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Should You Niche? Defining Your Ideal Client.

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Should you niche your resume business?

This is a question we get asked often.

If you’ve done any amount of research, you’ve learned that few resume writers niche their businesses.

And, this might be a “red flag” for you.

Is there a viable reason for NOT niching a business? 

To help answer this question, let’s dive in on what having a niche means for today’s resume writers.

Defining a Niche For Your Resume Business

You have two options for your resume business.
 
Option One:
 
Your clients are from any/all career fields or industries.
 
This is a “non-niche” business.
 
Option Two:
 
Your clients are from a specific industry or job role.
 
For example, you might wish to work only with accounting professionals. So, these guys would be ideal for your niche resume business:
  • Accounting Managers
  • Controllers
  • Director of Corporate Accounting & Reporting
  • Certified Public Accountancy
  • Chief Financial Officers
  • Financial & Analyst Managers
Resume professionals who come from a particular career field niche faster and easier.
 
A resume writer with IT experience might like working only with other techies. A lawyer turned resume writer may prefer transitioning lawyers and paralegals as clients.

To find your niche, ask yourself questions like these:

  • Do I like writing for one career field over another?
  • Do I gravitate to a certain personality type?
  • What career fields/industries are an ideal fit for me?

Your Ideal Client’s Personality Type

It’s important to talk about personality types at this point.

Personality types can have an impact on how you niche your resume business.

For example, if you have an expressive personality, going after an analytical niche might not be the best choice.

You can still build a business, though it may not be as successful.

There are 4 primary personality types:

  • Expressive (emotional, positive, excited, happy)
  • Analytical (fact-based, procedural, detailed)
  • Amiable (sensitive, patient, good listener)
  • Driver (assertive, driven, controlling, focused)

If you’re expressive, for example, you may struggle to work with analytical personalities.

To learn more about personality tips, be sure to read our article Selling Tips & Scripts to Help You Sell More (see details about personality types about 1/2 down the article)

3 Pros & Cons to Niching Your Resume Writing Business

Not many in the resume writing industry have picked a niche.

Sometimes there are good reasons for this. For example, resume writers just starting out might struggle to find their footing in a specific niche.

Let’s look at the pros and cons you should consider before deciding to niche your resume business.

Advantages to Picking a Niche

PRO#1 You can make more revenue.

This really depends upon your niche, of course.

For example, selecting to work with new grads (known to be cash-strapped clients) might not produce more revenue.

However, opting to work with CFOs can produce a higher per-project profit.

Certainly, I recommend getting a resume writing certification to help you write better accounting resumes. Also, be sure to collect testimonials and put together resume examples from top-tier accounting professionals.

PRO#2 Once you get your footing, you can write these resumes faster.

This is true. A major challenge that resume writers face is how to write faster.

And, sticking with “like” resumes (career fields; e.g. CFOs, accounting managers) can help boost a writer’s efficiency.

PRO#3 Once you build a brand around your niche, you’ll be virtually unstoppable.

You won’t have competition.

Disadvantages to Picking a Niche

CON#1 You’ll be fishing in a “smaller pond” for clients.

This can be troublesome at the beginning of ANY business.

It may take you longer to get those initial clients. Because you’ll be marketing to fewer people, and potentially, getting fewer leads.

But, if you’re patient, you can overcome this will niche marketing strategies.

CON#2 Building your brand around a specific career field/industry can take ingenuity.

Start by securing 1-2 resume writing certs that are specific to your niche.

The NRWA.com and CareerDirectors.com offer a few niche certifications that can help.

CON#3 If you don’t succeed with finding a profitable niche, you can feel like you’ve made a big mistake.

Example Niches to Consider

To get your creative juices flowing, here are a few niche examples to consider:

  • New Graduates
  • Career Changers
  • Healthcare Professionals
  • IT/Techies
  • Baby Boomers
  • Engineers
  • Transitioning Military
  • People Returning to Work
  • Women Managers & Executives
  • Ex-Offenders & Felons
  • “Second Act” Professionals

You might also wish to narrow your selection down even further.

For example, “Women Managers & Executives With Six-Figure Salaries” or “Second Act Professionals Over The Age of 50.”

Additional Variables to Identify Your Ideal Client

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Salary Target
  • Location (e.g. US-based vs. Abroad)
  • Education Level

Something else to consider is your local market.

For example, I write resumes for the Dayton job market, which is rich with government contractors.

If I were to niche, I would focus my business on these professionals.

Tools to Research

Tools to help you find competitors within your intended niche include Google Adwords and Google Search.

Use a tool like KeywordSpy.com to identify how popular a particular career field (niche) might be.

Doing a bit of added research can go a long way to helping you research a niche before you commit.