It’s August, and you’re probably drowning in photos posted on Instagram and Facebook of your friends and family members’ first days back at school. The days of the photos of boating, swimming, water parks, and the Grand Canyon are long gone… until next summer. Most of us can no longer take week-long summer vacations, but some might splurge on mini vacations over the weekend.

Out of curiosity, I crunched some numbers online to determine the average cost of a mini vacation in the United States for one adult.

Concert ticket: $78.77
Dinner out: $39.40
Drinks with friends: $20
Movie and snacks: $20
Gas: $40
Adult ticket to theme park: $84
Hotel for one night: $75
Other meals: $50

Total cost: $407.17

How much did you invest this summer on your career? 

Biting the bullet and asking a career coach to help you write or edit your resume, craft an excellent cover letter, prepare for an important interview, or hone your networking skills might feel like a luxury. But did you know you can spend about the same amount of money on your mini vacation on a basic resume and cover letter session with a career coach?

A great basic resume won’t make you laugh out loud or take selfies with you, but it will open doors for you when you apply for jobs–over and over again. You’ll tweak the basic resume every time you apply for jobs, and you can use the same basic resume for several years, adding to it and editing it as your job history and experience changes. It’s not a one-time memory. It’s a long-term investment.

When you gain great interview skills, you don’t utilize them once and file them away. Your confidence as a candidate builds each time you interview for a job. Your investment grows exponentially the more you use it.

The next time you consider taking a mini vacation, and simultaneously wish you could switch careers or apply for a promotion but don’t have the extra cash to seek help with your resume, chew on the concepts in this article.

As someone with nine years of experience in higher education, I absolutely understand the notion of “it costs too much to seek help on my resume.” Some things are worth saving for, and if I’d never made big choices to make big changes, I’d still be wishing for something different.

Ready to get to work and invest in your career? Reach out to me for a free consultation.