original complaint! Lol! They are insane. Every single company that provides services or goods to the public will ALWAYS have some unsatisfied customers. That’s natural and expected. What is not natural or expected is for the company to waste time and energy posing as various users to defend the company and insult those who “have the nerve” to write about their negative experiences.

I’ve replied to two or three more messages, including another from the CEO who claimed that in addition to being a certified writer, he is also an attorney. If anyone is propagating false information, it is him! Based on his other statements, it is painstakingly obvious he is no such thing. An attorney would know that everything I’ve posted is 100% protected and that libel cases are heard in civil courts and not Federal court- even criminally libelous cases are state-by-state and not federal. Nearly every single thing he has claimed thus far has been false and incorrect. It’s ridiculous.

This is the reason it is so important to do research, and I am writing this blog entry to expose their complete lack of professionalism and moronic behavior so that other people who are looking for information about them can see and judge for themselves. I have had no experience using their services so I can’t even say this is a review, however, I would certainly not recommend them, as they clearly lack professionalism and credibility.

Here is the link to the original complaint and thread for your amusement and should you wish to follow-up on any new developments, though I’ve certainly lost interest in this game. Btw, my user name on the board is “imanygirl.” http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/careers-plus-resumes-c299050.html?selcom=579716#c579716

To view the original Comments for this post on my old blog, you can go here:
http://july7nyc.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/careers-plus-resumes-they-are-insane/