Resume Genius Resume Builder Review (2020) — CareerMetis.com
They say the right way to work is to work smarter, not harder. The same is true with building resumes. While we all know, this is an important document that could make or break your future professional life. That is why it is important to get things right in what you put in your resume and how you present it.
However, some people try to spend hours and hours — even days — to build a perfect resume that they exhaust so much time with creating resumes and forget to set aside energy for the rest of the job interview process. The truth is, you don’t need to labor on your resume day and night to maximize its potential. You just have to have the right tools to do it.
This is what Resume Genius is trying to offer. It claims to create a professional resume in 15 minutes. It aims to do the heavy lifting of formatting and sectioning while focusing on getting the job you want.
This extensive (and unbiased) Resume Genius Resume Builder Review will discuss the experience of creating a resume using their website, support options, reviews, and other information about the website.
Let’s get started.
About Resume Genius Resume Builder
Resume Genius was founded in 2009. Their central premise is to automate and simplify the process of resume building. Since then, millions of people have built resumes using their software. As of this writing, Resume Genius has built over 14 million resumes, 250,000 cover letters, and 60 million readers worldwide.
The London-based company’s online software generates resume templates with thousands of pre-written work experience bullet points for you to choose from. They also aim to cover a wide array of industries and professions covering all industries.
Setting Up Your Resume Genius Account
You will need to sign up and create an account with Resume Genius to save the resume you built. You can sign up in two ways. First, after building your resume, click “Download”. You will see a prompt to sign up to save your resume. You can link your account and sign up via Facebook or Google, or just sign up with your email.
You can also sign up before you start creating your resume. From the main page, click “Log in” at the upper right-hand corner of the screen. This will lead you to the same prompt message when you clicked download after creating your resume, where you can log in via Facebook, Google, or email.
Building Your Resume on Resume Genius
Go to Resume Genius’ website and click “Build My Resume Now” at the center of its main page.
Then, select a template. Click the “Select Template” in the middle of your chosen resume template. It will prompt a preview and description of the template you have chosen.
If you’re already decided, click “Use this Template”.
After choosing a template, you will be asked a series of questions about your education and work experience.
Once you have answered the broad questions, you will be asked to fill out the specifics on the next pages. For your education, you will be asked about:
- The name of your university.
- The address of your university.
- Your field of study.
- Licenses and other certifications.
Next, you will be asked about your work experience. Resume Genius will ask you about:
- Your job title in your recent work experience.
- the name of your company.
- The address of your company.
- The work timeline you had there.
- Your work responsibilities.
- Additional skills.
For the work responsibilities, Resume Genius has a set of pre-written work responsibilities that can be searched per industry. To use these, just click on the “Add pre-written bullet points”. This will lead you to a prompt box where you will type your job industry.
Once you have typed in your job industry, Resume Genius will generate pre-written responsibilities. You can use as many as you like.
Next, Resume Genius will ask you about Career Objectives.
If you select yes, Resume Genius will ask you a series of questions before generating a personalized career objective for you. Among the things they will need include:
- Your professional skills.
- Your soft skills.
- How you would describe yourself.
- How others would describe you.
- The position you are applying for.
Once you are done filling out the needed details, Resume Genius will automatically generate your career objective.
Then, you will fill up the details for your references. They will ask about:
- Your reference’s name.
- Position title.
- Contact detail.
Lastly, you will need to fill up your contact information.
Once you are done, Resume Genius will provide a resume preview for you. From there, you can edit it again or download it if you have paid signed up for one of their packages.
Resume Genius Cover Letter Builder
Aside from quick and easy resumes, Resume Genius also offers a brief cover letter builder that goes with the language and format of the resume you built. The good thing about this is that their cover letter builder is free.
To access their cover letter builder, go to the main page and hover your pointer to “Resources”. A drop-down box will appear.
Choose any of the three options that pertain to cover letters. This will lead you to Resume Genius’ cover letter page.
Once you are on Resume Genius’ cover letter page, click “Build A Cover Letter” seen at the upper right-hand corner of the page.
The process of creating the cover letter is similar to their resume building process.
Fill out the necessary information like your name, address, and contact information.
Once you are done with all your information and edits, click “Continue”.
From there, you can download, edit, or change the template of your resume.
To download, click “Proceed to Download” on the left side of the page.
To edit, click “Edit” on the right side of the page.
To change your template, click the arrows on each side of the document.
Resume Genius Resume Builder Pricing
Despite its claim of being a “free resume builder”, Resume Genius won’t allow you to download the resume you built for free.
Below is a table detailing the price model of Resume Genius.
Package | Features | Price |
14-Day Trial Plan |
| $2.95 After 14 days, it auto-renews. $24.95 billed every 4 weeks, Cancel anytime, pay-as-you-go. |
Monthly Plan | $7.95 billed annually at $95.40 |
Resume Genius Support
Resume Genius has two feedback systems.
First, you can ask questions, make queries, or file complaints through their “Live Chat” feature. You can access this by clicking the “Need Help” Button at the right-hand corner of your screen.
To start, put in your full name, the email you used to log on to their system, and your phone number.
Once you have put in all your contact details, a list of FAQs will appear to help troubleshoot your concern. If you need to talk to them directly, click General Questions to talk to their team.
Second, Resume Genius can also be contacted via phone or email. On the main page, click the “Need Help?” section with their contact number.
