PROVIDER GUARANTEES

If you've shopped career services, you've heard "No one can guarantee you a job."  In our opinion, that's a "cop out."  The reluctance to guarantee you a job is reasonable (ultimately a job offer is dependent upon the employer liking you--something out of anyone else's hands)  A career service can, however, and should (though they rarely will), guarantee one or more interviews (whether telephone or in-person).  Interviews are the only yardstick by which most career services can be measured.  The rest is pure hype.  An experienced career service provider should be able to tell from your employment history, skills and speaking with you whether they will be able to get you interviews.  If they can't do the job, they shouldn't undertake it.  If they can do the job, they should be able to stand behind it.  Turning down business, of course, doesn't maximize their revenues.  They want your money whether they can help you or not.  So their business model will likely be built around selling you something that is unrelated to your results. 

Illusory Guarantees.  Guarantees that don't allow you to get money back are probably worthless.  Promises to do over or more of what didn't work the first time, will probably not be any better the second, third or fourth time; and how soon must you be satisfied, when satisfaction is promised?  Within 5 years?  No thank you.  Look carefully at the gurantees, if any are made