where can i go for help with my resume

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Where to Find Help Writing Your Resume

Where to Find Resume Writing Help

Free online resume resources, american job centers, careeronestop resume guide, state resources for resume writing help, college career offices, public libraries, professional resume services, family, personal, and professional contacts.

If you're job hunting, few things are more important than a properly formatted, well-thought-out resume. Writing a resume can be a daunting task because you need to make sure you include all necessary information while keeping the document to a manageable size.

If you haven’t written a resume before, or haven’t updated yours in quite a while, getting started can be a challenge, but there are resources available that will assist you in writing an interview-winning resume for your job search.

Even if you've worked hard to write your resume, it’s helpful to have it reviewed by an objective and experienced professional.

There are numerous options available for getting help with your resume to ensure that the final draft will be looked at by prospective employers. You may be excellent at your job with the credentials to prove it, but if your resume doesn't shine, you may not be considered for the job.

Here’s a variety of resources you can use when you need help creating or updating your resume, so it’s comprehensive and competitive.

You may be able to write your resume yourself, using free online resources. At the least, you can create a draft that will help you get the process started. Our step-by-step guide for  how to write a resume  will walk you through the process, including choosing a type of resume, what to include, what to leave off, fonts, formatting, and templates and examples.

Many leading job sites have free online resume builders. Here’s a selection to try:

• CakeResume: The Resume to Land Your Dream Job
• Indeed: Easy and Free Online Resume Builder
• Jobscan: Free Resume Builder ATS-Approved
• Resume.com: Build a Professional Resume for Free

There are many other sites with online resume builders , but not all are actually free to use. Some resume sites charge for premium access, templates, downloads, and other resources.

Before you use an online resume builder, read the fine print to be sure you can actually save and download the resume you created for free. Some sites let you create a resume, but then charge you to access it.

American Job Centers offer in-person and virtual job search assistance at locations around the country. Use CareerOneStop’s  American Job Center Finder  to find local assistance.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s CareerOneStop site has a  Resume Guide  that includes a guide for what to include in your resume, templates and samples, and tips for writing and formatting your resume.

Most state department of labor websites offers free resume writing services for employees, the unemployed, those returning to the workplace, and military veterans. Local government websites will likely also offer sample resumes, sample cover letters, interview tips, and other pertinent information helpful for your job search.

Some department of labor offices offer virtual workshops you can attend to get help with writing your resume and with your job search. Check with your  state labor department  to see what’s available in your location.

If you're a college student (or alumnus) the career services office at your school or alma mater may be able to help you write your resume or provide you with useful feedback. The staff in a career office has a lot of experience helping professionals, as well as recent graduates, and they know how to polish a resume to make it stand out.

They are also familiar with hiring managers, how managers scan resumes, and the resume software used by employers. These career counselors can also provide guidance regarding the best way to format your resume and the best keywords to use to set you apart from the competition.

Many libraries offer programs and workshops for job seekers, as well as resume writing help and computer access. Check your local library to learn about what assistance is available in your location.

Use  CareerOneStop’s Library Finder  to find libraries and contact information so you can check on available services.

It may not seem worth it to spend money on a resume service, especially if you are unemployed and on a tight budget, but your resume is your first impression before you even get the interview. For a fee,  professional resume writing services  will either write your resume for you or edit the one you have. 

Compose a draft of your resume and seek feedback from family members, friends, college alumni, and other professionals who have experience screening job candidates.

An added benefit of this strategy is that your contacts might develop an appreciation of your assets as a prospective employee and refer you for jobs.

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The Best Resume Writing Services Of 2024, Chosen By Our Editors

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A good resume can make a lasting impression on a potential employer, and the best resume writing services can help you get your foot in the door that much faster. Sure, you can tackle the task yourself, but between navigating computerized application tracking systems and adapting to their ever-changing standards, building a modern resume that stands out in the crowd is no easy feat. That’s why we researched dozens of resume writing services to help you land the role you deserve. Our overall favorite is TopResume , which lets you choose from four different packages, but we included seven more options below.

The best resume writing services can help you make a lasting impression on employers.

When selecting our favorite resume services, we considered how easy each was to use, customization options available and turnaround times. Whether you’re looking for a little polish or have no idea where to start, there’s a service on this list for you. After all, why wouldn’t you hire a professional to handle one of the most important documents standing between you and your dream job: a finely-tuned resume? Below, the best resume writing services that cover everything from editing to one-on-one career counseling. And once you get the job, make sure you’re set up for WFH success with our favorite office chairs , standing desks and business laptops .

• Best Overall Resume Writing Service: TopResume
• Best Resume Writing Service With Custom Bundles: Resumeble
• Best Resume Writing Service With Career Consulting: TopStack Resume
• Best Resume Writing Service For Executives: ZipJob
• Best Resume Writing Service Built By Recruiters: ResumeSpice
• Best Quick-Turnaround Resume Writing Service: Craft Resumes
• Best Value Resume Writing Service: ResumeCompanion
• Best Free Resume Building Service: Resume.com

Best Overall Resume Writing Service

A popular service for professionals.

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Tiers: Starter, Premium, Ultimate and Executive Elite | Turnaround time: 4 to 7 days

Pros: 

• Free resume review
• Customizes your resume by writers certified in 65+ industries 
• 60-day guarantee; double the job interviews or they’ll rewrite it for free

Cons: 

• Limited to two revisions 

TopResume is a popular option for mid- to high-level professionals seeking resume advice. You can choose from four different packages (Starter, Premium, Ultimate and Elite) that range in price from $149 to $699 and offer a variety of services. No matter which package you choose, you’re guaranteed a professionally written resume from an expert in your chosen industry. If you already have a resume, you can also opt to get a free review on it, and receive feedback on its layout, language and how effectively it communicates your skills.

Best Resume Writing Service With Custom Bundles

A great combo service for your resume and cover letter.

Tiers: Standard, Professional and Premium | Turnaround time: 4 days

• Standard package includes resume and cover letter
• Customizable based on your industry
• 60-day guarantee; receive an interview or rewrite for free
• No refunds on Standard and Professional packages (however, Premium packages include a Money Back Guarantee)

Resumeble offers three package tiers: Standard, Professional and Premium. If you’re just starting your career, the Standard package offers bang for your buck, since it includes a resume and cover letter (most services require you to at least upgrade to the mid-level package for both). Next up, the Professional package is geared toward mid-level employees looking to promote or pivot and includes a LinkedIn profile refresh; and the Premium package, designed for seasoned executives, offers all that plus a back-up resume, cold emails to recruiters and more. While no refunds are offered on Standard and Professional packages, the Premium package comes with a Money Back Guarantee if clients don’t receive at least one job offer within 180 days.

