Best Resume Builder Websites

How to use Resume Builders to build the best resume for the job you want

Why are you not getting job interviews?

I covered this before if you read my page on how to write a resume that will get you job interviews, but it bears repeating:

It’s not you—it’s your resume! Over 75% of resumes are never seen by a hiring manager.

If you do a search on the Internet, you will see all sorts of different templates, resume builders, resume tips from so-called experts, so that it can be really confusing what to look for.

Here we will try to make this simple. You can ignore most of what you have read so far. Focus on what’s important: Your resume has one job—to get you an interview.

It does not matter how pretty your resume is.

It does not matter how slick the design is.

It does not matter what colors you use—unless there are too many graphics.

What does matter is this: Is your resume getting in front of hiring managers?

Table of Contents

What are the benefits of using resume builders?

Resume builders are a great way to save time by making your resume look more professional and tailored to the job you are applying for. Resume builders also help you emphasize the skills and experience that can be tailored to the specific job you’re applying for.

Most people are clueless about how to do a layout for their resumes. If you take advantage of a resume builder, you won’t have to worry about any of that. There are a lot of other benefits to using resume builders.

Resume builders can help you to make sure that your resume is a match for the job you want. If you use a good resume builder, it will check your resume for spelling, grammar, and other errors so you can make sure to have the best chance that the job will be yours.

With the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), keywords are compared to job ads before the resume reaches human eyes. It saves time and effort for recruiters, employers, and HR professionals.

If you want to be successful in the job search, it’s important that your resume is tailored to contain these keywords for each job you apply for. Using a resume builder will help you do this easily.

What To Look For In A Resume Builder

Remember–what you need is a resume that will get in front of hiring managers and get you interviews. To do that, a good resume builder must have these features:

  • Generate resumes that are designed to get past the Applicant Tracking Systems(ATS)
  • Have professional-looking templates that are easy for the hiring manager to read
  • Use the right fonts and avoid graphics or columns that could cause your resume not to get through
  • Be able to tailor each resume to the job you want to apply for, using the keywords and formats designed to get your resume to rank higher than your competition
  • Bonus points if you can use it to optimize your LinkedIn profile as well
The Top Resume Builders

What are the top  resume builders?

This list will be shorter than most. This is because with most the resume builders you see focus on how attractive they can make your resume look and ignore what is most important: getting your resume in front of the hiring manager. If they don’t do this, then nothing else matters.

Here are the ones I recommend. Both Jobscan and Skillsyncer offer a free trial:

Jobscan Reviews

I found the following reviews on the Internet:

You need this when applying for jobs. It will save you time and boost your application chances. Really excellent service that is quick to use and optimizes your profile to better match a job profile.

Using Jobscan, I felt more confident that my application stood a better chance of being seen by human eyes. The UI is intuitive and easy to use. I cannot be definitive, but Jobscan I am sure helped me land my most recent job. -JW

I applied with this company back in Oct 2020 with my original resume and got pied, immediately. Well the same position opened up this year with the same company and I applied with my Jobscan resume (which I fancied myself a professional at making by then) and landed the interview(s) & job. I HONESTLY believe I wouldn’t have gotten a job without you all. The Job-Hunt has been a challenging time and when I learned about ATS I felt completely defeated, to my core. Jesus & JobScan have been the only thing keeping me from sinking. JG

My wife recommended Jobscan to me after it helped her in her job search. I was pleasantly surprised to see the great features that Jobscan offered around tailoring your resume to specific job description and ATS used by each company. It helped me get my current job. It is a must have for applying through the company site. – Anonymous

I reached more live recruiters with JobScan

Jobscan was a great help in helping me to land a position. having been working at one company for 11 years, I had not created, revised or submitted a resume during that lengthy period. With JobScan, I was able to recognize key search words and tune my resume to work with Applicant Tracking Systems instead of against them. All of this live in the tooling and JobScan’s real-time editor! Great tool, Great Job, Great resource. MT

Conclusion: Is Jobscan really worth it?

Jobscan’s free scans are an incredible gift that job seekers use. But, you need to remember that there is no one-stop solution or resource that will guarantee you a job. Although you can purchase a professionally written resume, it will not be applicable to every job that you apply for.

Jobscan can help you optimize your keywords and get you hired quicker. But remember, resume writing is not just about writing for computers. Jobscan will speed up the process of reviewing job postings and finding keywords for resume writing.

Try Jobscan For Free

 You can now try Jobscan for free. Try it out for the next few jobs you apply for. You have nothing to lose and this could be just what you need to get the job you wanted. 

You can use it free for two weeks, then after that, it is either $49.95 a month or $89.95 a quarter. If nothing else, try it free for 2 weeks for the next jobs you apply for: Jobscan

See How Jobscan Can Get You The Job You Want

Jobscan is not quite a resume-building site, although they have a free resume builder, their tool does a terrific job in getting your information in front of hiring managers. It will even help you with your LinkedIn profile. It’s a tool that gives you tips on how to get the job you want by optimizing your resume to get past the applicant tracking systems and highlight the skills that employers are looking for.

What is Jobscan?

Jobscan is a company located in Seattle, Washington. After struggling to find work online, the founder of Jobscan created Jobscan. He actually created Jobscan himself after realizing how keyword-oriented software for employers was.

The Jobscan software allows job seekers to analyze keywords online and determine how to optimize their resumes for job postings. It is extremely easy to use. Simply copy and paste the text from your resume in one field (or upload it), then copy and paste the text of the job posting into another field and click on the big blue Scan button.

