The Free, Easy Way to Perfect Your Resume

We talk a lot about resumes here on the Glassdoor blog, and for good reason. Resumes are the very first impression recruiters and hiring managers get of you, and if you haven’t put your best foot forward, it may very well be the last. Given that, it’s no surprise that so many job seekers shell out hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars in order to find out how they can perfect their resume. But what about if you don’t have that kind of cash, or just aren’t ready to commit without a proof of concept?

Well if that’s the situation you find yourself in, we’ve got good news. On Glassdoor, you can get an expert’s opinion on what your resume needs to take it to the next level without paying a cent — and it couldn’t be easier to do. To prove it, I recently submitted my own resume — here’s how it worked.

How to Upload Your Resume

Log in to your Glassdoor account, and click here to upload a resume. Then, click “Select File” and choose your resume from your computer.

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Once you’ve chosen a file, all you have to do is click “Yes” under “Do you want to receive a free, professional resume evaluation from TopResume?” and then “Upload.”

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Shortly after, you’ll get an email from TopResume confirming that they’ve received your resume. They critique your resume based on four primary categories: Design & Formatting, Content & Structure, Keywords & Skills and ATS (Applicant Tracking System) Compatibility. The email said I would receive my review in the next few days, but just two days later, I got another email saying my review was ready and inviting me to check it out.

What They Said

I’ll admit, I went into this feeling pretty confident since a big part of my job involves interviewing resume experts and sharing their advice in blog posts. I wasn’t really sure how much value I would get from a resume review like this when I was already way past the beginner stage. But I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of feedback I received.

Here are a few comments the reviewer left:

You need a career summary section to define you as a professional and cover those areas most relevant to your career level and job target. A career summary should provide hiring managers with a brief, yet detailed synopsis of what you bring to the table.
I found your design to be visually uneven. The appearance is not polished, and it doesn’t say “high potential” as your experience suggests.
Consider saving your document in Microsoft Word format for online submissions. Your resume is saved in PDF format, which prevents edits to your resume, but some older applicant tracking systems (ATS) have problems reading them.

They even ran my resume through an ATS to see what “the computer” thought of me. It was able to tell that I was in a mid-level marketing position, but surprisingly, it wasn’t able to pick up my name (maybe because it was saved as a PDF?). Needless to say, that’s a major application snafu!

At the end of the review, they shared a few recommendations and next steps, which included enhancing my resume visually, adding more keywords and skills and getting a TopResume expert to rewrite my resume.

The Verdict: Is TopResume Worth It?

All things said and done, would I recommend TopResume to others? Absolutely. It’s always great to get a friend or family member to look over your resume, but no matter how resume-savvy they are, there are probably still things that they won’t be able to pick up on that a professional would. And let’s be honest, how many people do you know that have access to ATS software?

While I don’t plan on leaving my current position anytime soon, I can definitely see how this service would be invaluable to those who are trying to land a new job. Studies have shown that recruiters and hiring managers only spend an average of six seconds reading a resume — so it pays to make the most of it.