Landing a new job starts with a slam-dunk CV, but Word or Google Docs will only take you so far. In an era of AI-assisted Application Tracking Systems (ATS) where applicants are rejected before a human ever lays eyes on their work experience, the best résumé builders could help you stand out from the crowd.
Yes, they’ll give your résumé a pretty face with unique templates and attention-grabbing fonts, but résumé builders shouldn’t just give you a PDF and send you on your way. A good online résumé builder will give tips and insights into how you can bolster your CV, as well as tools for managing your documents when applying to multiple jobs. I’m (thankfully) not in the job market right now, but it wasn’t long ago that I was searching. I dusted off the résumé I used to land a job here at WIRED as a starting point to see how various online résumé builders thought I could improve.
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Is It Worth Paying for a Résumé Builder?
You don’t need to pay for a résumé builder. There are loads of free templates online, and for a lot of roles, even a cleanly formatted Google Doc or Word file will get the job done. However, résumé builders are a helpful tool if you want your résumé to really stand out, particularly for highly competitive and senior roles where highlighting your skills and work experience are paramount.
The real reason to pay for a résumé builder, however, is to access additional tools that can help you land a job. From writing suggestions to cover letter templates, the best online résumé services don’t just give you a template and send you on your way. They provide tools to help with searching for a job.
Should You Use ChatGPT (or any AI) to Write a Résumé?
AI tools like ChatGPT have a lot of practical applications when it comes to making a résumé, and all of the best résumé builders have AI tools built in (some of them powered by models similar to ChatGPT). Although generative AI is helpful in creating a résumé, you shouldn’t use ChatGPT or other AI tools to create a résumé from scratch. There are two reasons for that.
First, many employers use Application Tracking Systems (ATS) that can pick up on AI-written résumés. Although it’s not a guarantee, leaning too heavily on AI might cause your résumé to end up in a rejected pile before anyone has ever seen it. Additionally, AI still struggles with hallucinations. It may dream up skills or qualifications you don’t actually have, or worse, sell your work experience short.
The best use of ChatGPT and other AI tools in creating a résumé is refinement. Generative AI can help change your tone so it’s more consistent across your résumé, as well as punch up your accomplishments so they stand out. Use AI to make your résumé shine, not as a workaround for spending time to build a proper résumé.
For my testing, I used a real résumé that I’ve carried and updated through three roles over the past seven years. Rather than starting from scratch, I mainly evaluated what a résumé builder could bring to the table to enhance the CV of a professional who’s already deep in their career. Putting together your work history, although nerve-wracking, isn’t exactly difficult, so if you’re going to pay for a résumé builder, it better bring something to the table.
Beyond offering extra value, there were a few key areas I focused on:
Design and formatting: You’re here to build a résumé, not to learn graphic design. A good résumé builder should not only make design simple with a broad list of templates, but also give you easy tools to format your résumé. Splitting the résumé across different pages, cutting words short, and adding strange spacing between words doesn’t cut it.
Recommendations and rewriting: It doesn’t matter if a résumé builder is using AI or not, it should provide suggestions to punch up your CV. There are enough free résumé templates online, and although they may not look as nice, they get the job done. A résumé builder should give you suggestions to stand out from the crowd, not just a few templates to play with.
Additional tools: Your résumé is only one part of finding a new job. You need a cover letter, interview prep, and plenty of organization to track the status of the roles you’re interested in. A good résumé builder doesn’t stop at your CV; it gives you tools to use it right.
Best Résumé Builder for Most People
Resume.io via Jacob Roach
Resume.io can help you build a great résumé; there’s no doubt about that. More importantly, it provides tools to help throughout your job search. It trades blows with FlowCV (my next pick) point-for-point, and I had a hard time deciding which would rank first. Resume.io wins out with its robust list of features that go far beyond just building a CV.
It starts with your résumé. You can upload a résumé or start from scratch, and regardless of the route you take, you’ll see all the details of your résumé spelled out in sections. You can add or remove sections or swap them around. All of this happens off the résumé itself, so you don’t need to worry about grouping text fields together or lining everything up perfectly. Once you’re done, you can easily swap between the small list of templates Resume.io offers. There aren’t a ton of templates, but they aren’t redundant. Each feels unique and useful, and none of them are filled with loud designs you’ll probably never use.
Resume.io comes into its own after your résumé is done. Its main claim to fame is an auto-tailor feature. You enter a job listing, and it will automatically update your CV for that specific role. More than anything, the auto-tailor feature weaves in keywords from the job you’re looking at, highlighting how your experience may tie into certain job responsibilities. You could easily do it on your own, but the fact that Resume.io can do it with a click—and balance the keywords against the rest of your résumé—is valuable enough.
Once you have your résumé, you can back out to the Resume.io dashboard and take advantage of cover letter templates, a Kanban board where you’ll see recommended jobs, a salary analyzer, and even practice interview questions. Resume.io is a résumé builder, but even after you’re done putting together your CV, there are tools to help you along with your job search.
You can design a résumé and cover letter for free, but you’ll only be able to download them as a text file. You’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan for a PDF, which also unlocks additional features like the job board and recruiter matching, where Resume.io will shoot out your CV to recruiters based on the type of job you’re looking for. You can pay quarterly or monthly, with the former offering a much better rate, but Resume.io also offers a week of access for just $3.
Best Free Résumé Builder
I knew almost immediately after I started using FlowCV that it’d earn a spot on this list. It’s everything you want out of a résumé builder. It has excellent templates, plenty of customization, tools for tracking and modifying existing CVs, and a web application that doesn’t chug or sputter out when you’re working on a design. And, unlike a lot of résumé builders, FlowCV lets you design, download, and print a résumé and cover letter for free.
You can start from scratch or upload an existing résumé (either PDF or raw text), and from there, FlowCV will walk you through each section of your CV. These sections are customizable, and they don’t lock you into a particular template. Some résumé may want a section for languages, while others want you to list awards. You can add or remove sections as needed, and you won’t break the formatting on the template (it happens more often than you think).
Managing everything from sections makes customizing your résumé much easier. Instead of sliding around disparate text boxes and trying to line everything up perfectly, FlowCV will automatically update the layout as you change sections. For instance, I was using a two-column template for my résumé, but there was way too much information in the right column, causing my résumé to sprawl out across two pages. I was able to drag some sections over to the left column to balance the layout, and FlowCV automatically ensured everything was lined up and spaced properly.
It’s this high-level customization that makes FlowCV so great. You can easily make broad changes without getting into specific text boxes or design elements. For example, there’s an option to automatically flip your job title and employer based on what you want to list first.
FlowCV is my favorite résumé builder, but customizing a CV is only scratching the surface of what it can do. There are also templates for cover letters, email signatures, and online résumé websites. My favorite addition is a Kanban board. It’s like Trello, but built directly into FlowCV, and it allows you to track jobs and their status as you move through the process.
You get one résumé and one cover letter for free, no strings attached. However, I recommend the Basic plan for most people, which includes three résumé, 20 cover letters, along with the online résumé feature and Kanban board. FlowCV doesn’t focus on AI writing as much as other résumé builders, but if that’s something you’re after, you can unlock AI features with the Pro+ plan, which also includes unlimited résumé and cover letters.