Best Resume Writing Service With Career Consulting

A global platform that focuses on the full professional picture, topstack resume.

Tiers: Basic, Standard, Professional and Premium | Turnaround time: 1 to 2 weeks

Pros:  

• Can view final resume before paying 
• Provides advanced career consultations and interview prep
• Donates 5% of profits to the Fisher House Foundation
• 60-day guarantee limited to Professional and Premium packages
• Longer turnaround time; takes 1 to 2 weeks

TopStack offers four different packages that range from $139 for your basic professional resume to $649 for a more robust selection of services (including career consulting plus help with your resume,​ cover letter and LinkedIn profile). It also focuses on ensuring your resume is ATS-optimized, a must in the modern hiring world.

Best Resume Writing Service For Executives

A service built with leaders in mind.

Tiers: Launch, Fast Track, Premium, Executive | Turnaround time: 3 to 7 business days

• Comprehensive; includes resume, cover letter, thank-you note and LinkedIn profile
• Resumes are ATS-optimized
• 60-day interview guarantee
• On the pricier side

ZipJob is a great choice for professionals at all levels, but its comprehensive executive package makes it especially suited for those at the top of their game. Offerings include an executive-level resume and cover letter, LinkedIn profile optimization and a customizable thank-you letter. To ensure everything is up to standard, you also get a phone consultation with your writer and multiple revisions for all of your documents. And just like ZipJob’s other packages, the executive bundle checks that your resume is ATS-ready (Applicant Tracking Systems), so you can pass early screenings with flying colors.

Best Resume Writing Service Built By Recruiters

A highly rated platform developed by hr and hiring managers, resumespice.

Tiers: Entry Level, Professional and Executive | Turnaround time: 2 days

• Wide range of services offered including for resume, cover letter, Linkedin profile, interview prep and career coaching 
• Quick 2-day turnaround
• 60-day guarantee; rewrite if you don’t get an interview 

Cons:  

• Expensive; $479 for an entry-level resume

ResumeSpice is more expensive than other services. That said, it was developed by recruiters, aka people who’ve truly homed in on what prospective employers are seeking. It’s also one of the highest-rated services on Trustpilot . The company offers a quick two-day turnaround, pre-built packages depending on your experience and the option to tack on its highly rated career-building services. ResumeSpice also has free resume resources and a selection of sample templates, if you’re more interested in the DIY approach.

Best Quick-Turnaround Resume Writing Service

A platform that gets you the fastest first draft, craft resumes.

Tiers: Resume Writing, Basic, Optimal, All-In-One | Turnaround time: 1 day

• 24-hour turnaround time for first draft 
• Writers are PARWCC- or NRWA-certified
• International service; some users experience grammar issues due to language barrier

If you’re in a time crunch, this writing and editing service has a 24-hour turnaround for the first draft of your resume. Craft Resumes features an easy-to-navigate website and delivers resumes tailored to your experiences and desired career path. Like a few other services, Craft Resumes offers a series of à la carte options, such as LinkedIn profile writing, thank-you letters and follow-up letters.

Best Value Resume Writing Service

A subscription-based diy resume builder, resumecompanion.

Tiers: Monthly or 2-week access | Turnaround time: Self-paced

• Affordable; subscription costs $8 a month or 14-day access for $3
• Choose from dozens of professional resume templates
• Offers cover letter, job search and tracking tools
• Self-directed; no hands-on help from writers

This resume builder is a great budget option for a self-starter who wants to learn the ropes and take things into their own hands. You can select from a variety of templates, narrow down the type of job you’re seeking and follow a step-by-step process to perfect your own resume. However, because it’s subscription-based, you’ll have to renew the service if you want to edit your materials in the future.

Best Free Resume Building Service

A robust resume and cover letter resource—at no cost to you.

Tiers: Free | Turnaround time: Self-paced

• Free with dozens of templates to choose from
• Integrated with Indeed; easy to apply to jobs
• Some users say it’s difficult to cancel subscription

If your budget is tight and you don’t mind going the DIY route for your resume, Resume.com is a great resource. It has an intuitive user interface and offers over 20 different resume and cover letter templates to choose from. There’s also an open career advice portal where you can read about career development, interview tips and more.

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The Forbes Vetted team has published a large library of tech guides , including reviews on a variety of online tools and home office essentials like the best document scanners and all-in-one printers .

• Consumer tech editor Rebecca Isaacs and executive editor Dave Johnson oversee this guide and its iterations; they have over a decade of experience in the industry and both enjoy testing and reviewing the latest in tech.
• Assistant editor Jordan Thomas has over four years of experience covering deals and consumer shopping. For this guide, she scoured the web for the most reputable resume writing services and compared each option to find the best.
• We continue to monitor the best resume services and routinely update this guide to provide the most current information about pricing and offerings. It was last updated in May 2024 by tech updates writer Alexandra Garrett to expand our buyer’s guide.

How We Chose The Best Resume Writing Services

To compile this list, we sought out well-known resume writing services with overwhelmingly positive customer reviews and compared key offerings.

• We looked for reputable resume writing services with proven results; each service had to meet our standards in terms of overall value, turnaround time, professionalism and satisfaction guarantees.
• We evaluated each service side-by-side to determine which performs better at writing a robust resume in an accurate, timely manner.
• Everyone has unique needs when it comes to searching for a job, so we made sure to recommend options that span different career goals and budgets, whether that includes getting career consultation or polishing up an existing resume.

What To Look For When Choosing The Best Resume Writing Service

Resume writing services come in a wide range of prices, and the best options for you will largely depend on your needs and budget. Affordable services like ResumeCompanion offer a step-by-step process for building your own resume for $8 a month, while other services provide a more hands-on approach for around $150. Packages typically go up to $250-$300 when you add Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)-optimization, cover letter writing, interview prep and career coaching.

Turnaround Time

If your job application has a set deadline, take a look at the service’s turnaround time before committing. Most services take anywhere from two days to two weeks to provide a finalized resume. Some promise a draft in 24 hours, like Craft Resumes .