It will direct you to their Help & Support page. You can find their phone number, email, and business address at the bottom of the page.
Resume Genius Privacy Policy
The company’s privacy policy can be accessed on the bottom part of their main page. Just scroll to the website’s footer and click “Privacy Policy”. It is at the rightmost column under “Support”.
Resume Genius’ Privacy Policy was last updated in January 2020. It is sorted into nine sections with a special section for Privacy Rights:
- What information do we collect?
- How do we use your information?
- Will your information be shared with anyone?
- Who will your information be shared with?
- Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
- How do we handle your social account logins?
- How long do we keep your information?
- How do we keep your information safe?
- Do we collect information from minors?
- What are your privacy rights?
- Controls for do-not-track features
- Do California residents have specific privacy rights?
- Do we make updates to this policy?
- How can you contact us about this policy?
Compared to other resume builders, Resume Genius’s privacy policy is easier to read and understand. Some of the notable statements from the privacy policy include:
- “We are committed to protecting your information and your right to privacy. We take your privacy very seriously. In this privacy policy, we seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have in relation to it.”
- “We collect information that you voluntarily provide to us when registering at the Services expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and services when participating in activities on the Services or otherwise contacting us. The information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use.”
- “We will only keep your information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.”
Resume Genius Resume Builder Reviews
Resume Genius has a 4.8 rating on Trustpilot.
Most reviews are positive, saying their resume builder is easy to use, helpful, and produces high quality resumes. They also said the pre-written bullet points were very well written and “has just the right words” that the job seeker needed.
Some reviews also gave positive feedback to Resume Genius’ customer service.
Meanwhile, some of the negative reviews mostly center on their claim of being free, yet, in the end, still asking for billing information so you can subscribe to their plan.
The Pros of Using Resume Genius
1. They Articulate for You
Resume Genius’ team took the time and effort to create pre-written points that reflect the strengths of various positions and industries. Among the best features of Resume Genius is their career objective generator.
You will just put in the necessary details, and they will generate the actual sentences you need to put in your resume. This feature is not only time saving, but it is also efficient in bringing out the best in your skills.
2. Website Graphics and Colors Are Engaging
Resume Genius’s color choices are cool and refreshing. They are easy on the eyes, which complements the process of building a resume. The graphics they put in also make the entire experience better and more engaging.
3. Diverse Template Choices and Bullet Points
Resume Genius has a library of resume templates in various color schemes, graphics, and forms. Professionals vet these templates. They give a wide array of choices, potentially saving job seekers hours of online research and time playing with margins in Microsoft Word. They also have a diverse collection of thousands of written work experience bullet points for you to choose from, covering all industries.
The Cons of Using Resume Genius
1. It Is Not Free
This is the biggest complaint of Resume Genius users. On their website, they say they are the “best free resume builder” online. Yes, the building process may be free, but you won’t be able to get the resume you downloaded without paying. Users have since commented that they were willing to pay for the service but found their “free” claim to be “deceitful” and “unprofessional”.
2. Not Flexible at All
While Resume Genius takes care of everything — from wording to template — what they lack is the flexibility to edit and move around sections in the template. Resume Genius does not allow for customization and personalizations in their resume. You will just have to follow what is set. This is hard for people who want to highlight specific portions of their resume or those who wish to follow the company’s colors they are applying for in their resumes.
Final Thoughts — Should You Use Resume Genius to Build Your Resume?
Does ResumeGenius’s Resume Builder live up to its claim of “Create your professional resume in 15 minutes”?
Our verdict is: Yes. But…
The process itself is seamless and quick. Everything is easy to navigate, and the user interface is easy on the eyes. The big bonuses are the pre-written bullet points and templates for each industry, making your resume easier to build, more effective to read.
However, it also claims to be free, but it is not.
It is free to build a resume, but you cannot download or print the resume you created. This is disappointing. While the reviews are good for those willing to pay, other people indicated that they found the claim deceptive and bad practice for a website.
For the free version, you get to experience the process of building the resume on their site and get insights on the placement and wordings on it. You can also get their pre-written bullet points and career objective for free — which is the website’s most significant edge — as you can download a text version of your resume.
- Resume Genius’ Interface — Modern, fun, and lively. They made an effort to make the website user friendly. The website is also informative and pleasing to look at because they use visual cues such as graphics to engage with their users.
- Best Feature — Their best feature is the wordings that they put on the resume. Not only are some of the bullet points industry-centric, but Resume.com also personalized an objective for you based on your answers to a series of questions. It ensures that the objective is professional and engaging to the employer.
- Other Extra Features — They also have a cover letter builder feature that builds and personalizes your cover letter the same way you made your resume. You don’t have to type in any sentences. You will just have to fill up the information needed and answer the questions asked. Resume Genius automatically generates sentences that fit your information and the language of the industry you are applying to.
- Resume Genius’ Biggest Downfall — Its pricing and payment scheme. On the main page of their website, they claim that Resume Genius is free for all, but they will charge you to download what you created at the end of the resume-building process.
- Top User Complaints — It was their subscription method and how they presented it. Users were particularly discouraged about how they said it was free and then went through the entire process to find out they have to pay for the download.
Overall, Resume Genius is great for people who want the content of their resume written and processed for them. Resume Genius is good at gathering your data and making necessary sentences and points relevant to your information clearly and professionally. They are good at highlighting what you can do. However, be wary of its pricing and offers.
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