4 Best Resume Builders For Landing Your Next Job
Having a strong resume is a key component for securing an interview and potentially landing your dream job.
Having an eye-catching resume is what will set you apart from other candidates, but no matter your level of work experience, creating a resume that will help get your foot in the door can be confusing and overwhelming.
In such a competitive job market, it’s wise to take advantage of online tools such as resume builders that can help you create a quality resume that will impress prospective employers. These resume builders guide you on the information you should include on your resume, including how much detail to go into and to how to format the document.
We’ve researched dozens of resume tools to find the very best resume builders that will enable you to optimally show off your past experience, skills and suitability for a job.
- Best Overall Resume Builder: My Perfect Resume
- Best Resume Builder for Beginners: LiveCareer
- Best Resume Template Options: Resume Now
- Most Customizable Resume Builder: Resume Help
Best Resume Builders in 2022
These are four of the best online resume builders you can use to spruce up that resume and land your dream job.
Best Overall Resume Builder: My Perfect Resume
Pros:
- Easy-to-use editor
- Built-in spell checker
- Suggested pre-written phrases
- Highlights important skills and keywords
- Excellent customer service
- Affordable pricing options
Cons:
- Not as high level of customization options as some other online resume builders
My Perfect Resume is our top pick of resume builders that enables job seekers to quickly and easily create professional cover letters and resumes. The interface is super simple to use, seamlessly allowing users to enter information into their chosen template. There are also dozens of designs to choose from so that you can use the one that works best for you.
Signing up for My Perfect Resume gives you access to the following features:
- Save, download and print an unlimited number of cover letters and resumes in all the major formats including MS Word and PDF.
- Access to edit and change your documents — anytime and anywhere.
- Dozens of templates, with suitability for a variety of jobs and industries.
- Paste a job description from any online listing and get a job-specific resume match score, as well as tips for tailoring your resume for the job.
- Utilize the Chrome extension to search an extensive selection of jobs and apply with a single click.
- Editing tools to check your documents for grammar and spelling errors.
While building your resume, you’re guided effortlessly through each step, starting with some key questions that will help you find the right template for your level of experience and work history. To show that you’re the perfect candidate for a job, My Perfect Resume will help you pick which skills and experience to highlight on your resume.
If you need a little extra help, there are pre-written resume examples available as well as over 1,000 tips and how-to articles in the Career Center. If you want an even more custom experience, a certified professional resume writer can create a personalized cover letter and resume for you in just 3 business days. The cost of this service depends on experience: Early Career ($99), Experience Pro ($199), and Leaders and Specialists ($299).
It’s a shame that My Perfect Resume doesn’t publish its prices on the website at first glance. You’re only given the payment terms for downloading your documents once you have gone through the entire process of creating your resume or cover letter. However, the pricing plans are affordable and grant you access to a wide variety of features:
- 14-Day Trial Subscription ($2.95): Unlimited downloads and printing for 14 days. It can be canceled anytime, but if not it will auto-renew at $9.95 every 4 weeks.
- Monthly Access ($5.95): This plan allows you to create, print, and download unlimited resumes and cover letters for three months.
- Annual Access ($71.40): This plan grants you the same access as the 3-month plan but you save 45% by paying upfront for the year.
Register for My Perfect Resume now
Best Resume Builder for Beginners: LiveCareer
Pros:
- Clear and clean interface
- Prewritten sentences and phrases
- Consultations available on request
- Professional resume writing services available
- Multiple forms of customer service
- Low-priced 14-day trial
Cons:
- Confusing pricing structure and higher price point than other providers
A simple dashboard and user-friendly editor makes LiveCareer the perfect resume builder for beginners. With a wide variety of 36 resume and cover letter templates available — ranging from the traditional to the more modern — you can create industry-specific resumes and cover letters with ease.
You must sign up for an account to create your resume and, in order to print or download your documents, you’ll need to sign up for one of the paid plans. However, LiveCareer’s editor helps you create a professional resume in record time while giving you tips, hints and optional pre-written phrases.