Ease Of Use

When deciding on a resume writing service, take a look at how easy the website is to navigate. Is it difficult to browse different templates, download your files or customize your resume? The job application process is often stressful, so a resume writing service should alleviate—not contribute to—some of that stress.

Customization Options

A resume needs to accurately reflect your unique qualifications, skills and industry standards. For this reason, consider which customization options the service provides. Many of our recommendations use writers, recruiters or HR professionals to tailor your application documents to your unique needs.

Writer Qualifications

With AI solutions like ChatGPT readily available, you’ll want to check whether or not your resume writer is qualified to provide the help you need. To do this, take a look at the service’s writer qualifications. Some services use writers certified by the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches (PARWCC) or National Resume Writers Association (NRWA), while others are run by recruiters or HR professionals.

Privacy Policies

Because some websites and apps collect your personal information, it’s important to check the privacy policies before signing up. Look for whether the site stores or shares that information with third parties, and whether you can adjust your privacy settings to opt out of this setting.

Is It Worth Paying For A Resume Writing Service?

Professionally-written resumes through a reputable service can help you stand out from the competition. They’re often designed to highlight your best qualities, and are keyword-optimized for most applicant tracking systems. If you’re struggling with employment gaps or career changes, a resume writing service can help give you a leg up. And some services will also provide reviews for custom cover letters, Linkedin profiles, interview prep and career coaching.

What’s The Best Resume Writing Company?

The best resume writing company is affordable, offers high-quality review and writing services and is easy to use. Our top pick overall— TopResume —provides the professionalism and quality most mid- to high-level job seekers need, from its free resume review to its customizable options.

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Your Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Perfect Resume (With Examples!)

Your resume is arguably the most valuable piece of paper for your career. But this document can be daunting for many. Maybe you’re not sure how to fit in all your information onto one page. Maybe you’re not sure about the right way to format and write your resume. Maybe you don’t even know what the heck a resume is!

Whatever your concern, we’ll break down everything you need to know about making the perfect resume, from scratch.

What Is a Resume?

What are employers looking for in a resume.

• Pick Your Format
• Start With Your Basic Information
• Add in Your Work Experience
• Consider Including Volunteer Work or Other Experience
• Don’t Forget Your Education
• Top It Off With Some Skills and Interests
• Write a Resume Summary Statement (if Relevant)
• Tailor It to the Job (and the ATS)
• Edit and Refine It

What Are Some Examples of a Good Resume?

A resume is a summary of your career, whether yours is just getting started or has been going on for years. Coming in at around one page in length (two only under specific circumstances), it showcases the jobs you’ve held and currently hold, the responsibilities you’ve taken on, the skills you’ve developed, and the qualities you bring to the table as an employee. Together, those things make it super easy for any hiring manager to see your qualifications and fit for a role.

For all the work you may put into writing one, hiring managers actually spend very little time—mere seconds in many cases—looking at your resume. But despite this sad fact, it’s safe to say that creating a great resume (rather than hastily throwing one together) still matters.

“If you miss the mark, your resume may never be read. Even worse, you might be removed from the applicant pool by a computer before a human even knows you exist,” says Muse career coach Heather Yurovsky , founder of Shatter & Shine. So you want to get it right because, as she explains, isn’t the goal to “spend less time looking for a job and more time in a role you love?”

You might be wondering if you can lean on your LinkedIn profile instead of writing a resume. The answer, sadly, is no. Most hiring managers still expect you to submit a resume, even if they also look at your LinkedIn. Even if you don’t need a resume for a job you’re applying for now, you’re going to need one at some point in your career—they’re not anywhere close to going out of style. So it’s best to always have one at the ready should an opportunity pop up.

And although LinkedIn has plenty of benefits, a resume has one clear advantage: While your LinkedIn is usually a broader picture of your career trajectory, your resume gives you the opportunity to tailor your career story to a specific role or company (more on that later).

Oh, and you’ve probably heard of something called a CV? It’s slightly different from a resume , and usually more common with academics and job seekers outside the U.S.

Hiring managers look for three things on your resume, “What did you do? Why did you do it? And what was the result?” says Muse career coach Martin McGovern , owner of Career Therapy. “If you can answer all three of these questions in...your resume bullet points, you’re going to be on the right track.”

Clear, easy-to-understand language is key. “The truth is that most resumes make no sense. They are stuffed with jargon, they are too technical, and they are filled with redundancies. Try to read a resume that isn’t yours and you will quickly realize that it feels like an alien wrote it,” McGovern adds. Put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter who has no idea how your role works—how can you make your resume accessible to them?

The hiring manager also cares about more than just you and you alone—they care about you in relation to them. “Hiring managers want to see if a candidate matches the requirements” of the role they’re hiring for, Yurovsky explains. “Your resume should paint this picture so the hiring manager not only knows what day-to-day responsibilities you can handle, but why you, above other[s], bring value to their organization.”

How Do You Write a Resume?

Whether you’re someone who’s never written a resume in your life, or you need a nice, thorough refresher on the process of creating one, follow these steps to go from a blank page to a complete—and dare I say beautiful—document.

Related: This Free Worksheet Makes It Easy to Create (or Update) Your Resume

1. Pick Your Format

Before you start typing one single thing, you have to decide what you want the overall resume to look like.

Resume builders can be helpful for this step—they’ll take all your basic information and organize it for you, eliminating some of the legwork. You can also use a pre-made outline, such as one of these free Google Docs templates .

But it’s often safest to start with a clean slate all on your own and eventually upgrade to a more advanced layout. (If you'd still like a place to write all the relevant information before you get started, check out our resume outline .) This allows you to course correct, edit and re-edit, and choose a resume format that best fits your particular situation (after all, not everyone has a career trajectory that’s easy to compartmentalize).

In general, you’re most likely to cover and/or include sections on the following:

• Your work experience
• Your non-work experience, including professional organizations, community involvement, or side projects
• Your education and certifications
• Your skills (specifically hard skills) and interests

So how do you format and organize all of that information?

By far the most common (and safest, if you’re not sure which route to take) option is reverse chronological order . This means you organize your experiences from most recent to least recent. So your work experiences would go above your education, and your current role would go above previous roles you’ve held. This of course has its exceptions—maybe you went back to grad school between jobs, or your most recent role is irrelevant to the job you’re applying for. So the whole page may not be exactly in reverse chronological order depending on your situation. It’s just a guideline.

