Resume Genius

The website Resume Genius says you can “make a professional resume in 12 minutes.” We tested it out and indeed had a solid first draft of an easy resume completed in about 10 minutes… give or take a few minutes spent looking up dates. 

You can create a new resume or upload a document for editing. Resume Genius takes you step by step through the process, starting with a series of questions (“Do you have work experience?” and “What’s your highest level of education?”). Your answers lead you to boxes of additional information. 

Resume Genius is particularly helpful with filling in sections like “work responsibilities.” You can search for a position and see prewritten options that you can add or edit, or just fill in your own. When finished, you can easily toggle between different templates to see what looks best for the final product. You also have the option to directly share your resume with Indeed or Resume Library. Note that if you register on the site, Resume Genius does collect personally identifiable information and may share it with third parties for advertising and other purposes, according to its privacy policy.

The site can also help you build cover letters and curriculum vitae. After you input all your information, you can choose different layout styles and colors. It’s easy to move through, but you have to do it in order and fill in all the information before continuing. Resume Genius also offers blog-style articles with tips for creating resumes, as well as examples of resumes, CVs and cover letters for specific jobs. The site also generates recommended jobs near you.

You can download the resume you create for $2.95 (which starts a 14-day trial for Resume Genius Pro), or $7.95 (which kicks off a monthly subscription plan). However, if you fail to cancel your trial before the 14 days are up, you’ll be billed for $24.95 every four weeks, according to the site. The monthly plan bills annually at $95.40. 

On the downside, the account deletion process is buried in the Terms of Service. According to Resume Genius, full data erasure can take up 30 days, but they may retain “certain information in accordance with privacy laws.” 

On Trustpilot at the time of this writing, the site has 4.8 out of 5 stars based on more than 30,000 reviews.