Plus, each template is highly customizable, so you can create a resume that suits your skill and experience levels. The always-active spell-checker helps you keep your resume mistake-free. Plus, every time you log in to your account you get an overall resume score as a percentage, along with tips on how it can be improved.
When it comes to the cover letter editor, it works best when you’ve already completed a resume. Based on the information you’ve added to your resume builder, the editor practically writes the cover letter for you, inserting your skills and experience where relevant.
LiveCareer also has a mobile app and while you can’t use it to create documents, it can be used to search through the company’s job board and easily apply to positions with your resume and cover letter. The app also allows you to track the application process from wherever you are.
Like most resume builders, LiveCareer only reveals its pricing structure once you’ve created your first document, and it is a little confusing. You can try out a 14-day trial for just $2.95, but you must call up to cancel within this period or risk getting charged the hefty rolling monthly fee of $23.95. We assume this high monthly cost is to encourage subscription to the yearly plan which at $71.40, works out at only $5.95 per month.
Register for LiveCareer now
Best Resume Template Options: Resume Now
Pros:
- Free plain text version of your resume
- Resume builder is easy to use
- Expert resume writing available
- Automated resume checker
- Different levels of support
- Low-priced short-term plans
Cons:
- High monthly subscription cost and live chat service not always available
Resume Now is our top choice when it comes to options, having dozens of resume and cover letter templates available in numerous color schemes, and a variety of traditional and modern designs. The service also offers an automated resume check for over 20 common errors, professional resume reviews and expert resume and cover letter writing packages.
If you’re going to write your own resume, the resume editor is easy to use. You simply follow the steps provided, such as answering some questions about your career and experience, choosing one of the many templates and its accent color, and uploading your current resume or starting a new one.
If you want an expert’s opinion on the quality of your resume, you can pay $19.95 to have a professional look over your resume and give you personalized advice on how it can be improved. If you’re looking for a professional resume service, Resume Now also offers this service, with a starting price of $99, for which you get one round of revisions and can add a custom cover letter for $60.
Each section is highly customizable, and more sections can be added where appropriate. An automatic resume checker runs in the background, checking for common errors and letting you know the best way to correct them.
You can download a free plain text version, however, it won’t look great. Therefore to download a professional version you need to purchase a subscription:
- 14-day limited ($2.45): Unlimited resume and cover letter creation, downloads, and printing, as well as access to the mobile app.
- 14-day full ($2.85): All the features of the limited plan, plus automated resume check, access to thousands of resume examples, and the ability to search the platform’s job board.
- Annual ($125.40): All the features of the 14-day full plan for 12 months.
If you choose one of the 14-day plans, it will auto-renew unless you cancel your subscription at a higher monthly cost of $23.85 every four weeks.
Register for Resume Now now
Most Customizable Resume Builder: Resume Help
- Over 20 customizable templates
- Upload and customize an existing resume
- Thousands of resume examples
- Easy-to-use software
- Lots of job advice available
- Customer service is available 7 days a week
Cons:
- Spell checks are not performed automatically and prices are not displayed initially on the website
Resume Help is a resume builder that offers over 20 professional templates that are highly customizable. If you’re looking to create a resume for a specific job, there are thousands of industry-specific examples available to browse in the resume and cover letter library.
Along with an extensive document library, Resume Help also offers access to many additional resources including writing tips and guidance on securing the job of your dreams.
Building a professional resume is quick and easy using the company’s recruiter-approved templates that include contemporary, traditional and eye-catching designs. They’re easy to customize in terms of layout, color and text font to create a stand-out resume that is uniquely you.
Furthermore, you can save time building an impressive resume with Resume Help’s “smart bullets” that can be added to your resume with just a few clicks. You’ll get helpful hints and tips along the way and you can make edits on the go, as Resume Help is compatible with mobile devices.
The pricing of Resume Help is similar to the other resume builders on this list with 14-day access available for $2.90 (auto-renews at $24.90, billed every 4 weeks), with an annual plan costing $94.80.
