I spent $400 on a resume writer six months after I separated from the Navy. The guy had "military resume expert" plastered all over his website, a handful of five-star reviews, and a turnaround promise of 48 hours. What I got back was a two-page document that could have described any mid-level manager in America. My rate, my dive quals, my deployment tempo — all of it sandpapered into corporate paste. I would have gotten the same result copying a template off Google and filling in the blanks myself.

That resume sat in my desk drawer for a year. I kept applying to federal jobs with it and getting nothing. Zero referrals. Zero callbacks. It took me another 12 months of trial and error before I finally figured out what a resume that actually gets you referred looks like — and by then I had wasted time, money, and a lot of confidence I did not have to spare.

After building BMR and working with over 15,000 veterans and military spouses, I hear versions of this story every single week. Someone paid $300, $500, sometimes $1,200 for a "military resume writer" and ended up worse off than when they started. The resume writing industry has almost zero regulation. Anyone can hang a shingle and call themselves a military expert. So if you are shopping for help, you need to know what to look for — and more importantly, what to run from.

Why the Veteran Resume Writing Market Is Full of Bad Actors

The transition space is a gold mine for people who want to sell services to a captive audience. Every year, roughly 200,000 service members separate from the military. Many of them know their resume needs work. Many of them have a separation timeline breathing down their neck. And many of them have savings or GI Bill stipends that make them willing to pay for help fast.

That combination — urgency, money, and a knowledge gap — attracts two types of businesses. The first type genuinely understands military-to-civilian translation, federal hiring, and what a hiring manager actually looks at when a resume hits their desk. The second type has a website with stock photos of people in uniform and a sales funnel optimized to close you before you ask hard questions.

There is no licensing board for resume writers. The certifications that do exist (CPRW, NRWA, CARW) are voluntary, and having one does not automatically mean the person understands military experience. A writer can be technically certified and still have zero clue what a 68W or an OS rate actually does day to day. The certification tells you they passed an exam. It does not tell you they can translate your military job codes into language that gets you referred on USAJOBS or lands you a second-round interview at Lockheed.

Red Flag 1: They Promise a Specific Outcome

"Guaranteed interviews." "Land your dream job in 30 days." "100% success rate." If a resume writer leads with outcome guarantees, close the tab. No honest professional can promise you an interview because they do not control who else applies, what the hiring manager prioritizes, or whether the position gets pulled mid-cycle. In federal hiring especially, the variables between your application and a referral list are enormous — agency preferences, veterans preference categories, specialized experience requirements, and dozens of other factors that have nothing to do with how good your resume looks.

A credible writer will tell you they can build a strong, targeted document. They will not promise it will land you a specific job. If the guarantee sounds too clean, the service probably is too.

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Red Flag 2: They Use a One-Size-Fits-All Approach

This is the single most common problem I see when veterans send me resumes they paid someone else to write. The writer took their military background, ran it through a generic template, and delivered something that reads like it was written for no job in particular. No tailoring to a specific posting. No keyword alignment. No attention to whether the target is a GS-11 program analyst or a private-sector project manager.

A resume that works is built for a specific job. Every time. If the writer's process does not include asking you what roles you are targeting, reading actual job postings with you, and adjusting the language to match — they are selling you a template with your name on it. That template will sink to the bottom of any ATS ranking and get skipped by any hiring manager scanning a stack of 200 applications.

The first example could be anyone. The second one gets a hiring manager's attention because it speaks their language with real numbers. If your writer delivers something closer to the left column, that is your sign to walk.

Red Flag 3: They Have No Military Background or Hiring Experience

You do not need a writer who served in your exact branch or MOS. But you absolutely need someone who understands the gap between military language and what shows up on a civilian or federal job posting. Writing "supervised 15 personnel in a fast-paced operational environment" is not translation — it is word substitution, and it misses the point entirely.

Ask your writer two questions before you pay: Have you worked with veterans in my branch or career field before? And have you ever sat on the other side of a hiring process — reviewing resumes, interviewing candidates, or making selection decisions? If the answer to both is no, you are paying someone to guess. And guessing at $500 a pop is expensive.

There are civilian resume writers who do excellent work with veterans. But they have typically invested years learning military structure, rank hierarchies, and how to map military duties to O*NET job codes and federal GS series. That learning curve is steep, and writers who have done the work will be happy to walk you through their process. Writers who have not will deflect and talk about their "proprietary system" or their certification instead.

