You are about to hand someone the most important document in your next move. Most executives choose a writer the way they would choose a caterer: a referral, a website that looks expensive, a price that feels right. There is a better way. Ask the questions below, in roughly this order, and the choice usually makes itself.
I am a writer, so read this knowing that. I have tried to keep it to criteria you can check without taking my word for anything, and where I say how I do it, I say so plainly so you can hold me to the same standard.
Start with what you actually need
Before you look at a single writer, decide which document you need. There are three different jobs, and they read differently.
- An executive resume for an operating role: C-suite, SVP, VP, or GM. It argues that you can run something. A search partner reads it for scope, results with the lever, company-type signal, and trajectory.
- A board CV, biography, and value statement for a first or next seat. They argue that you can govern something. A nominating committee reads them for oversight, judgment and committee readiness.
- A private equity resume for a sponsor or a portfolio board. It is reordered around EBITDA, the hold period, and what you owned versus what you advised on.
A writer who is strong on the first can still be weak on the other two. If your next move is a board seat or a sponsor-backed role, ask for proof on that track specifically. The rest of this piece assumes you know which job you are hiring for.
1. Can you verify the credentials yourself?
Resume writing is unregulated. Anyone can call themselves an executive resume writer. Credentials are one of the few signals you can check independently, and the useful ones are tested, maintained, and listed by the body that issues them.
Two are worth knowing at this level, both issued by Career Directors International. The Certified Master Resume Writer (CMRW) directory lists 37 people worldwide. The Certified Executive Resume Master (CERM) directory lists 35. 20 people appear on both. All three counts are from the CDI directories, October 2026. The CMRW page also notes that anyone claiming the credential who is missing from the list may have let it lapse by not keeping up the continuing-education requirement.
The check. If a writer names a credential, find the issuing body's directory and look for their name. If there is no public directory, ask how the credential was earned and how it is maintained. A credential you cannot verify tells you nothing.
The CMRW directory says it plainly: a certification is one of the criteria to weigh when you choose a writer. It tells you a writer has been tested against a standard. Whether they understand your market is a separate question, and the next nine answer it.
For transparency: I hold both, and I am listed on both directories.
2. Who actually writes the document?
This is the question executives most often forget to ask. Many services sell through one person and write through another. The person on the sales call may be a consultant, a founder, or a coordinator who assigns your file to whichever writer is free.
There is nothing wrong with a team if you know it is a team. The problem is finding out after you have paid. Ask directly: will the person I speak to on the call be the person who interviews me and writes every line? If the answer involves the words "matched with," you have your answer.
My own rule is simple: I take eight private clients a month and I write every document myself. That is the only way I know to keep the judgment in the document consistent with the conversation that produced it.
3. Are the samples open, and are they at your level?
A writer's samples are the closest thing you will get to a test drive. Ask to see them before any call. If they are only shown after you book, or only described, treat that as information.
When you read a sample, read it as a search partner would. Four things should be legible on page one inside the first scan:
- The seat. A header that says what role this person is a candidate for.
- Scope in numbers. P&L, headcount, geography, budget, or balance sheet, somewhere a researcher can lift them.
- Results with the lever. Four or five highlights, each a result and the action that produced it.
- A summary that argues. Four or five sentences on who this person is and why the next seat is the natural one. In my standard the summary carries no figures. The numbers sit in the highlights directly below it.
Then check the level. A writer whose samples stop at Director will write a Director's resume for you. If you are targeting a board seat, ask for a board CV. If you are targeting a sponsor-backed role, ask for a PE resume and look for owned versus advised, hold position and an EBITDA bridge.
My samples are composites, written to the same standard as client work and labelled as composites. They are on the site with no email wall.
4. How will they get the material out of you?
The best executive resume is built from material the executive did not think was important. A writer cannot find it from your old resume. They find it by asking.
Ask what the process looks like before the first draft. A form alone produces a tidier version of what you already have. A conversation alone depends on your memory on the day. The strongest process uses both: a written brief you complete in advance, with your numbers gathered, then a live session where the writer pushes on what you wrote.