There’s also something called a functional or skills-based resume . This is used pretty rarely, mainly with career changers and those with limited or complicated work histories. It gets its name because it’s primarily about listing your skills rather than experiences, and showcases them above your work history and education.

You can also opt for a combination resume , which is a mix between a reverse chronological resume and skills-based resume. It highlights your skills at the top, but allows just as much room below to cover your job and school experience.

Use caution when choosing these two formats: “Combo and skills-based [resumes] can be hard to follow, because [they force] the reader to hunt for connections between your skills and experience, and [don’t] provide the full context of your work,” says Muse Career Coach Angela Smith , founder of Loft Consulting. “I’ve also heard a lot of recruiters say that they automatically discount skill-based resumes because they feel the candidate is trying to hide something. I don’t necessarily believe that, but I think it’s important for job-seekers to know that perception is out there.”

2. Start With Your Basic Information

Your contact information should always go at the top of your resume. In this header you’ll want to include anything that could be helpful for a recruiter to get in touch with you. Usually, this means adding in:

• Your full name (preferably the name you use across the web)
• Your phone number
• Your personal email address

You might also choose to include other basic information, such as your LinkedIn or personal website URL, your GitHub (for technical roles), your social media profiles (if relevant to the job), or your address. If you’re looking to move for a job, you may choose to leave out your address or write “open to relocating” to better your chances of getting an interview.

The key is to make this part as clear as possible. If a hiring manager can’t reach you, there’s no point in perfecting the rest of your resume.

3. Add in Your Work Experience

This section will most likely be the bulk of your resume. Even if you’re changing careers, employers still want to see where you’ve worked, what you’ve done, and the impact of that work to get a sense of your background and expertise.

Your “Work Experience” might be one entire category, or you might choose to break it up into “Relevant Experience” and “Additional Experience” to highlight the jobs that are most important for hiring managers to focus on. Either way, you’ll almost always want to have your most recent experience at the top and your older experience down below.

Within your work experience, you’ll want to include each official job title, the company (and possibly its location), and the years you worked there. Below that, you’ll add in two to four bullet points explaining what you did in that job, the skills you built and exercised, the tools you used, and the results of what you did. If you accomplished a lot during your time there, focus on the responsibilities that made the most impact or you’re the most proud of, as well as the ones that best align you with the job you’re applying for (more on that in the following sections). It’s key here to list, if relevant, quantitative as well as qualitative accomplishments.

For example, you might write:

Associate Accountant, Finances and Co., Ann Arbor, MI September 2017 – Present

• Manage billing and invoicing for more than 50 clients, ensuring the deadlines and needs of our enterprise partners, including Big Company and Super Star Org, are met
• Collaborate closely with sales, account management, and project management teams on project setup, maintenance, and invoice management
• Assist in the streamlining of invoicing guidelines and procedures through documentation and the implementation of new software, resulting in an average two-week decrease in total time spent per client

Your resume bullets should be in past tense if you’re referring to past jobs and present tense if you’re talking about your current roles. In addition, your bullets should always start with a strong action verb that best describes what you did. And if you have examples of your work, consider hyperlinking them here as well.

If you have a ton of experience and this category is starting to run long (read: over one page), consider kicking out your oldest jobs unless they’re super relevant to the job you’re applying for, or extra impressive for your field.

Not sure where to start? “It’s helpful to do a brain dump and create a document that has everything and anything you consider as experience or an achievement,” says Yurovsky. From there, she explains, you can start to whittle down what is and isn’t important. And you can refer to this document later if you ever decide to update your resume for a specific role.

Need more specific advice on listing your work experience on your resume? Check out these additional resources:

• When you’ve held multiple jobs at the same company: 2 Jobs, 1 Company: How to Show Multiple Positions on Your Resume
• When you’re not sure what your accomplishments are or how to explain them: Resume Revamp: How to Turn Your Duties Into Accomplishments
• When you want to spruce up a boring or insignificant job: How to Make Your Most Boring Jobs Sound More Interesting on Your Resume
• When you’re considering fudging a job title: The Answer to “Can I Change My Job Title on My Resume to Make It More Accurate?”
• When you’ve had a bunch of short-term gigs: How to List Temporary Jobs on Your Resume

4. Consider Including Volunteer Work or Other Experience

Anything you’ve done that’s not work experience—your side gig, volunteer work, special projects—can be hosted under clearly-labeled sections (“Volunteer Experience” or “Activities,” for example). Depending on how robust your work experience is, these things may be worth including, particularly if they’ve helped you level up your skill set or better align you with your dream job. Plus, they make you look that much more well-rounded, passionate, and hardworking.

If you’re a recent grad, you might also build out a section for on-campus activities, such as clubs, organizations, or leadership experience. This can be a great supplement if you’re lacking in the jobs department. You can frame these just as you would professional jobs—including your title, the organization’s name, and bullets describing what your role was and what you accomplished.

Read More: This Is Exactly How to List Volunteer Work on Your Resume

5. Don’t Forget Your Education

If you’re still in school or just graduated, your education can go at the top of your resume, but for pretty much everyone else, this goes near the bottom. Most people include their school, graduation year (for folks less up to about a decade out of school), major, and degree. Brand-new grads might also write in their GPA, honors and awards, study abroad, thesis, or other notable achievements. But keep this section super simple, as you don’t want it to take up too much space over your work experience.

It’s possible you have unique education experience, such as taking an online course or certification. If you did this specifically as a way to boost yourself within your industry, definitely include it. Again, list everything more or less reverse chronologically—so a grad school degree would go above an undergrad degree, and a more recent relevant online course would go above that.

Learn more about the ins and outs of listing your education on your resume:

• How to (and How Not to) List Education on Your Resume
• How to List Online Courses on Your Resume the Right Way (Because Yes, There Is a Wrong Way)

6. Top It Off With Some Skills and Interests

The skills section of a resume gets a bad rap, but it’s just as important as the rest of the stuff you include. It’s a quick list a recruiter can scan to see if your skill set aligns with what they’re hiring for. And it’s super ATS-friendly (ATS stands for “applicant tracking system,” the robot that in some cases reads your resume before a human does) because it allows you to add in keywords the machine is scanning for.

Usually this section goes at the bottom of your resume, but in special cases—such as a skills-based resume or when someone’s switching fields—you may place it further up.