Red Flag 4: The Price Is Suspiciously Low or Absurdly High

A solid military-to-civilian resume from a qualified writer typically runs between $300 and $800. Federal resumes, because they require more detail (hours per week, supervisor contact info, specific duty descriptions tied to qualification standards), tend to land at the higher end or slightly above.

If someone is offering a "military resume package" for $75 or $99, think about what that buys. At that price point, the writer is spending maybe 30 minutes on your document. They are not reading job postings. They are not researching your MOS. They are plugging your information into a fill-in-the-blank form and pressing save. You will get a formatted document that looks professional on the surface and performs terribly in practice.

On the other end, I have seen writers charge $2,000 or more for a single resume. At that price, you should be getting multiple rounds of revision, job-specific tailoring for several target positions, a federal and a civilian version, LinkedIn optimization, and direct access to the writer for questions over several weeks. If the $2,000 package delivers one PDF with one round of edits, the price does not match the product.

Red Flag 5: They Cannot Show You Relevant Samples

Every competent resume writer has a portfolio. Ask to see samples — specifically, samples for veterans transitioning into the type of role you are targeting. If you are going federal, you want to see a federal resume sample. If you are going private sector logistics, you want to see a civilian logistics resume from someone with a military supply chain background.

"We can't share samples due to client confidentiality" is a dodge. Legitimate writers create anonymized samples specifically for this purpose. Names get changed, units get swapped, but the structure and language stay intact. If a writer cannot produce a single relevant sample after claiming years of military resume experience, they probably do not have years of military resume experience.

When you do get samples, read them critically. Do the bullet points include numbers and outcomes, or are they vague activity descriptions? Does the summary section target a specific role, or does it read like it could apply to anyone? Does the federal sample include hours per week, salary, supervisor info, and detailed duty descriptions — the elements that federal HR actually checks? If the samples fail these basic tests, the resume they write for you will fail them too.

Red Flag 6: Their Reviews Look Manufactured

Five stars across the board with no negative reviews anywhere is not a sign of excellence. It is a sign of curation. Every service — no matter how good — has some clients who were not completely satisfied. If a writer's review profile is 100% glowing with zero criticism, either they are deleting negative feedback, buying reviews, or filtering who gets to post.

Look for reviews that include specific details. "John helped me translate my 11B experience into a program management resume and I got referred for three GS-12 positions" tells you something real. "Great service, highly recommend!" could be written by anyone, including the writer themselves. Check Google Reviews, Better Business Bureau, and Reddit threads. Cross-reference. If the glowing Trustpilot reviews do not match what people say on Reddit or veteran forums, trust the unfiltered feedback.

Also look at the reviewer profiles. If 15 reviews all posted within the same week, all from accounts with no other review history, you are looking at a manufactured reputation. Real clients leave reviews over months and years, not in coordinated batches.

Red Flag 7: They Do Not Ask About Your Target Jobs

This one is a dealbreaker, and it connects directly to Red Flag 2. If the first conversation with your resume writer is about your military history and nothing else, the resume will be backward-looking. A good writer starts by asking where you want to go. What roles are you targeting? What GS level or salary range? Federal or private sector? Which agencies or companies? What does the job posting actually say?

Your military experience is the raw material. The job posting is the blueprint. A writer who collects the raw material but ignores the blueprint is building a resume aimed at nowhere. I have reviewed resumes from veterans who paid good money to writers who never once asked to see a job posting the veteran was actually interested in. The result was a well-formatted summary of the past that did nothing to connect to the future.

If a writer's intake process does not include a conversation about your target positions and career direction, save your money. You are paying for a biography, not a job-search tool.

Red Flag 8: They Claim One Resume Works for Everything

This is the cousin of the one-size-fits-all approach, but it deserves its own flag because some writers say it directly: "This resume will work for any job you apply to." That statement tells you the writer does not understand how hiring works in 2026.

Federal jobs require specific formatting that civilian employers do not expect. A GS-13 contract specialist posting at the VA has different keyword requirements than a procurement manager role at Amazon. An infantry officer applying for project management positions at a defense contractor needs different emphasis than one applying for operations roles at a logistics company. One resume does not cover all of those targets.

