There is one sentiment that resonates throughout every book and blog post you read on resumes- everything you do to your resume is meant to make you stand out. Some will say to shy away from using a resume template, although they can and are still used effectively by plenty of job seekers. In addition to these templates on your word processing programs, there are several free resume maker tools available on the web. Here are some of your options.
The best of the free resume maker tools is LinkedIn– mostly because virtually every other tool allows you to import your LinkedIn resume directly into their service. All 3 of the remaining free resume makers on this list support this feature, which makes trying multiple services at once much less time-consuming.
One great feature of LinkedIn is the “Export to PDF” option. This takes all of the detailed information on your LinkedIn profile regarding your education, work experience, and accomplishments, and then packages it in a professional PDF format. All you have to do is:
- Go to “View Profile”
- Click the arrow next to edit
- Click on “Export to PDF”
LinkedIn is also a superb networking tool, which you can read more about here.
Easel.ly
Infographics are awesome. In today’s age of expanding information and shrinking attention spans, infographics are the perfect way to convey a substantial amount of information in a visually appealing and easy-to-digest format. You can see them in action in virtually every niche in the Blogosphere, but how about as a resume maker tool?
This is where Easel.ly comes in. Easel.ly is a website which allows you to easily create an infographic on anything you can think of. You can get creative and use Easel.ly to create an infographic version of your resume, which will make your resume pop in the sea of dull white papers that occupy a hiring manager’s desk. Check out this introductory video to learn more about Easel.ly:
Vizualize.me
Vizualize.me ( the misspelling is part of their branding) is a free resume maker tool that allows you to create a visual version of your resume. This tool can be especially useful for those applying for creativity-based jobs like photography, graphic design and advertising. With that being said, Vizualize.me can spice up your resume regardless of your niche. Watch this one-minute introduction video to find out more, or check out their website.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8H2M39IRHU
Resume.com
If you aren’t feeling the visual resume and would rather stick with a traditional version, then Resume.com is the free resume maker tool for you. It has hundreds of industry-specific templates to choose from, as well as exceptional examples for each template. Take a tip from copywriters and build yourself a swipe file of resume templates and examples that work in your industry.
My suggestion is to give each of these free resume maker tools a try and see which one you like the best. Start with LinkedIn so you can easily import your important information to Easel.ly, Vizualize.me, and Resume.com. I’d love to see your creations for the first two on Twitter! (@BPucino)