This is a guest review written by Caitlin Proctor, a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW). The information contained in this review represents the views and opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Teal.
Caitlin's key takeaways
- A resume review service can help you identify how to improve your resume.
- Reviews offered for free or at low cost will offer good advice, but they will also encourage you to make a purchase.
- Teal’s Resume Builder offers an analysis score and suggestions to optimize your resume based on best practices and gaps.
Talented professionals at every career level wonder if their resumes are the reason they aren’t having job search success.
You could be asking similar questions: Is my resume too short? Too long? Too boring? Should I add pictures, colors, infographics, or a headshot? Does everyone else’s resume look better than mine?
There are many options for getting your resume reviewed, which is both relieving and overwhelming. Top resume review services provide resume editing tips to focus your attention. You can read about how a well-structured resume effectively shows off your best qualifications, but a personalized review from a knowledgeable expert will tell you how. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll share my experience from years in the resume writing world to help you find the right review option, for your resume and you.
Looking for a resume writer? Use Teal to build a free resume yourself with AI guidance.
What are resume review services?
A review service offers feedback on your current resume’s format and content. The best ones offer personalized, actionable advice on achieving a polished resume for today’s competitive job market.
As artificial intelligence advances, some review services have started to incorporate AI. These give faster results, though sometimes less personal. Artificial intelligence may be more helpful in crafting your resume, enabling you to generate content with data gleaned from a data set. Additionally, many companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen resumes, so it's crucial to ensure your resume is keyword-optimized and ATS-ready to improve your chances of passing through the modern hiring world's screening process.
To understand how AI can help create, review, and optimize a resume, check out this post on the best AI resume builders.
How resume review services work
Online resume services prompt you to upload your resume, wait for feedback, and adjust your resume on your own. If you haven’t brushed off your resume in the past six months, it is time! Once your resume is up-to-date, pick the best resume review service for your budget, timeline, career goals, and personal preferences.
Pros of resume review
The biggest benefit to a resume review service is insight to improving your resume. Your resume will show how resumes should look and perform for today’s online job search. You’ll get advice that can guide a self-directed resume revamp. With helpful feedback, you can make an informed choice about improving your resume on your own or paying for help. Remember, it's crucial you're satisfied with the final resume. After all, it's a reflection of you. You can typically ask for revisions if needed.
Cons of resume reviews
Resume reviews require you to pay for each resume version you want reviewed. However, best practice is to tailor each resume to a specific job. So, you're still on your own for that tailoring process unless you use a resume builder that can provide keyword recommendations based on the job description, like Teal.
While general resume feedback is still valuable, proceed with caution before signing up for every free resume review. Resume writing services often use free reviews to gather your information and upsell you on a pricier package.
What makes the best resume review service?
The best software and service reviews are written by people who know the industry and have used the tools themselves. As a certified resume writer who has worked in the SaaS resume builder space, Caitlin Proctor met Teal's SaaS review criteria. Teal approached her to create this comprehensive review of the best options to receive a resume review. Free versions of each of the tools listed have been tested by Caitlin. Here's what she had to say about her experience testing resume review services and tools:
Because “best” is subjective, I considered these factors for my list below:
- Who is reviewing your resume? What are their qualifications?
- How long do you have to wait for results?
- How much does it cost?
- Do people find the feedback valuable?
- What action do the reviews recommend?
In my experience, people are looking for useful information as soon as possible for as little money as possible. This article discusses online services that offer resume reviews, but there are two actions you should take before exploring these options:
- Your resume needs to be up-to-date with your most recent job experience. Your resume review won’t be accurate otherwise.
- Consult your personal and professional network for introductions to recruiters, hiring managers, or professional resume writers. This is your best option for valuable feedback, as a personal referral is most likely to spend more time reviewing your resume. Individual professionals can be hard to find, as they don’t have the advertising and marketing budgets that the best resume writing services do. Ask your network for resume review recommendations.
For a step-by-step guide on updating your resume yourself, check out our post on how to update your resume.
Now that you better understand your options for improving your resume, here is my list of the best resume review options:
6 best resume review services
1. ZipJob
ZipJob offers a professional resume writing service which provides job seekers with a professionally written resume with tailored industry-specific content and expertise in hiring trends. To promote that service, they also offer a free resume review.
After uploading my resume to ZipJob, the resume writing service company sent me a link to my resume review within 24 hours. My report from “Certified Resume Expert” Judy Klein at ZipJob included these sections:
- Design, Structure, and Formatting
- Language and Writing
- Resume Scanning Software Test
- Recommendation
The recommendation, as expected, was to buy a resume writing package from ZipJob to improve my resume. The other sections detailed how I could tackle updating my resume on my own. There were specific examples relevant to my resume submission, although the advice did not pull from my resume’s bullet points.
