As a former Wall Street recruiter and professional writer, I am always weary of reading an article about resume writing when the author opens with something akin to your resume is one of the most important documents in your search. Your resume isn't one of the most important; it is the most important document in your search. It's the document you are going to be judged by before all else. But this doesn't mean you should run off and spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to pay a professional resume writer for their assistance. You can get everything you need, usually for under $10.

This may seem incredible that I am telling you everything you need, you can find for a fraction of what you would pay a professional for, but it's the truth. It's the old story of a woman calls a plumber because her basement is flooding. The plumber comes over, looks over the situation and turns a knob. The water stops and the woman is relieved.

The plumber then hands the woman a bill for $200. Dumbfounded, the woman asks the plumber how that could possibly cost two hundred dollars to turn the knob. The plumber replies, it wasn't. The plumber then explains it was ten dollars to turn the knob and one hundred ninety dollars to know which knob to turn.

The premise is the same with resume writing. I can show you which knob to turn for less than ten dollars, or you could hire a professional to turn the knob for you, for two hundred. The choice is yours. So before you hire a professional, consider the following.

There are no real credentials for a resume writer. There are associations out there for resume writers, but all it takes to get into those associations is a credit card. There is a line of thought that certified resume writers are different than non certified resume writers. Truth is it's just another certification that someone paid for. It doesn't make them better or worse.

Consider the price factor as well. The costs are across the board. Mostly it depends on what the writer is being paid, whether there is an office or overhead to be met. No matter what, if you are unemployed, chances are you will be offered a choice to either pay the writer or eat dinner. Regardless of how you say it, that cost is too high. You can do just as good of a job, with a little information and a computer.

Then there are those resume writers out there, that when they are done, they will send you a file as a locked PDF document. By sending you a locked document, you can't change it. This means any time you want to edit something, you have to call them back and they get a fee for their time. Ask yourself if you really want to be working with someone who isn't willing to work with you.

Back when I was an independent recruiter, the saying around the office was, if you work for yourself and you do the work yourself, at least you know the boss isn't taking advantage of you. The same is true of writing a resume. If you purchase advice, you then can choose what to do with it. But if you put your life in someone else's hands, they aren't going to work as hard for you as you would for yourself.

Finally, if you are still looking to hire a resume writer, even after all of this, consider their turnaround time on your document. Most likely they will charge extra if you are in a hurry. Then what happens if you see the perfect job out there before your resume is ready. If you had been doing it yourself, you could simply drop what you are doing, make changes and go. With a resume writer you can't do that.

So, the next time you are considering shelling out more than $10 of your hard earned money for any level of resume writing, consider the alternative. Unlike the plumber in the story, I can teach you how to turn the knob for only ten dollars. Or you can pay a 'professional' thousands of dollars to do it for you.

Either way, the water will stop flowing. The difference is up to you.

Jarred Talmadge, MBA is a professional writer and consultant. For more tips on resume writing, check out his website: http://www.SuperchargeYourJobSearch.com.