From White House Hiring Manager to Successful Resume Consultant
Jennifer Clinchy’s journey from a legal counsel and hiring manager at the White House to a thriving entrepreneur in the resume consulting space exemplifies the power of leveraging professional experience into a meaningful side hustle. Between 2010 and 2017, Clinchy reviewed thousands of resumes from highly qualified candidates, gaining firsthand insight into what makes a resume compelling—and what holds talented applicants back. This experience laid a solid foundation for her future business, Clinchy Career Consulting, where she now offers resume consulting, cover letter writing, and LinkedIn optimization services.
After leaving the White House in 2017 to join Washington State’s Puget Sound Partnership—accepting a 30% pay cut—Clinchy recognized the opportunity to transform her passion for resume writing into a side business. Encouraged by colleagues who admired her skill, she launched her consulting services on Fiverr in 2020. Since then, her side hustle has flourished, generating over $250,000 in earnings on Fiverr alone last year and totaling more than $400,000 across all platforms over six years.
Building a Side Hustle that Supports Homeownership
Government salaries often present challenges in high-cost housing markets like Seattle, where Clinchy lives and works. The supplemental income from her consulting business enabled her to purchase her first home—a century-old property requiring extensive maintenance and renovations. Clinchy has invested nearly all of her consulting earnings into making the house habitable and up to code, demonstrating how a well-run side hustle can materially improve one’s financial stability and quality of life.
Strategic Growth on Fiverr and Beyond
Clinchy’s approach to launching her Fiverr profile was deliberate: she started with low rates to build credibility and positive reviews, which are crucial for gaining visibility on freelancing platforms. Unlike Upwork, where freelancers bid on client projects, Fiverr allows sellers to post fixed-price services, reducing administrative overhead and streamlining client acquisition. This model helped Clinchy quickly reach a broad audience, including clients from 25 countries across various industries.
Today, while Fiverr remains a source of new clients, the majority of her business comes through direct referrals from satisfied customers and former colleagues—a transition common in professional services as reputation and word-of-mouth grow.
Tailoring Resumes with Purpose and Clarity
Clinchy emphasizes the importance of writing resumes with a clear end goal in mind. She works closely with clients to understand what they hope to achieve and crafts resumes that highlight their relevant skills and accomplishments accordingly. Her method involves dissecting job descriptions in detail, encouraging clients to align their resumes with the employer’s needs rather than simply listing job duties.
One key recommendation she offers is focusing on how prior work delivered value—whether by increasing efficiency, reducing costs, or driving results—rather than just stating responsibilities. This approach helps candidates stand out and makes their contributions unmistakably clear to hiring managers and applicant tracking systems (ATS).
Navigating Career Transitions in a Changing Job Market
With AI-driven layoffs and rapid shifts in the labor market, many professionals are seeking career guidance to pivot effectively. Clinchy advises job seekers to recognize transferable skills and articulate how their experience applies to new roles, even in different industries. Cover letters, she notes, should be tailored to address the company’s needs directly, demonstrating the candidate’s fit and value proposition succinctly.
She also points to the growing awareness of career consulting as a worthwhile investment, particularly as job searches become more complex and competitive. Professional resume writing can shorten the job search timeline and potentially increase starting salaries, making it a financially sound decision for many.
Leveraging Professional Development and Community
For those interested in resume writing as a profession, Clinchy recommends joining the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARWCC). The organization provides extensive training and networking opportunities that have helped her enhance her expertise and credibility. Additionally, she stresses the importance of actively requesting client reviews to boost visibility and rankings on platforms like Fiverr, where positive feedback can significantly impact business growth.
Key Takeaways
- Clinchy reviewed thousands of resumes from highly qualified candidates at the White House.
- People encouraged her to start a resume-related side hustle, which she launched on Fiverr in 2020.
- Now, Clinchy’s business continues to grow — and even helped her become a homeowner.
This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Seattle, Washington attorney and entrepreneur Jennifer Clinchy. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) only enforcement attorney in the Pacific Northwest, Clinchy runs Clinchy Career Consulting, offering resume consulting, cover letter writing and LinkedIn optimization services, as a side hustle. She launched the consulting side hustle on Fiverr in 2020 and hit $250,000 in total earnings on the platform last year. The piece has been edited for length and clarity.
For more insights into Jennifer Clinchy’s side hustle journey and expert advice on resume writing, visit Here.