ZipJob free resume feedback benefits
- Advice from a resume expert
- Report within 24 hours
- Actionable tips with examples
Best for
Early professionals
Price
Includes a free resume review. Paid resume writing packages start at $139.
ZipJob review from other user
2. Ladders
Ladders is a job search engine geared toward executive-level candidates. Ladders offers various resume services, including an automated review in a matter of minutes.
My Ladders review provided resume feedback for two categories:
- Content
- Style and Formatting
The report I received was fairly accurate, although it did flag “images and elements” as problematic when my submission did not include anything more complex than a bullet point.
It gave checkmarks to many elements of strong executive resumes, including length, professional headline, punctuation consistency, avoiding first person language, and using reverse-chronological resume order for my experience.
Ladders free resume feedback benefits
- Results within minutes, not hours
- Helpful information pre-written by resume professionals
- Highlighted the relevant section of my resume with the suggestion
Best for
Executive resumes
Price
Includes a free resume review. The basic resume writing membership start at $149.
Ladders review from other user
3. Resumeble
Resumeble is a resume writing company with writers across more than 80 industries to review and rewrite resumes. They offer a free 48-hour resume review to help promote their resume writing services. The company employs professional writers to review and rewrite resumes, ensuring each document is tailored to the client's needs and optimized for keyword placement.
My free resumeble resume review report hit my inbox within one business day. The report included an overall score as well as scores for brevity, impact, and depth. There were notes on “industries that suit you best,” my file size, and my contact information pulled directly from my resume.
The analysis included these sections:
- Visual presentation
- Organization and branding
The report suggested I simplify my writing, make my career summary more like a sales pitch, and avoid unused white spaces on my document. This is good, if generic, advice. Writing can always be simplified and summaries can always be more like a sales pitch. Joan, “Resume Analyst,” recommended I buy a professional resume rewrite
Resumeble free resume feedback benefits
- Fast results within 24 hours
- Scored my resume
- Gave actionable advice on editing a career summary
Best for
Writing advice
Price
Includes a free resume review. Paid resume writing packages start at $157.
Resumable review from other user
4. TopResume
TopResume offers a professional resume writing service, which can provide a professionally written resume with tailored industry-specific content and expertise in hiring trends. TopResume's resume analysis was similar to the other resume critiques above.
The review included these sections:
- What the tracking system thinks of your resume
- Visual presentation and organization
- Resume writing
- Digital readiness
- Recommendation and next steps
I got my TopResume review within 24 hours of uploading my resume. “TopResume Resume Expert” Deborah Campbell accurately described my resume as “not polished,” and suggested I cut down on my use of bullet points.
The review pulled examples from my resume to call out “doer” versus “achiever” language, which is common advice associated with reviews of the brand online. Interestingly, this was the only service that guessed I had zero years of experience from my resume detailing five years of experience. This is either a huge oversight or a glitch in the automated review process. Unsurprisingly, TopResume recommended buying a professionally written resume from its service.
TopResume free resume feedback benefits
- Using “achiever” language is good advice for resumes
- Response within 24 hours
Best for
Second opinions
Price
Includes a free resume review. Paid resume writing packages start at $149.
TopResume review from other user
5. ChatGPT for resume feedback
I used the prompt: “You are an expert resume reviewer. You are familiar with the job of a professional writer and know what a resume needs to include to land a new job in the writing industry. Based on the resume below, what are three actionable tips for me to improve my resume to help me land more interviews?”
I got a detailed response, but here are the three actionable tips:
- Quantify achievements with specific metrics
- Tailor your skills Section to the job description
- Enhance the presentation of your work experience
ChatGPT can also provide insights into various resume services, highlighting the benefits of hiring professional resume services to ensure your resume stands out to recruiters and passes resume screening software.
While true, my example resume did a good job quantifying the achievements. I did not provide a job description. As ChatGPT knows, my skills are tailored to a specific role already.
The third tip was both accurate and actionable; my resume was a plain text document with no more formatting than an essay. ChatGPT recommended adding an introductory statement, also known as a professional summary or resume summary, and adding key achievements. My resume submission did include these elements, so this advice was confusing. There were no tips on how to improve the layout of my resume.
ChatGPT benefits
- Quickest response time
- Conversational with the option to ask for more details or clarification
- Generally good advice
Best for
Instant feedback
Price
Includes a free plan. Paid subscriptions start at $20 per month.
6. Reddit for resume feedback
Reddit is an online forum with subsections for various topics. The “r/resumes” subreddit has more than a million members.
