Question: Can you guess which online resume builder created this resume?
Which resume builder is capable of creating the best resume that can get the most interviews? Here’s an analysis of the Internet’s two major online resume builders — Resume Genius vs. LinkedIn Labs.
There are many resume builders online now, but not many great choices. The reasons to use a resume builder are numerous. They save time and effort, and produce high quality documents that can get you interviews faster — provided you’re using a good service!
So how can you tell which resume builders are providing decent services, and which ones are not? In this blog post, we will detail exactly what makes a strong resume builder, and what makes a weak one.
To demonstrate this, we will compare Resume Genius’ resume builder to LinkedIn Labs’.
LINKEDIN LABS VS. RESUME GENIUS
LinkedIn Labs
LinkedIn Labs has a decent resume maker, but it’s missing several key aspects that are very important, and includes resume sections that are considered unnecessary or even unprofessional.
First of all, their resume builder is a “builder” in only the loosest sense of the term. It does not actually help you build a resume. A real resume builder gives you automatically written job descriptions depending on the keyword you searched.
What LinkedIn does is take information that you already input onto the website and “builds” a resume out of that information.
Here’s how LinkedIn “builds” your resume.
(The picture below is a screenshot of a LinkedIn profile with the contact information edited out.)
Here’s the problem with that.
There are a lot of rules regarding writing resumes. The way that most people fill out their information on LinkedIn does NOT conform to “Best Resume Practice” standards according to accredited resume writing instutions. Here’s how a resume ends up looking when built by LinkedIn Labs:
The only reason the Experience section looks even remotely in accordance with Best Resume Practices was because I formatted the text to appear that way! Most people do not format their Linkedin profiles to read like a resume — because it’s not supposed to.
But then, when LinkedIn purports to “build” a resume for you, it simply takes what you’ve written (which is often woefully inadequate and improperly formatted) and places it into a resume. It leaves you with a Professional Experience section that is
Not formatted correctly
Has no bullet points
Is thin on content
Is not written according to Resume Best Practices
Printing out this resume and sending it to an employer would look very bad.
LinkedIn’s builder also includes sections that are considered unnecessary or unprofessional. For instance:
The skills section is a necessary part of any resume — but that is not really a skills section. It’s just a list of words that may or may not mean anything. A hiring manager would literally get nothing out of this list, because it explains nothing and has no context whatsoever.
Meanwhile, their resume builder also suggests that you add an “Interests” section, which is a Resume Writing 101 mistake. Unless your interests are relevant to the job you’re applying for, they are a waste of time for the hiring manager to glance through.
This is not to say that LinkedIn’s resume builder is all bad. The problem is that it’s not designing a resume that’s meant to be read by human beings — it’s designing a document that’s meant to be read by search engine algorithms. That way, when recruiters are looking for potential employees, your face may pop up if you’ve keyword optimized your LinkedIn resume.
However, if you are actively applying for jobs, LinkedIn’s resume builder will be a disservice and fail to land you “gettable” interviews.
Resume Genius’ Resume Builder
What makes Resume Genius’ resume builder strong is that it creates a professional document that is in accordance with Resume Best Practices, both in terms of content and aesthetics.
It is also extremely easy to use, and requires no information whatsoever to get started. Here’s a rundown of how Resume Genius’ builder functions.
1. Getting Started
Creating a resume is free, and requires no registration to begin.
2. Choose Resume Templates
Resume Genius provides 8 different resume templates to choose from. Each has their own aestetic and history, with a counter of how many of our users have used a particular template. This information can help you come to a logical conclusion for which resume template you should use.
3. Write in Your Contact Details
The Contact Details section is easy to fill in, and gives you a choice for if you want to save the information. We chose Jim Henson as our example — may he rest in peace.
4. Your Information is Secure — Guaranteed
Resume Genius uses state of the art technology to ensure that none of your information is leaked.
5. Fill in Your Professional Experience
Another simple form to fill in. The “Job Responsibilities” section is where Resume Genius shines, and beats out its competitors. That’s next!
6. Add Job Responsibilities via Keyword Search
Since Jim Henson was a writer, I chose “Writer” for my keyword search. The resume builder came up with MANY different kinds of writers, which you can see in the image below. Click on the role that is relevant to you.
7. Choose Your Role
Since Jim Henson was a director, I chose “Directors – Stage, Motion Pictures, Television, and Radio.”
Once you find the role that is relevant to you, click on it to expand a list of job description bullet points which you can automatically add to your resume with a single click.
Or, you can write your own job description if you want to. Resume Genius provides over 50,000 pre-written bullet points covering all industries, meaning that you probably won’t have to write your own.
8. After Choosing Relevant Bullet Points, Save and Continue
Once you’ve chosen the bullet points relevant to your job, hit save and continue.
9. Add More Work Experience, OR More Roles
It’s details like this that make Resume Genius the smartest resume builder. If you had more than one role in the same company, you can include subsections under the same work experience to show that information — and it looks phenomenal on a finished resume. LinkedIn Labs cannot do this. Also, you can simply add more work experience.
10. Build Your Education Section
This is another very easy form to fill out. You can also include your academic honors and achievements with the tool at the bottom of the page. Include as many college or universities that you attended. Do not include your high school if you attended some college.
11. Build Your Additional Skills Section
Write in additional skills that are RELEVANT to the job that you’re applying for. Software skills, communication skills, tools, and other specialized knowledge and abilities are all appropriate for this section. Don’t do it like Linkedin Lab’s keyword list – that looks bad and conveys no meaning.
Because Jim Henson was a puppeteer, we gave him skills and abilities that would match the job that he’s applying for. Take a look below.
12. Preview and Download Your Resume into a TXT, PDF, or DOC File Format
With these sections, you have created a 100% complete resume for the vast majority of industries. Preview the resume to ensure accuracy, and then download it!
13. Print Out, Email, and Share Your Finished Resume
Resume Genius’ resume builder produces a professional resume with fantastic content in no time at all. With the information we just input, look at the resume that we were able to create:
Final Words
To summarize, LinkedIn’s resume maker does NOT help you build a resume. It simply aggregates information that was already on your page and does its best to make a sensible resume out of that information.
Resume Genius’ resume builder takes you through every step of writing a resume, giving you bullet point suggestions and formatting it into a professional document.
We hope that you found this analysis enlightening and informative.
If you wish to start building a resume with Resume Genius, click the following link: http://app.resumegenius.com/resume/new