An Online Resume Builder - 4 Questions To Ask

© David Alan Carter
All Rights Reserved

The bad news is that a lot of these resume builders are junk. Don’t get scammed in your rush to crank out a quickie resume. Here’s what to look for to ensure you’re dealing with a reputable company, and a product that will deliver real value.

Online Resume Builder - Are The Bells And Whistles Relevant?

There are a lot of bells and whistles out there, with each product trying to distinguish itself in the marketplace. The question is, what is relevant to you, the job seeker? Some are obvious. Help with phrasing is relevant. Spell check is relevant. A list of action verbs is relevant. The ability to work up a companion cover letter is relevant.

One online resume builder, EasyJob.net, displays thumbnails of all the resumes you've created, organized by the modification date. And it keeps track of which companies you've submitted to, and which resume version each received. Those little extras become more and more valuable the longer your job search.

In a similar vein, PongoResume.com has a tracker feature keeping tabs on all the "who, what, when and where" of resume submissions. In addition, they’ve included a good deal of pre-written text on the cover letter to help those facing writer’s block.

Online Resume Builder - Does It Offer Formatting Options?

MS Word remains the standard format for resumes. But a resume formatted in MS Word won’t always cut it. For example, if you plan to post your resume to an online job site, you’ll likely need that resume formatted in ASCII text. If an employer requests a resume as a PDF attachment to an email, clearly you’ll have to be able to accommodate. So give extra points to the online resume builder that offers or facilitates formatting in ASCII text, PDF, HTML, and RTF.

Online Resume Builder - Is It Easy To Use?

Of course, how do you know if an online resume builder is easy to use until you pay for it – and use it? Well, a couple of companies have come to the rescue by offering to let you use their product, in effect build your resume, before paying for it. With PongoResume.com for example, you can craft your resume online from start to finish, study it from every angle, and decide then whether it’s worth the $9.95 to continue.

With other companies, you’ll need to be a little more intuitive. For example, you can often tell a lot about a product by the website that promotes it. Especially if that product prides itself on its abilities in marketing (after all, a resume is marketing). So give higher marks to the online resume builder whose website navigates smoothly. Where key information is readily available and well organized. Where pricing is up front and clear. Odds are, a finely tuned and easy-to-use website usually leads to a finely tuned and easy-to-use software product.

Online Resume Builder - Are There People Behind It?

Look for access to real live human beings. Those companies who understand that people have questions, and provide answers to those questions not only with email but via a phone number and a staff who answers the phone, well... those are companies that get our vote.

Final Thoughts...

Keep in mind that an online resume builder – good as it may be – won’t write the resume for you. You've still got to do some work. But with the better resume builders, much of that "work" has been reduced to filling in blanks and composing a few sentences. The resume builders themselves do the heavy lifting of template design, layout and organization, formatting, help with phrasing, and error checking. Keep these 4 critical questions in mind as you surf, and you’ll be able to separate the good from the not-so-good online resume builders.

FYI, we asked former recruiter David Alan Carter to evaluate some of the leading online resume builders on the web. We took his top three picks, and list them below.

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Learn how to pick a good Online Resume Distribution Service.