JobScan features:

  • Unlimited scans with Keyword Comparisons and Match Rate Calculations
  • Unlimited History Scan
  • Access to Resume Manager (This allows you to save your resumes and view them with photos of Hard Skill or Soft Skill matches).
  • Access to the Jobscan Education Center
  • LinkedIn Optimization
  • Cover Letter Optimization
  • Find the Right Job Matches for You
  • Predicted Skills
  • Resume Power Edit (This software uses artificial intelligence to suggest keywords and formatting suggestions. It allows you to upload a resume and gives you a match rate in real-time.
  • Premium ATS and Recruiter Findings. This analysis analyzes your font type and size, contact information, alignment and layout, page margins, and other factors.
  • ATS-specific tips
  • ATS Revealed eBook
  • 20 ATS-Friendly Resume Templates
  • A Premium Cover Letter Template

 

What will Jobscan tell me?

  • Jobscan will scan your resume and job postings to give you a scan report with a match rate based on:
  • Your hard skills
  • Your Education
  • Your job title
  • Your skills
  • Other Keywords
  • The Scan Report will identify your word count, measurable outcomes, words to avoid, as well as evaluate section headings, file types if you upload your resume, date formatting, and job level match. These don’t impact your Match Rate, but they can be helpful.

To receive ATS-specific tips, you can also include the company name and website address in the job posting.

This will give you a huge advantage as Jobscan has already done extensive research to help you conquer the ATS that is used by the company.

Why is Jobscan so important?

Your ATS ranking will be greatly improved if you include the job title, hard skills, soft skills, and other keywords in your resume.

Keyword Comparison not only shows you which keywords are missing from your resume, but also shows you the frequency of those keywords in your resume and job posting. Jobscan states that frequency is most important in the top third, but ATS can identify the keywords in your resume and link that frequency to the dates in your employment history.

If that keyword is used in every job description within your Experience section, spanning more than 10 years, ATS will detect that you have more than 10 years experience in that skill.

Some Applicant Tracking Systems don’t recognize varying tenses of words, but modern ATS uses artificial intelligence to recognize key messages and keywords. This allows you to use varying word tenses and plurals as well as similar keywords.

Jobscan includes Predicted Skills in the Keyword Comparison section. These skills are not listed in job postings, but they are often related skills that Jobscan has compiled from its database of skills. These skills won’t improve your Match Rate, or rank by ATS for the job you are applying for. Given the way ATS works, I wouldn’t recommend adding Predicted Skills unless they are specifically listed in job postings for which you’re applying.

Jobscan’s Keyword Comparison

Jobscan lists all job-related skills (Hard Skills of highest importance), transferable skills, and other keywords (Other Keywords of low importance) that should be included naturally in your resume. It also shows the frequency of keywords in your resume and job posting. However, you must use your critical thinking skills to rely on the Keyword Comparison section. This is a surprisingly overlooked aspect of ATS. Keywords are chosen by the HR representative who created the job posting in their ATS. HR will select keywords that most closely match the qualifications and skills for that job title. Jobscan uses its algorithm to scan the job posting and their skills database to determine keywords.

Tailor to the Specific ATS

To tell Jobscan which ATS a company uses before you apply you can add the company name as well as the web address to the job posting. This feature is amazing because you can tailor your resume to that specific ATS.

 

SkillSyncer

SkillSyncer is the new kid on the block, but they are a perfect choice for an alternative to Jobscan. They are trying to compete with them, offering similar features at a lower price.

 You can use SkillSyncer for free once per week and free for a whole year if you are a veteran or a student in college.

 The price is only $14.95 a month if you are not a veteran and want to use it more than once a week. 

Summary

Both Jobscan and SkillSyncer are excellent. Jobscan has been around longer with a proven track record, but is more expensive. You can use free trials for both and compare.

 If you are a veteran or college student, take advantage of the one-year free membership for SkillSyncer.

  • Jobscan: Free for two weeks, then either $49.95 a month or $89.95 a quarter
  • SkillSyncer is free for veterans and students,  and free for everyone else if you only use it once per week. Otherwise, it is $14.95 a month.

Frequently asked questions

Most frequent questions and answers

Why am I not getting interviews?

65 – 70% of resumes are never seen by a human being because of Applicant tracking filters. Use a resume builder to make sure your resume is ATS-friendly so it gets past the filter and ranks higher than your competition.

How far back should a resume go?

The answer is 10 to 15 years, as that’s the time frame recruiters and employers perceive as most relevant. A resume summary should be a short and concise paragraph that outlines your professional accomplishments, not a dissertation. Recruiters and hiring managers want to quickly see why you’re the right person for the job. Focus on more relevant experience instead of non-essential information. Age discrimination is real and you should not be penalized for it.

What causes my resume to get discarded by the Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?

  • Not having the keywords on your resume that match the job description
  • Using the wrong font
  • Too many graphics
  • Using columns
  • Your picture on your resume

Why do I need a resume builder?

You can’t use a one-size-fits-all resume anymore. If you want hiring managers to see your resume, you need to tailor it to the job you are applying for and make sure it is formatted in a way that it will not get discarded by the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Some hiring managers only want to see the top ten percent. The higher your resumes scores versus your competition, the more likely it will be that you get an interview.

Which format do most employers prefer for resumés?

The chronological resume is most commonly used. This type of resume includes a summary of your career and a listing of all employers (from most recent through past) along with other related accomplishments.

What are the best resume builders for 2021?

What are the best resume builders for 2023?

  • Most resume builders focus on how pretty a resume they can make for you. We recommend the following because they focus on getting your resume past the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and scoring your resume higher than your competition:
  • Jobscan
  • SkillSyncer