Reviews of Top Resume Software

Resume Software has become very popular among the large number of job-seekers in today’s society. People are willing to spend money on software that will give them the competitive edge over their fellow job-seekers. There are many different companies that sell their own resume software. Here are our thoughts about the following resume software programs.

Pongo Resume

Pongo is one of the leading resume software programs you can buy. Users and reviewers alike have rated it 5 stars across the board, including the following categories: ease of use, navigation, turnaround time, navigation, value and technical support. Users love Pongo because of the way the software asks personal information and then creates the best resume layout in regards to the information provided. Another outstanding feature of Pongo is the database of cover letters available to users. Users are able to slightly tweak these cover letters in minutes and send them in with their resumes. Pongo offers a free trial period and a year’s subscription will cost you $59.95.

Resume Maker Professional

Resume Make Professional is another resume software program that gets great reviews by its users. One of the most valuable features that this program offers is the ability for more than one person (user) to use the same program. This means that the whole household can use it for the same price as one user. This software also gives users the ability to upload their finished resume to the internet and publish it as its own website. This comes in handy because you can direct potential employers to your “website”. Professionally formatted e-mails are also made possible by Resume Maker Professional, which are sure to impress any future employer. This software costs $29.95 and an additional $19.95 for the upgrade.

Resume Works Pro

Resume Works Pro is another decent resume building program. It lacks some of the specialized features that the programs mentioned above come with. Nonetheless, Resume Works Pro is equipped with over 1000 sample cover letters and resumes to help its users. It has a feature that allows users to burn their resume along with their portfolio to a CD/DVD. There is also a database of pre-formatted response letters that can be used when contacting a potential employer. Taking all of these features into consideration, the Resume Works Pro is a useful program that only costs $19.95.

Resume Power (Resumepower.com)

This resume software is different from all the others because it allows users to collaborate with resume experts. In other words, someone takes the information that has been entered into the software are creates a unique resume and/or cover letter for you. The software gives users access to all the features of the other software programs, plus more. They can form resumes for different uses (i.e. networking, etc.) and create a blog with your resume. Resume Power guarantees you will be satisfied with your package and will revise it if you are not. With all this, it is no surprise that Resume Power software comes with a very large price tag. Their packages are all customized but the most basic package starts out around $279. 

Resume Builders That Work

When hunting for the right resume builder, it can be difficult to determine which one is going to be right for you.  There are a lot of different things that you may want to take into consideration.  Not only your current needs, such as focus industry, but also potential future uses.  You also need to consider how effective it will be at creating a useful, productive resume that can land you those first interviews.  Fortunately, there are is a set of criteria that is used on a fairly consistent basis.  Here is a closer look at some of the basic elements that you need to pay attention to in order to find resume builders that work.

1. Features

Features is a fairly broad category, however there are certain things that you should look for in your resume builder to ensure that it has everything that you will need and can do whatever you want it to do.  For example, you probably want a word processor along with templates (both resume and cover letter) in order to ensure that your resume builder is easy to work with, especially if you plan on making a number of edits to the resume once the builder has created your first draft.  You may also want to use a resume builder with functions like: interview simulations, social networking integration, automatic phrase generator, video resume creator, and many more.

2. Ease of Use

It doesn't matter how great a piece of software can be if you don't know how to utilize it.  Plus, learning a new piece of software shouldn't be your primary focus.  Your primary focus should simply be creating a resume and getting into those interviews.  There are several different ways that you look at the ease of use.  One of the most common way is with the general navigation.  The more intuitive the resume builder is, the easier it will be to use.  If you are not someone who naturally learns or understands software, then you may also want to look into resume builders with pop-up tips and/or audio tips.

3. Support

In the perfect world, you would purchase a resume builder and automatically know how to get the most out of it.  Unfortunately, this isn't always the case.  While support will rarely be your primary decision factor, it can definitely be used to separate your short-list when everything else seems to be pretty even.  In terms of support, there are a variety of different things that you may want.  This includes; call center, email, online forums, live chat, tutorials, etc 

How to Spot Resume Builders That Work

In order to spot resume builders that work, it will normally end up being a combination of three factors: features, ease of use, and support.  Normally, these three factors will be weighed in that order.  If it doesn't have the features that you want, then you won't be satisfied with it.  If it isn't easy to use, then it doesn't matter what features there are.  Finally, if there is no support, then if a problem does arise, you will have no way to resolve it.