Mine runs that way. You complete the Executive Strategy Brief first, which takes up to 4 hours. I read it with your current resume and LinkedIn, then we meet for a 60 to 90 minute strategy session. The session is where the argument for your candidacy gets found.
A good sign. The writer asks you to gather your numbers before you speak: P&L, budgets, team sizes, revenue, growth, dates. A writer who asks for numbers in advance intends to use them.
5. Can they tell you the rules they write to?
Experienced writers work to a standard. Ask them to describe it. You are listening for specific rules, stated plainly, that they can explain the reason for.
Here are some of mine, so you know what an answer sounds like:
- Two pages for most executives. Length serves clarity.
- The summary carries no figures. It argues trajectory.
- Every role opens with a scope line: reported to, P&L or budget, direct, indirect, scope.
- Bullets run twenty to thirty-five words, with a bold lead of twelve words or fewer. Result first, then the lever.
- For a sponsor reader, every result is marked owned or advised.
- LinkedIn is built after the resume is final, so titles, companies, and dates match exactly.
You may disagree with any one of these. That is fine. What matters is that the writer has a standard at all. A writer who answers with "it depends on the client" for every question has a process built around the client's comfort, and comfort is a weak reason for a document.
6. What exactly is promised, in writing?
Read the terms before you pay. The useful questions:
- How many revisions, and for how long?
- What happens if you are unhappy with the first draft?
- What is the refund position before and after work starts?
- What support continues after delivery, and for how long?
Be careful with interview guarantees. Interviews depend on your market, your timing, how you run the search, and decisions made by people the writer will never meet. A guarantee on an outcome nobody controls usually comes with conditions that decide whether it ever applies. Read those conditions closely.
What I promise is narrower and checkable: documents built to the standard shown on the site, revised until you type "final approved," 30 days of private access after delivery, and email support until you land. Before the strategy session, you can have a full refund less the card processing fee. The full terms are on the site.
7. Is the price published, and what does it include?
Executive resume pricing varies widely, and the number alone tells you little. Compare what is included at each price:
- A live strategy session, and how long it runs.
- The documents: resume, letter, LinkedIn, biography, board, or PE documents.
- Revisions and support after delivery.
- Who writes it (see question 2).
A published price is a small sign of confidence. It means the writer is comfortable with you comparing. If pricing is only available on a call, ask for it in writing before the call so the call can be about your career.
8. Do they offer to send your resume out?
Some services sell distribution: your resume sent to hundreds of recruiters at once. At the senior level this does more harm than good. It puts your name in front of firms with no context and no follow-up, it reads as a candidate on the market, and it can close doors you would want open later. Retained search firms build their lists by research and referral. A blast puts you in their inbox as noise.
A better offer is a targeted plan: named firms, named companies, named contacts, with outreach you send yourself. That is what my Personalized Launch Plan does in the Signature and Premium packages. If you want someone to run the outreach for you, ask who does it and how they protect your confidentiality.
9. How do they use AI?
Every serious writer uses AI tools now, for research, phrasing tests, and checking. Ask how. The answer you want is that AI is a precision tool and the writer makes the decisions: what to keep, what to cut, what to lead with. The answer to worry about is silence, or a draft that arrives too fast to have been thought about.
Generic AI copy is easy to spot. It says "results-driven" and "proven track record," it inflates verbs, and it invents metrics if asked to strengthen a bullet. A partner reads two hundred resumes a month. They notice.
10. How do they protect your confidentiality?
Most executives hiring a writer are in a role today. Ask how your information is handled, who sees it, and whether anything about your engagement will ever be used in marketing. My answer: nothing leaves the engagement without your written permission. Any case study I publish is anonymized, and every detail that could identify a client is removed.
Use the discovery call to test all ten
A free call is worth more to you than to the writer, if you use it well. Bring the target role, the comp range and the timeline. Then ask the questions above and listen for specifics. A good writer will also ask you hard questions: what you owned, what you advised on, which seat you want next and why.
By the end of the call you should know three things: whether this person understands your market, whether they will write it themselves, and what you are buying. If any of the three is unclear, keep looking.
Verify the credential. Meet the writer. Read the samples. Read the terms.
Four checks you can do before any call. The ten questions settle the rest.