Register for Resume Help now
How We Picked Our Winners
When creating our list of the best resume builders we took into account several important factors, such as ease of use, affordability, variety of templates, customer satisfaction and more.
Customization Options
We made sure each resume builder offered plenty of customization options, with a variety of designs, themes and colors available. A polished and professional template is fine for a resume, but with a lot of customization options, you can create a standout resume that will catch the eye of an employer.
Tips Along the Way
The more help a resume builder offers, the better. Therefore, we made sure that the resume builders we chose offered helpful hints, automatic error checkers, and suggestions to improve a resume as it’s being created.
We also favored brands that offered extensive libraries of example resumes and cover letters tailored to different industries to help inspire and inform job seekers when creating their own documents.
Ease of Use
We tested out dozens of resume builders to ensure that the software was easy-to-use, with simple input methods, clear instructions, and tools that help the process, such as suggested phrases and sentences, and the ability to apply for jobs with your new resume with a single click.
Customer Satisfaction
We only chose resume builders that have a good reputation with their customers. Therefore we checked independent review sites to ensure that real users we satisfied with the resume builder, the documents created, the price of a subscription, and the efficiency of customer service should it be needed.
Benefits of Online Resume Builders
If you’ve tried to create your own resume from scratch, you’ve probably got frustrated with getting the layout right and don’t know how to get the perfect document that’s tailored to your unique experience and skills. Opting for a resume builder has a number of benefits:
Time Saver
So much time can be saved when using a resume builder, with its quick and simple to input your experience, work history, and any other relevant skills. You’ll also get dozens of template options, making it easy to create a layout and format that will stand out to a potential employer.
With all the time you save, you can improve your networking within your chosen industry and/or engage in any additional training that enhances your skill set.
Easy Customization
Resume builders offer numerous customization options when it comes to the likes of color, layout, font, and so much more. This allows you to create resumes that a specific to certain industries and jobs with ease, and designs that best show off your skills and experience. For example, if you applying for a job in the design industry, you could build a creative template with a stylish design.
Apply For Jobs Anytime and Anywhere
With the ability to download your resume and cover letter in all the major formats, you’ll be able to apply for jobs whenever and wherever you are. Plus, the best resume builders have their own job boards, which allow you to apply with your newly created resume with a single click.
FAQs
Need some more clarity on a few things? These are some of the most common questions regarding online resume builders.
What is an online resume builder?
An online resume builder is an interactive software that uses customizable templates and themes that make it easy to input your skills, experience, and other details. The result is a professional-looking resume that can be printed or downloaded in a number of different formats.
The best resume builders also offer error checkers, hints, and tips along the way, as well as a library of example resumes that can provide inspiration for your own document. Most resume builders also allow you to create quality cover letters that will complement your resume to make for the best possible job application.
Are any resume builders free?
There are several resume builders that offer a free service, however often they provide limited templates and customization options. However, the majority of paid resume services allow you to create a resume for free to see what you could create, only requiring payment for a subscription if you want to save, download, or print the document.
This means you won’t be paying for a resume that you’re not happy with, or can’t be customized to your requirements, you can switch to a more suitable resume builder. Furthermore, most of the major resume builders offer short-term 14-day subscriptions for a small one-off cost. Just be sure to remember to cancel before the term ends to avoid paying a high rolling monthly fee.
Resume builders are a time-saving way to create professional resumes and cover letters that may improve your chances of landing the job of your dreams. While there are so many different options to choose from, we hope this list helped you narrow your choices down.
While it’s generally true what you say about “free vs. freemium” builders (usually less features in free options), many freemium sites have a kind of deceptive onboarding: the person first invests a fair amount of time to discover later that they’ll need to pay. That’s very frustrating. I get it from a business perspective, but I always feel it’s unfair to play like that with people’s needs. I only wish they were a little more honest, upfront. However, I must say that there are also many great free tools out there, and it’s definitely possible to build a great resume for free.