What exactly do you throw in here? You’ll want to list any hard skills and applications you’re familiar with (Photoshop, SEO, JavaScript, to name a few examples), and, if relevant, your level of expertise. Avoid including soft skills here, like time management or public speaking—save those for your bullet points instead.

Be strategic when filling in your skills. Don’t list things you actually couldn’t do at a high competence level (I’m looking at those of you who say you’re “great” at Excel), and maybe nix skills that are completely irrelevant to the job you want. For example, you may not even need to include Excel if you’re applying for say, a design position, unless it’s listed as a job requirement.

Maybe you’re thinking, I’m a really good volleyball player, but that’s not a “skill,” right? No, it’s not, but it is a hobby. Adding in a hobby section at the bottom of your resume is underrated, and frequently a smart choice. It can be a great conversation starter with a hiring manager, and it can show that you’re a good culture fit—or a culture add—for the company. Also, it’s just a nice way to add in some of your personality. So tack on a bullet point listing out some of your interests, such as hiking, rowing, or crafting (no more than five to seven work-appropriate verbs), and you’re all set here.

7. Write a Resume Summary Statement (if Relevant)

You may have heard of a resume summary statement . They’re not super common, but they can be useful to include near the top of your resume if you’re looking to add clarity or context to your resume. If you’re a career changer, you might find a summary statement helpful in explaining your leap and tying your experience to your new path. Or if you’re a more experienced professional, you can use a summary statement to highlight a theme that brings your career trajectory together.

Overall, you probably won’t need a summary statement if your career is pretty linear and your bullet points do a great job of emphasizing what you have to offer in terms of skills and experience. But if you think it makes sense to include one, “Take the time to think about what the person reading your summary wants to know before you write it,” says McGovern. “Good summaries explain why you do what you do and how it can help. For instance: Merging a background in ABC, I help companies improve XYZ through 123. Summaries shouldn’t be any more complicated than that.”

So, taking McGovern’s example, you might say:

Merging a background in social media marketing and PR with seven years in the consumer tech space, I help companies improve their internal and external communication and brand awareness through data-driven, quality content and strategies that align with the modern trends of the space.

Yurovsky adds that “you don’t want your summary statement to be a dense paragraph with too much information. You want it to be easy to read, concise, and memorable. Almost like a tagline.”

Read More: 3 Resume Summary Examples That’ll Make Writing Your Own Easier

8. Tailor It to the Job (and the ATS)

Once you have your resume written out—you’ve broken down your work experience, tagged on some activities and additional experiences, and listed out your skills—it’s important to go back to the job description (or multiple job descriptions, if you’re applying to several similar jobs) and make sure that what your resume says matches up with the kind of candidate the employers are looking for. In other words, tailor it .

Let’s explain further. You’ll want to begin by tackling the ATS . This means combing the job description to see if individual words and phrases line up. What skills are they asking for, and have you listed them (so long as you actually have them)? What words are they using to describe their ideal hire, and do you use similar language in your resume?

Next, take a bird’s-eye view. If you were the hiring manager for the role, where on your resume would your eyes be drawn to? And what would you be looking for? Whatever you think will be most important for the recruiter, make sure it’s near the top of your resume, or otherwise emphasized.

Finally, dig into the role and responsibilities of the job. Does your resume reflect similar experience? If not, is there a way you can spin it so that it’s clear you’re capable of doing the job (and doing it well)?

These articles can help you if the word “tailoring” makes you start to sweat:

• What It Really Means to “Tailor Your Resume”
• Your Guide to Making Unrelated Experience Look Relevant on Your Resume
• A Cool Trick: How to Spin 1 Resume Bullet 5 Different Ways

9. Edit and Refine It

Please, please don’t just write your resume and shoot it out without giving it a second glance. Hiring managers may not spend hours browsing it, but if there’s one thing that sticks out more than anything else it’s a glaring typo.

The best approach? Write a rough draft, then leave and come back to it later with fresh eyes to give it an edit.

Cover the basics: Is your contact information correct and updated? Are you using the right verb tenses? Does everything look consistent and accurate in terms of spelling and grammar?

Then do some cutting if your resume’s quite long. It’s no longer a hard-and-fast rule that all resumes must be only one page—but consider it a smart guideline for most applicants, especially if you've got less than 10 years work experience. The exception is if you’re very senior or very established in your career; in this scenario, a two-page resume isn’t completely out of the question. Everyone else, read this article for advice on how to cut your resume down.

Formatting-wise, it’s key to consider a couple things. First, what font are you using , and is it legible (for a human and a robot)? When in doubt, go with one of these simple, but sleek, options: Arial, Arial Narrow, Calibri, Cambria, Garamond, or Helvetica.

Second, are you going to save it as a Word document or PDF ? Neither option is wrong, although a PDF helps ensure that your formatting is maintained, no matter what type of computer the hiring manager uses to open the document.

Third, is your resume formatted in a way that it’s skimmable? If it’s feeling crowded or overrun with words, read this: 12 Tiny Changes That Make Your Resume Easy for Recruiters to Skim .

Once you’ve given it a few good looks, it may be worth sending it to a friend or colleague (or even a career coach ) to get a second opinion. Don’t just have them edit it for spelling and grammar—they should dig into your bullets and offer feedback on whether or not your resume is showing you in the best possible light (it’s smart to also send them the job description for something to compare it to).

Here’s the thing: Your resume won’t ever look exactly like someone else’s, nor should it. How you choose to format it, organize your information, and talk about specific experiences depends not just on your career path, but on your field, the job you’re applying for, the company that job is at, and more.

So there isn’t a universal way to do a resume. But there are common themes. To give you some context as to how yours might turn out, here are three examples of different kinds of resumes.

The Most Popular: A Reverse Chronological Resume

As previously mentioned, a reverse chronological resume is preferred by many coaches and HR experts, mainly because it’s super readable. When everything’s in a clear order, it’s easy to skim and even easier to draw lines between experiences.

Who it’s good for: Just about everyone—from students applying to internships all the way up to senior-level executives (with an optional resume summary statement)

Download an Example Chronological Resume for a Software Engineer

The Unorthodox Route: A Functional or Skills-Based Resume

Rather than listing out your experience in reverse chronological order, a functional or skills-based resume has bullet points that reflect how each of your skills is demonstrated by the work you’ve done over the course of your career. At the bottom, you’ll include everything else, such as your education, job history, professional achievements, community involvement, and other technical skills. This is a good option if you have a somewhat all-over-the-place work history and want to tie everything together neatly.