There is a regular flow of people posting their resumes and people offering feedback. Reddit users can also provide feedback on various resume services. If you post your resume here, you can crowdsource your review for free, and you may get responses from people who have solved similar resume challenges or work in your field.
However, you may also get no or low-quality responses and risk not knowing who is offering feedback, making it difficult to evaluate the usefulness. This option is less discrete than other options, as someone may be able to identify you from your information. If you go this route, I recommend posting a version of your resume that omits your identifying information.
Reddit resume feedback benefits
- Advice from real people
- Feedback within minutes or hours
- Addresses specific concerns with your resume
Best for
First resume drafts
Price
Free to join the community.
r/Resumes review from other user
In my opinion, these options are all imperfect. You will have to compromise on time, budget, or the quality of the feedback. You will be marketed to, possibly relentlessly, whether or not your resume warrants that action. The advice might be irrelevant or too broad for you. You still have to learn how to incorporate it effectively.
How to use a resume builder to review and update your resume
There is an alternative to getting feedback and working with a resume writing service: choose from one of the best resume apps. AI resume builders have become a useful option for optimizing not only one resume, but dozens of resume versions to tailor to each job. Here's a breakdown of how I used Teal:
Using Teal’s AI Resume Builder, I was able to get a free analysis of my resume and much more. This tool combines real-time review with an AI Match Score to provide valuable insights into improving your resume.
It works by parsing your resume and instantly identifying if you have all the information you need on a resume. Additionally, it ensures your resume is keyword-optimized and ATS-ready, which is crucial for passing through applicant tracking systems used by employers to screen resumes.
As a reviewer and builder in one resume app, I could adjust my resume’s format quickly. Just by uploading my text document, the information looked ten times better on the screen. I already knew my resume’s format needed to change; this was the only option on my list that actually took that action for me.
Before Teal:
After Teal:
After uploading my resume, Teal’s AI Resume Builder analyzed my resume and suggested how to make it more appealing to hiring managers with a resume score.
My initial score was 71%. As I incorporated the first suggestion to add in a location, my score updated to 75%—instant gratification! While some review services offer a score, you often cannot update your resume directly within the platform to see if your score improves.
After implementing the suggestions from the resume analysis, I used Teal’s matching mode to compare my resume to a job description. I could drop a link to a job posting and Teal immediately gave me a “Match Score” based on how closely my resume aligned with the job description.
I got a low score, which makes sense as I compared my writer’s resume to a marketing manager job description. Teal provided a breakdown of which hard and soft skills were missing from my resume, that aligned most with the job description.
How does Teal’s resume builder compare?
As a standalone analysis, Teal’s resume checker is similar to the reports I got from ChatGPT, Ladders, ZipJob, and Resumeble. However, the ability to review and improve a resume simultaneously is a feature no other service offers.
Apart from Teal, ChatGPT was the only review that called out the need to tailor my resume to a job posting. However, Teal’s resume builder addresses that with their resume Matching Mode feature.
Choose the right resume review service
Picking the right service to review your resume is tricky, but knowing what each one offers can help you decide. Some services give quick but broad feedback, while others take more time but start updating your resume for you. Understand what you are looking for in a resume review service before buying.
Some people want a quick confidence boost. Others are looking to update their outdated resume before starting a job search. Lastly, many job seekers need to tailor their resume to a few different jobs.
Teal’s free resume review tool stands out because it uses AI to give real-time tips and helps you improve your resume right away. Having reviewed and written many resumes, I find Teal's tool very helpful. Ultimately, the best resume review service depends on your needs and budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is paying for a resume review worth it?
It depends. A professional resume review can cost quite a bit of money or take time to complete. Most job seekers are looking for fast and free insights, which is when an automated review is most handy. However, if free or automated reviews aren’t helping you land interviews, paying for a service may be a good investment.
How much does it cost to get your resume reviewed?
The cost of reviewing your resume can vary depending on the service provider. Some services may offer free resume reviews as part of their sales funnel, while others may offer a review as a paid service. It’s important to research different options and choose what fits your budget and needs.
Can I pay someone to review my resume?
Yes, you can pay someone to review your resume. There are many professional resume writing services, college career centers, freelance resume writers, and online resume review services to choose from.
Can you get your resume reviewed for free?
Yes. There are many options to get a free resume review online. It may be worth exploring these options to get feedback on your resume without having to pay for it. Keep in mind that free reviews may not be as comprehensive or personalized as paid reviews.
How much do resume writing services cost?
The cost of resume writing services can vary depending on the size of the service, the writer’s qualifications, your industry and level of experience, and the complexity of your resume. Prices can range from as low as $5 to more than $1,000 for an executive resume. It’s important to research the best resume writing services, read third-party reviews, and compare prices to find a company that meets your expectations.