How to Write Your First Resume

Figuring out exactly what to say on a resume is often a difficult task for even the most experienced person.  When it’s your very first resume it all seems very daunting.  You can rest easy in knowing that from the entry level receptionist all the way up to the president of the company – everyone has at one point in their career had to construct their “first” resume.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of creating your first resume is the fact that you may not have a whole lot of experience to begin with.  After all, you’re creating this resume so that you can land a great job.  Yet, employers are expecting you to have substantial experience on your resume before they want to hire you.  So which comes first, the great job or the great resume?  In most cases, it all starts with a great resume.  You may use a resume software for assistance since it is quite difficult to do this the first time around.

Before you start on your resume, it’s important to sit down and do a quick assessment of yourself.  On a blank sheet of paper write down every accomplishment or credential you can think of that applies to the type of position you’re looking for.  Some of these things might include volunteer experience, educational degrees and awards, school club leadership, and extracurricular activities.  Now that you have a starting point to draw from as you construct your resume.

In addition to your name and personal contact info, every good resume includes five basic sections: objective, summary of qualifications, experience, education, and skills.

Objective

This section is intended to state the type of position you want.  This section can be changed to fit whatever position for which you’re applying.  Your objective statement can be broad, but it should never be vague.  An example of a good objective is: “To obtain a customer service position in a team environment.”  An example of a bad objective is: “To obtain a job at a great company.”  Your objective statement shouldn’t state the obvious.  Rather, it should state that you have some sort of focus around your job search.  The objective statement goes at the beginning of a resume.

Summary of Qualifications

This section is where you should summarize the key points of your qualifications that you want to highlight.  This is where you should mention things like how many years of experience you have in certain areas of expertise or your expert skills.  If someone was looking for a position as a receptionist, for example, they might write something like, “Two years of experience with multi-line phone systems.”  The summary of qualifications should be brief, bulleted, and comes directly after the objective.

Experience

Of all the sections in your resume, this is the most important.  Potential employers want to know what you’ve done in the past.  They want to see if you have previous experience that matches or would prepare you for the position for which you are applying.  No matter how irrelevant you may think your previous experience is it’s important to list something in this section.  You want to look like you’ve been productive up until this point.

This section should include your past employment history, including dates, location, company names, your position(s) held, and your responsibilities in each position.  If you don’t have a lot of previous work experience you can also list volunteer experience in this section.  Just because you weren’t paid doesn’t discount the experience.  When listing accomplishments or responsibilities of your previous positions, always use past tense.  For example, “Recruited and managed a team of three volunteers.”  The experience section should make up the bulk of your resume and should be directly after the summary of qualifications.

Education

This section should highlight any formal education you have.  Formal education generally includes college, university, vocational training, and accredited certificate programs.  If you are still in college or haven’t attended college, you can also include high school information.  Each school or degree should be listed separately along with the type of degree or diploma, date of completion (graduation), and major or minor if appropriate.  Sometimes it’s also beneficial to list your grade point average.  If your gpa is particularly low, you may want to omit that information.

If you are lacking experience, the education portion of your resume becomes more important.  Those with less work experience may want to also highlight certain courses completed.  The education section of a resume doesn’t have a set location.  Generally, it comes after the experience section, but it can also be at the top of a resume, just after the objective statement.  New graduates in particular may want to highlight their education by listing it higher up in their resume.

Skills

This section should highlight any special skills that would interest employers.  This isn’t the place to mention that you’re a black belt in Tae kwon do (unless of course, that pertains to the job).  You should, however, list things like what types of computer platforms and programs you know, typing speed, programming languages, and spoken languages.  These are just a few examples of the types of things to be included in this section.  The skills section should be toward the bottom of your resume.

The great thing about structuring your first resume is that once you’ve done it, you can always tweak it as needed along the path of your career and never have to start from scratch again.