Who it’s good for: Career changers whose work experiences may not appear to be relevant and people with an abundance of temporary jobs or gaps in their work histories.

Download an Example Functional Resume for a Project Manager

The Creative Angle: An Infographic Resume or Resume Website

This resume type is characterized by how it’s formatted visually. You may choose a reverse chronological order or skills-based style to organize your information, but also use graphics, colors, unique fonts, and even multimedia elements to help that information pop. Keep in mind that any creative resume is still likely subject to an ATS—and certain elements may be unreadable by a robot. So consider going this route only if you know a human will be reading your resume (and that said human might enjoy it).

Who it’s good for: People applying to creative roles (designers, editors, writers, marketers, video producers, for example), startups, or fun companies, or to jobs where a creative resume is encouraged, if not required.

Download an Example Infographic Resume for a Designer

Not a designer but want your resume to look just as pretty as this example? Check out these articles:

• 5 Sites to Create an Awesome Infographic Resume (Even if You’re the Least Creative Person Ever)
• How to Build a Resume Website That Will Impress Every Hiring Manager Who Sees It
• 5 Digital Tools That Will Make Your Resume Infinitely More Beautiful

Your resume is a living, breathing document. So while you won’t go through this whole process every time you apply for a job, you should be thinking about all these things as you go to update your resume for your next career step. You might decide later on to switch up the order, or remove or add things, or even get creative and try out a whole new format. If you’re not getting the calls back you expect, you may decide to scrap it and start over —and that’s totally OK.

Regardless of where this piece of paper goes and how it grows, when you give it the care and attention it deserves, you set yourself up for success. And you’ll make it that much more likely that you’ll land an interview and get the chance to prove to the hiring manager—over the phone or in person—what you’ve got to offer.

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Where can i get resume help 14 free and affordable options.

This article originally appeared on My Life, I Guess and has been republished here with permission.

Your resume is your introduction to a potential employer. A weak or ineffective resume will make the wrong first impression and will likely prevent you from getting a job. It's not something that you can just quickly throw together or copy off of Google. Developing a strong resume takes time, as it's unique to you and your experiences.

That's why it's essential to get help with your resume, especially if you've been looking for a job for a while. The good news is there are plenty of free and affordable ways you can get resume help.

DIY Free Resume Help

Assisted free resume help, resume builders, professional resume writers.

Making an effective resume can feel complex, but it doesn't have to be.

This is particularly true if you are updating your current resume, when you're applying for student jobs or entry-level-type jobs, or have a straightforward work history.

If you're comfortable with the more "do-it-yourself" approach and are looking for a bit of help, here are a few of your options:

Your Friends and Family

At a minimum, you should have another person review your resume. They can help you catch typos and other grammatical mistakes, even if they know nothing about writing resumes or the industry you're applying for.

Sometimes, not knowing much about your chosen field is a good thing. The person reviewing your resume can pinpoint any time you use industry jargon or acronyms which may be unclear. Someone in the HR department may not be familiar with these terms, either.

You should be using keywords from the job posting or job description to help avoid any confusion.

Your friends and family can also tell you whether or not your resume passes the 6-second glance test . If they can't tell you within a few seconds what type of job you're trying to get, your resume isn't doing its job and needs fixing.

Your Colleagues

Asking a trusted colleague or co-worker for help with your resume is smart because they know more about the industry and job responsibilities. This is particularly true for specialized and technical roles.

You do need to be careful, though. Unless you are applying for a promotion or internal transfer, you might not want your coworkers to know that you are applying for jobs elsewhere. This information could get back to your manager, and you probably don't want that to happen.

You could reach out to a former colleague or someone from your network instead.

Grammarly is a free program that is essentially an elevated spell-checker and grammar-checker. It will catch the common writing mistakes for you and offer suggestions to make your sentences more concise. The clearer and easier your resume is, the better.

You can use Grammarly with the browser extension, copy and paste your text into their website editor, in Google Docs, or install the Microsoft Word and Outlook add-in. It even works on your text messages and social media updates if you download the app on your phone!

If you do a lot of writing, the paid premium version is absolutely worth it, in my opinion. I use Grammarly every day on every article, email, and resume I write at my day job and for this blog.

Reddit Resumes

Yes, strangers in the Reddit Resumes community will help you with your resume. With over 285,000 members, you can "Post your résumé for critique, critique someone else's, or look for examples of résumés in your field."

And I have to say, as a long-time lurker and occasional commenter, I have been really impressed with the advice people in this community give.

You can upload a version of your resume (with your personal details removed), and people will offer their advice and suggestions.

If you're not comfortable posting your own resume, browsing through the threads is also incredibly helpful, especially if you can find people applying to similar jobs.

Career Blogs

Career blogs offer tons of advice and resources, usually for free. You can browse through the articles for resume tips or sign up for their email lists and job-related resources.

Some resources and services may come at a cost, but signing up to an email list is usually all you need to get access.

Sign up to access my free resource library or browse through my career and unemployment articles for advice!

Resume & ATS Scanning Websites

There are plenty of free (or free trial) sites that will review your resume and compare it to the specific job posting you're applying for. The algorithms will tell you exactly what needs work, as well as what keywords you're missing.

Most employers use scanning software (Applicant Tracking Systems or ATS) to initially screen applications. While these scanners won't catch spelling mistakes or other errors, they will tell you if you are using the right keywords for the job. And you need those keywords to make it to the next step in the hiring process.

Sites like ResumeWorded.com , Jobscan.co , and ResyMatch.io are my personal favorite and are easy to use. (You will need to create a free account, but they don't ask for a credit card or any payment info.)

You don't have to search for a job alone. There are many different ways you can get assisted, professional help with your resume and job hunting for free.

Employment Centers

Employment centers, unemployment centers, career centers, American Job Centers , employment agencies, employment assessment centers, training centers, skill development centers, workforce development…

No matter what they're called, these organizations are government-funded and free for everyone to use.

The specific services offered at each location will vary, but generally speaking, you can expect to find:

Access to computers, photocopiers, printers, fax machines, and telephones

Local job postings and online job banks

Resources and templates for creating a resume and cover letter

Resume samples

Interview preparation tips

Information on the labor market

Workshops on various job-related topics

Referrals to other agencies and support services

Career assessment tests

Skills training and identification

Staff available to answer your questions and assist you

Employment counseling may also be available, but there might be eligibility criteria (such as being unemployed, working part-time, or within a specific age group).

