What exactly is a resume builder? Quite simply, it's an interactive tool (software) to help you craft your own resume.

If you can compose a straightforward sentence and follow step-by-step directions, you can write a professional-looking resume yourself--with help from a good resume builder. But which ones are good? Glad you asked...

Company...	Go To...	Rating...	Pricing...	In-Depth...
	Website		$49.95 now $39.95	A money-back guarantee, lifetime updates, spot-on advice, and 3 free valuable gifts. Just beware of one thing... (read REVIEW )
	Website		$49.99 now $29.99	25,000 templates to pick from, multiple formats, and submission tracking. And cover letters are included... (read REVIEW)
	Website		$9.95  monthly sub.	Monthly/annual subscription plans. Includes: cover letters, activity tracking program, and live help. Free to try... (read REVIEW)
	Website		$ 19.99  now $14.99	A good, step-by-step resume builder with fully customizable templates and a vast list of pre written phrases... (read REVIEW)
	Website		$14.95	Clean, simple service that delivers relatively professional results -though it lacks key features and suffers from... (read REVIEW)

... because we've been all over the Web comparing services and putting companies through their paces. Before we go any further, keep in mind that a resume builder 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.  

Here's what we looked for in a resume builder:

Resume Builder - We Looked for Access to Real Live Human Beings.

You know, just in case one needed a bit of technical support. Or needed to insure that the company makes good on a guarantee. Speaking of which, we found two companies offering rock-solid guarantees:  Amazing Resume Creator for those looking for an instant download, and  Winway Resume Deluxe 12 Mini for those who don't mind waiting a few days for a shipment from Amazon.

Read our Review of Amazing Resume Creator and our Review of WinWay Resume.

Resume Builder - We Looked for Relevant Bells and Whistles.

The key word is relevant. 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. A good choice in the 'relevant bells and whistles' category is EasyJob.net . This company's program 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. Read our in-depth Review of EasyJob.net.

Resume Builder - We Looked for Options in Resume Formatting.

MS Word is still the standard format for resumes. But formatting in MS Word doesn't solve all problems. For example, posting your resume to many if not most online job boards will require formatting in ASCII text. So we gave extra points to a resume builder that also offered or facilitated formatting in ASCII text, PDF, HTML, and RTF.

Resume Builder - We Looked for Ease of Use.

You can often tell a lot about a product by the website that promotes it. Especially if that product prides itself on its ability to organize words and facilitate the writing of those words. Thus, we put a good deal of stock in a resume builder whose website navigated smoothly. Where key information was readily available and well organized. Where pricing was up front and clear. And sure enough, as we discovered, a finely tuned and easy-to-use website usually led to a finely tuned and easy-to-use software product.

Resume Builders - We Looked for Value.

As we mentioned above, free is usually worth exactly that. At the other end of the spectrum, fifty bucks is about as high as we would want to go. Much more than that, and a full-service Professional Resume Writer begins to look like the better deal. 

You Can Do This.

If you have some writing skills, you have it within yourself to craft a resume that is competitive in the marketplace. A good resume builder can prompt you with the necessary questions, help you phrase your answers, and organize those job responsibilities and career accomplishments in a manner that opens doors.

And you can start within minutes.

- David Alan Carter

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