It’s 2025, the job market sucks, and everyone and their mother (hi Mom!) is using a resume builder to build their resume, often with an AI-powered tool that perfectly tailors each resume for each individual job application.
But there are SO many resume builders to choose from; how do you know which one to select? And if there’s a cost, how can you tell if it’s worth it to invest your money? There are a lot of snake oil salesmen and false promises in the recruiting industry – job applicants are often in a vulnerable emotional state, without a steady income, and desperate for help. This makes them perfect targets for scammy “resume builder” vaporware that overpromises and underdelivers.
12 Things that Make a Good and Trustworthy Resume Builder:
1. Only one recommended resume format, with limited customization options.
This one might be counterintuitive, but it absolutely tops the list. A trustworthy resume builder shouldn’t have 20, 50, or 100+ templates and formatting options for you to choose from. Why? Simple: mathematically, statistically, there must be one resume format that works the best (i.e., has the highest interview rate). If you put 100 resumes in front of me, 99 of them will have a suboptimal interview rate, and there will be one that necessarily receives the highest interview request rate.
So if a resume builder presents you with 50 templates to choose from – Do you want two columns, or one? Pretty colors, or black and white? A headshot? A summary, or no? Little star icons, or other cute graphics? – they aren’t trying to help you. They’re marketing to you. (And I should know; I’ve won awards for my marketing.)
It’s a very simple marketing rule that providing users with more options makes them more likely to convert as a customer (think about sneakers, and if you’re more likely to convert if they have 2 colors or 16 colors to choose from). Even if some formatting options have been proven to statistically lower your interview rate (like headshots, summaries, icons, colors, and multi-column resumes), they’ll still allow you to shoot yourself in the foot and choose these options if it means you’re more likely to give them money in exchange for your resume.
You’re coming to these resume builder websites to understand what works, and what doesn’t. You’re not an expert in resumes, and that’s why you’re seeking out help. You need someone to simplify your life and streamline your options, based on their expertise, experience, and data. A good resume builder will have only one format to work within – or at least, a “most recommended” template that they believe strongly is the optimal format to maximize your interview rate… and they should be able to articulate why their format works.
2. An articulable philosophy.
A good resume builder should have pages and pages of theory and explanations backing up their resume formatting and content choices, and these reasons should make rational sense to you as you read through them. If their entire theory of why their resume builder works is, “trust me bro,” maybe keep searching for a better one.
3. Can try before you buy.
A trustworthy resume builder will let you finish your meal before giving you the check. If you can’t use their full tool and see the entire product without paying to “unlock” it first, that means they’re not confident in what they’ve built, and they want you to pay them before you have an opportunity to dive into the actual resume building process on their site.
Make sure you only pay at the end, and only if you like what you see.
4. Downloadable as a Google Doc and in Microsoft Word.
Scummy resume builders will only let you download your resume as a PDF, because they don’t want you editing it further off their site, so you have to continue to pay them weekly or monthly for continued access to your resume file. A resume builder that’s confident in its platform will allow you to download your resume in MS Word or as a Google Doc, knowing that you’ll come back to their website to make another resume because their builder is a better experience than editing your resume further offline.
5. Can be tailored infinitely for any job description.
A modern resume builder will understand that you need to tailor your resume for each role you apply for (at least a little bit). To do this, the builder should allow you to create and save infinite new versions simply by adding a job description or link, and your resume should automatically update with the necessary keywords and skills sprinkled in throughout.
6. Highly Rated and Public Reviews.
So many resume builders just… don’t have a reviews section on their website, or a Google Business listing for reviews. Huge red flag either way. Make sure there are public reviews that you can read and consider before making your decision.
7. Real people putting their reputation behind their software.
Hi, I’m Colin (the person who wrote this). You can find me on LinkedIn, Reddit, and YouTube. You can hear my voice, see my face, and know that I exist. For most resume builders, their team is a complete mystery, which is by design if they’ve built something designed to take your money and not actually help you. (I wouldn’t want people to have my name or LinkedIn either if I had built something terrible and never answered the customer care inbox.)
8. No summaries, or at least discouraged summaries.
In a recruiter’s mind, summaries exist for bad candidates to hide behind, and make it less likely you’ll get an interview. They’re not good for keyword harvesting, they bury your most impressive and relevant experience, and resume screeners ignore them and skip them immediately. Don’t have one, unless absolutely necessary.
9. No recurring fees or feature tiers.
Some people make just one resume, some people make hundreds… but you probably don’t need a monthly recurring subscription to a resume tool. Know what’s really good for everyone’s individual needs? A one-time lifetime fee that allows unlimited usage of all features. What a concept.
The average job search now lasts for 6 months, so while it does make sense to continue to maintain access for a few months while you create tailored resume versions to submit to each job. But in my experience, builders that try to charge you weekly or monthly are just banking on you forgetting to cancel after 1, 2, or 3 months. And they definitely won’t refund a recent charge if you forget to cancel before the renewal date.
10. Refunds given immediately, no questions asked.
Make sure their refund policy is same-day, no questions asked, no time limit from your purchase. For a virtual services product, this is the only acceptable refund policy – there’s no package to return, no shipping or handling cost, no warranty, nothing to process or inspect. If a resume builder’s refund policy doesn’t begin and end with, “Just email us and we’ll refund you immediately,” don’t bother.
11. Free assistance available, no strings attached.
Along with their paid products, there should be some type of 100% free resume builder available (that actually works), even if it’s not the full-featured or AI-powered version of their resume builder. They should also have free resume templates, articles, guides, resources, and other software tools that you can utilize (for example, a Cover Letter Generator, Interview Practice, Job Board, etc.).
12. An email inbox manned by a human.
Try emailing their contact email with a question, any question at all. If you don’t hear back from a human being within 24 hours, odds are you should stay away.
Choosing the Best Resume Builder
I hope these rules have been a helpful cheat sheet for selecting the right resume builder to put your trust in. There are so many options online, complete with fake reviews, AI copy, AI images, and lots of flashy marketing and false promises.
Job searches can be hard to navigate, and the reality is that you’re not online shopping for sneakers or one more thing for your apartment – you’re looking for a new career, and a resume builder worth using and paying for will respect that this is a really important time in your life. Personally, I think everyone in this industry should feel incredibly grateful that they get to help you on your journey, and that gratitude should reflect itself and be apparent in their website, tools, and user experience.