And as a bonus, if your local center also works with hiring managers and employers, you can get access to job opportunities in the hidden job market .

Related Read: These 10 Great Jobs All Pay at Least $40,000

Social Service Organizations

If you belong to a specific demographic, many social service organizations provide career and job search support. These groups include:

Immigrants, refugees, and newcomers

People with disabilities

People with mental health illnesses

People with crim i nal records

Youth (typically ages 15-25, but can go up to age 29)

People of Aboriginal descent

Homeless people or those living in shelters

People with barriers to employment

In North America, you can call "211" and be connected with the right help, or visit www.211.org (US) or www.211.ca (Canada).

The Library

Most libraries offer training workshops on various topics, including filing your taxes and writing resumes. Unlike the do-it-yourself approach, attending workshops gives you the chance to ask questions and get the specific answers you need.

Libraries usually provide job-related information, resume examples, and helpful links on their website. They also have books and other resources to help with your career development beyond the hiring process.

You should also ask or check out what other free training courses they offer or can refer you to. Learning new job skills will make your resume stronger!

Adult Education Centers & Literacy Centers

Continuing education centers and community centers run various workshops, including job readiness, soft skill development, resume and cover letter assistance, and job searching tips. Depending on the center, they may also provide free career coaching.

If your local adult education or literacy groups don't offer these services, they can tell where you can go to get free resume help.

The employment center I work at has a close partnership with all education, upgrading, and training service providers in our region and will often run workshops for their participants.

College Career Services

If you are a student, soon-to-be grad, recent grad, or alumni, see what career services your college or university provides.

A benefit of working with your school's career center is that they will be more familiar with the degree or diploma program you took and can provide more targeted assistance.

Staffing Agencies

Also known as temp agencies, staffing agencies are designed to match job seekers with employers who are hiring.

As a job seeker, you can meet with a recruiter (for free) who will ask about your skills and experience. They will do a resume critique and provide feedback on how to make your resume stronger, as well as what types of jobs you're best suited for.

If there is a match between your qualifications and an open vacancy, you may not even need to worry about fixing your resume. You could be hired directly for the role!

Related Read: 12 Jobs Working with Animals That Pay Good Money

EMSI Skills is a free skills-based resume builder and optimizer with over 30,000+ skills in its library. Their tools make it easy to add your in-demand and related skills to your resume.

The other resume builders I recommend are not free, but they are super affordable starting at only $3.

Resume Companion , My Perfect Resume , and Zety are very similar, and I like them all a lot. They will walk you through building your resume and cover letter and provide helpful tips and examples that you can click to add. The sites also let you quickly change your template with the click of a button.

A 14-day trial (which may be all you need) is only $3, or pay $96 per year.

My Perfect Resume also has a Chrome extension that works with the major job sites (including Indeed, ZipRecruiter , Monster , Snagajob , and more) that will auto-fill your applications. That alone is worth a few bucks a month, isn't it?

Resumonk is another good option. It has a simple interface that provides resume writing tips, and you can import your LinkedIn profile to make the process even faster. There is a limited free option, but otherwise, it costs $29 per year or $99 for lifetime access.

If you really just want your resume written for you, getting a professional resume writer might be worth the investment (especially if it means you get hired). Depending on what level you are at and what is included, expect to pay anywhere from $100 – $500.

You can get a free resume review through the Job Sauce that includes a phone consultation with a real person and resume expert (US only). They also offer professional resume writing starting at $250 but have mixed reviews.

According to the Balance Careers, the best resume writing services available online include Let's Eat, Grandma , Monster.com , and The Muse .

Resume Writers has been around since 1999 and is also considered one of the top resume writing services. They charge $170 – $300 for a resume and cover letter that will be delivered to you within 72 hours.

If you prefer to work with someone who knows more about your local economy, search online for "professional resume writers near me" and read through the reviews.

Unfortunately, anyone can call themselves a professional resume writer, even if they don't have the qualifications. So if you decide to go this way, asking for a personal recommendation is your best bet, if you know anyone who has hired a resume writer before.

In Conclusion

There are plenty of options available to you to get free help with your resume and job search. Don't be afraid to take advantage of them so that you can stop looking and start working at a job you enjoy!

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I tested 5 AI resume builders to help get a job — here's what happened

Here’s how to apply for a job using AI

I long for the day when I’ll wake up in the morning and get my AI ready to go to work for me . Until that time comes, the least AI could do for me today is to help me land a job I like.

Not everyone is a fan of resume and cover letters, but they remain staples in many recruitment processes.

For years, employers have also been using forms of AI to filter through these documents in order to narrow down the pool of applications they receive for any given vacancy. 

The latest advances in generative AI mean that right now employees can leverage AI tools at their disposal to empower themselves in the job-hunting process.

I wanted to see how powerful these tools are. To find out, I created a shortlist of AI resume and cover letter builders that I wanted to try. Tom’s Guide believes in fair fights, so I used each of them as though I was applying for the same job with the same profile.

A target was required and I found a LinkedIn ad for a real job as a remote Software Engineer with generative AI responsibilities at Meta (formerly Facebook) that looked promising.

The role asked for a candidate with over two years of coding experience and over two years of building large-scale applications. More experience was required in designing and completing medium to large features without guidance. Meta was looking for a candidate with, or in the process of obtaining, a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or equivalent practical experience. In exchange, the company was offering a salary between $116k and $168k per year.

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I created a fictitious aspiring Meta software engineer, Tamsin Smith, in order to have some kind of profile I could submit to the AI. Smith holds two Stanford University degrees in computing science, completed an internship with Twitter and has been working at Google as a software engineer since 2019. 

If that’s not enough for Mark Zuckerberg to give her an offer, she also leads a local scouting group in her free time.

With an actual job ad and an alter ego in hand, I was ready to start reviewing AI tools. Read on to find out which tools I used, what they produced and my thoughts on their performance.

My first attempt was with Rezi.ai since it offers a free basic service and I wanted to check if the way I designed the review could work in principle. And it did!

Right after confirming my email, I was creating Tamsin Smith’s first resume.

I was presented with a choice between a “Job-Tailored Resume” and a “General Purpose Resume”; I went with the first choice as it was exactly what this test was about. It asked me for the role and company I’m targeting but I was blindsided when Rezi asked me to insert a job application I’d written for the role. Isn’t this something the AI should be doing for me?