Some veterans need a federal version and a civilian version. Some need two or four civilian versions targeted at different industries. The idea that a single document handles all of that is a fantasy that benefits the writer (less work) and hurts you (fewer callbacks). If your resume writer tells you one resume is enough, they are either lazy or uninformed. Neither is acceptable at any price point.

Red Flag 9: They Disappear After Delivery

You get your resume. You have questions. You email the writer. Silence. You follow up a week later. Still nothing. This is more common than it should be, especially with lower-priced services and large resume mills that churn through volume.

A good writer builds in at least one round of revisions and remains responsive for a reasonable window after delivery — typically two to four weeks. Some offer 30 or 60 days of follow-up support. The specifics vary, but the principle does not: if you are paying someone to write a resume, you should be able to ask questions about the document they produced without chasing them down.

Before you pay, ask explicitly: How many revision rounds are included? What is your response time? What happens if I need changes after the initial delivery window? Get the answers in writing. A writer who is vague about post-delivery support is telling you exactly how much support you should expect — which is none.

How to Protect Yourself Before Hiring a Resume Writer

Now that you know what to avoid, here is how to vet a writer before you hand over your credit card. These steps take about 30 minutes and can save you hundreds of dollars and weeks of wasted applications.

First, ask for samples relevant to your target career path. Not their best sample — the one closest to your situation. If you are a separating E-7 targeting GS-12 federal logistics roles, ask for a sample from a senior NCO who went federal in supply chain or program management. If they do not have one, that tells you something.

Second, ask what their intake process looks like. A credible writer will want to know your target roles, review actual job postings, and understand your military background in context. If the intake is just a questionnaire with no conversation, the output will reflect that lack of depth.

Third, check their reviews across multiple platforms. Google, BBB, Reddit, veteran Facebook groups, RallyPoint. Look for patterns. A few negative reviews among mostly positive ones is normal. All perfect reviews on one platform and radio silence everywhere else is suspicious.

Fourth, ask about their revision policy and post-delivery support in writing before you pay. If they will not put it in the contract or confirmation email, assume the support does not exist.

Fifth, consider whether you need a writer at all. For many veterans, a solid resume builder designed for military-to-civilian translation can do the heavy lifting at a fraction of the cost. BMR was built specifically because the gap between TAP resumes and what actually gets you hired is real — and paying $500 to a random writer is not the only way to close that gap.

When Hiring a Writer Actually Makes Sense

I am not saying every resume writer is a scam. Plenty of qualified professionals do excellent work for veterans. There are situations where paying for a writer is a smart move — you just need to go in with your eyes open.

If you are a senior officer or SNCO with 20+ years and a complex career spanning multiple duty stations, deployments, and career fields, a writer who specializes in executive-level military transitions can help you distill that history into a focused narrative. If you are targeting SES positions or C-suite private sector roles, the resume format and language are different enough that expert help has a real return.

If you are going through a major career change — say, combat arms to IT, or aviation maintenance to healthcare administration — a writer with specific experience in your target industry can bridge that gap faster than you can on your own. The key word is specific. They need to have done it before for someone like you, not just claim they can.

If you have already tried building your own resume, applied to 20+ positions, and gotten zero traction, a professional set of eyes on your resume can identify what you are missing. Sometimes the fix is straightforward — wrong keywords, weak bullet points, missing federal formatting elements — and a single consultation saves months of spinning your wheels.

The difference between a smart hire and a wasted payment comes down to doing your homework first. Use the red flags above as a filter. If a writer passes all nine checks, they are probably worth the investment.

What to Do Next

If you are currently shopping for resume help, run every writer you are considering through the nine red flags in this article. Print the list if you need to. Ask the hard questions before you pay, not after.

If you have already paid a writer and the resume is not getting results, do not throw more money at another writer without diagnosing the problem first. Pull up the job posting you are targeting. Read it line by line. Then read your resume. Do the keywords match? Do your bullet points address what the posting asks for? If the answer is no, that is your starting point — and you may not need to pay anyone else to fix it.

BMR's Resume Builder gives you two free tailored resumes. Paste in a job posting, and it translates your military experience to match that specific role — the same process a good writer follows, automated and built by veterans who have actually sat on both sides of the hiring desk. If you want to compare your options across the top military resume services, we have reviewed those too.

Your transition is too important to trust to someone who cannot answer basic questions about their process. Vet your writer like you would vet any contractor. Ask questions, check references, and do not let urgency push you into a bad decision.