I finished this side quest and then added basic details like my name and email, followed by my previous work experience. Here’s when I first encountered signs of AI life in the form of a bullet point generator to further explain my role. 

Rezi went on to ask me to add details on projects I’d worked on, my education history, certifications, coursework, involvement in other organizations, and my skills.

The next exciting step was the summary section, where I gladly let the AI take control. It was nothing I couldn’t have come up with myself if I simply wanted to summarize my resume, but it at least merits a pass mark. (I wanted to ask the AI to write a cover letter for me based on the finished resume but that feature requires a subscription.)

Overall Rezi marked the resume it produced at 87 out of 100, which I think is a bit too generous. If you have a rough idea of what you want your resume to look like, by all means, use Rezi so you don’t have to worry about the formatting. It might also provide a helpful AI-generated bullet point or two along the way.

If you were worried that not using Rezi’s AI was the one thing stopping you from getting your dream job, rest assured that (at least with its free version) this is not the case.

My score: 3/5

Resumaker.ai

“Designed templates that will get you hired at the world's leading companies,” Resumaker proudly displayed on its homepage. I also had to pay ($0.99) to download my resume and cover letter. Surely, I was on the verge of getting Tamsin hired?

By now I’d gotten the hang of inserting details like my education and work history. In this regard, little separates the resume builders tested here.

The AI kicked in to provide me with text I could insert as accomplishments in my jobs and as the headline summary. The latter left much to be desired but at least it was presentable. Resumaker didn’t offer to beef up my volunteering section so I had to write that part manually. As a whole, the resume felt a bit dry but at least it was presentable.

However, it’s a good thing this service isn’t called Coverlettermaker. Every sentence it generated started with either an “I am” or “I have”. When you’re working with such a structure, there’s only so much you can do to make the rest more exciting. Furthermore, it left the [Company Name] field for me to fill in. AI that’s supposed to help me land a job in a highly competitive market should come with higher standards. 

Resumaker.ai claims that thousands of applications it created landed people jobs. If there’s any truth to that, then on the bright side we really shouldn’t be overthinking what we’re sending to hiring managers.

The main question I asked myself before deciding whether each AI builder deserved a pass mark was: Can I send out the résumé as is? 

Teal didn’t quite make the cut here.

It asked me to connect the specific job I was applying for from LinkedIn to the resume and it started analyzing the job ad for keywords I should include. Fantastic! I was ready for a made-to-measure summary, past accomplishments, and cover letter — the areas where I wanted the AI to work its magic.

Unfortunately, this is where I felt let down. In the headline summary, Teal ended up giving me a compilation of the achievements it had previously generated but also prominently added that I had expertise in “work authorization”. The AI thought the right to work in the U.S. requirement from Meta’s job description was a hard skill. 

It scored its own resume at 79%.

As far as its cover letter goes, I appreciated that I could generate it for free without having to spend time adding more details than I already had. However, the result was something I could have just as easily written myself.

My score: 2/5

Kickresume.com

The last AI resume maker I wanted to test was Kickresume, which had the highest monthly fee out of the lot at $19 per month. You can bring that down by paying an annual lump sum that brings the pricing down to $9 a month or, as I did, utilize the free trial version. 

Right when I was losing hope in the resume generators, Kickresume lifted my spirits.

Its helpful AI writer was alongside me from start to finish, offering handy suggestions for work accomplishments, explaining my certifications, and also suggesting skills I should list specifically for a software engineering position. I ended up with a clean-looking CV and I didn’t even have to break a sweat.

Kickresume gave the resume it generated a score of 88/100.

If I’m in a pinch and need a new resume that I don’t have to scan for AI-generated sentences that would land me in the "rejected" pile, Kickresume.com is the first website I’ll be visiting.

I wanted to add a nice cherry to the cake, so I asked Kickresume to create a cover letter using the great resume it made. But this is where I was underwhelmed. 

While devoid of grammatical errors, I felt as though the AI didn’t take the résumé and job description I gave into consideration. It provided me with a few short lines that didn’t even name-drop Tamsin’s fictitious stints at Twitter and Google. You wouldn’t even know she completed two degrees at Stanford. Based on my positive experience with the résumé, I couldn’t believe this was the same AI content generator.

My score: 4/5

No subscriptions. No plugins. I wanted to see how well the free version of OpenAI ’s ChatGPT would do against the four dedicated AI resume and cover letter generators listed above.

I tweaked a prompt that I found online and, in 161 words, I asked the AI for a first draft of my new resume. I then asked the chatbot to refine its work based on the job description I gave it to make my resume less generic. In seconds, I had my second draft.

Since ChatGPT only gave me a plain text version of my resume, I then pasted what it gave me into a template from one of the previous builders.

I’m happy to announce that both myself and Tamsin were very pleased with the results. The resume easily rivals the ones generated from the other services I tested. I wouldn’t have minded some text to beef up the education section to explain what I had learned at Stanford. Also, the line pointing out that Meta was previously called Facebook is something I would never have included in a resume intended for Meta’s eyes. Other than that, ChatGPT gave me decent results in the shortest amount of time.

I was especially impressed with the cover letter I asked ChatGPT to craft for me. It was perhaps a bit too long for some tastes but it was arguably the most well-rounded out of the five.

Honorary score: 4/5

The verdict

There have already been reports of people using AI to write resumes and cover letters who ended up getting hired for the positions they’ve applied for, and I’m not surprised. But as this test has shown, a website’s claim that it uses AI to provide a service is not some kind of guarantee of the level of service you can expect. 

Shop around when looking for AI resume and cover letter writers. Perhaps combine two or more of them to leverage each one’s specific strengths. But add the finishing touches yourself.

More from Tom's Guide

• Google's new Gemini AI could beat ChatGPT — here's why
• Google’s plan to train its AI now includes the entire public internet
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Christoph Schwaiger is a journalist who mainly covers technology, science, and current affairs. His stories have appeared in Tom's Guide, New Scientist, Live Science, and other established publications. Always up for joining a good discussion, Christoph enjoys speaking at events or to other journalists and has appeared on LBC and Times Radio among other outlets. He believes in giving back to the community and has served on different consultative councils. He was also a National President for Junior Chamber International (JCI), a global organization founded in the USA. You can follow him on Twitter @cschwaigermt.

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