What the resume builder does
This free resume builder draws a US Letter page next to the form and fills it in as you type. Pick a look. Fix the weak lines one at a time. Then download a real PDF, or a Word file, and you will find no watermark on either.
The download asks for a free account, and so does saving to your account. Nothing else does. There is no trial that runs out on you and no payment screen waiting at the end.
Four ways to start. Upload a PDF or Word resume. Start blank. Or load the student example or the professional one and type over it.
An upload goes nowhere. Your own device reads it, up to 8 MB and the first 12 pages, with an open-source PDF library from Mozilla that runs right inside the page.
Is the PDF real text? Yes. Drag your mouse across a line in it. The words highlight, and text that highlights is text parsing software can pull out. The Word file is an ordinary .docx, and Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs all open it without complaint.
Free resume builder limits, in plain numbers
A resume maker ought to tell you its limits before you type in your whole work history. Here are ours, read off the code.
- Free, no account: the editor, the live preview, the line fixer, the First look check and the three quick looks, Classic, Modern and Compact.
- Free with a free account: the downloads, as PDF, Word or plain text, and none of them carries a watermark.
- 3 saved resumes on a free account. Pro keeps 50, versions included, with up to 10 saved versions of each, one per job you apply to.
- Pro also opens every design mix (4 layouts, 7 accent colors, 5 font families) and Tailor to a job, which marks each requirement in a posting as backed up, no proof yet, or missing. Prices are on the pricing page.
- 16 sections, 20 entries in each, 20 bullets under each entry, 400 characters on a line. A saved resume holds up to 200 KB of text.
- US Letter or A4. The paper switch sits on the Design screen, and it is free.
Ads on the page pay for the site. That is what keeps the free plan free.
One weak line, fixed
I ran the two lines below through the builder's own rules on November 6, 2026. What follows is what you would see on your screen.
First line: Responsible for handling customer orders. The builder flagged it three times over. It opens with a duty. "Responsible for" is on its skip list. And there is no number and no result anywhere in it.
Then it asked me one question. What exactly did you do, and how many or how much?
I typed 120 orders a day. Back came Handled customer orders: 120 orders a day. The weak opener is gone, "handling" turned into "handled", and my answer is now the point of the line. Press Use this line and the preview marks it green until you move on.
A line that already opens with a verb gets a lighter touch. Managed social media accounts only lacks a result, so the builder asked a different question: "What changed because of this? How many people, items, hours or dollars?"
I answered for 3 brands, grew followers 40% in a year, and got Managed social media accounts for 3 brands, grew followers 40% in a year. The checker let that one through.
How long is the skip list? 34 generic phrases, "team player" and "proven track record" among them, plus 13 weak openers such as "helped with" and "in charge of".
Unlike a resume generator that writes for you, it never invents a job, a number, a tool or a skill. It even checks that no new number crept into the line it hands back.
More before-and-after pairs are in our guide on how to write resume bullet points.
The six things First look checks
First look is the screen to open last. It checks what a recruiter reads in the first few seconds, and each item comes back found, hard to find, or missing, with a one-line fix and a pin on the exact spot in the preview.
- Your name, with a job title under it.
- Your current job, with dates.
- A result with a number in that job.
- The skills recruiters search for, three or more.
- Your education, degree and school both.
- A certificate or license, when the job wants one.
Listed two or more jobs, and Experience has slipped past the third section? Then a seventh note tells you to move it up. The Next steps card on the home screen counts what is still open.
The sections
Summary, Experience, Education, Skills and Projects come built in. Contact wants the job title you are after, right under your name. It does not want your street address.
A Summary is two or three sentences with your best result in it. Nothing specific to say yet? Leave it out. Our resume summary examples show the shape.
Press Add a section for the rest: Certifications, Licenses, Languages, Awards, Publications, Volunteering, Military service, Clinical rotations, Interests. Or name your own and make it a list, dated entries or a paragraph.
Four layouts and how each one exports
Every layout is one column with the same headings. The three quick looks are free; any other mix is Pro. Here is how I would choose.
- Applying to a law firm, a bank or a government office? Classic. It is the Ivy layout in black: name centered, job titles in italics, Times New Roman in the Word file and Times in the PDF.
- Tech or marketing? Modern. That is the Harbor layout in blue, header on the left and a blue rule under each heading. Arial in Word, Helvetica in the PDF.
- Spilling onto page two? Compact. Slate and Arial, smaller type, tighter margins. The preview draws a red dashed line where page two would begin, and that line is your cue to switch.
- Timeline, Pro only, runs the dates down the left edge of each job as a narrow text column.
Inter, Noto Serif and Plus Jakarta Sans come embedded in the PDF from files bundled with the page, so no font service gets called while you work.
From page two on, both files carry only your name and a page number in a small running header. Your contact details stay in the body, where parsers read them.
Dates sit on the title line as plain characters, employer under it. There is no table option, and that is on purpose. That is the whole ATS resume template recipe.
Done? Press Check with ATS. It copies your resume into the ATS resume checker to score against a real posting. Our list of ATS resume format mistakes covers the slip-ups that still get through.
A4 for the UK, and Google Docs
In the UK, Ireland and Australia people say CV, and the layout rules are the same, so this works as a CV maker too.
Those countries print on A4, so open the Design screen and press A4 under Paper. The preview switches, and so do the PDF and the Word file.
A Google Docs resume takes three steps: download the Word file, put it in Google Drive, double-click it there. The builder itself never touches your Google account. Need a cover letter for the same posting? The cover letter generator writes one from it.
Where your resume lives
The builder saves your work in this browser as you type. Close the tab tonight and it is still there tomorrow. On a shared computer, press Clear when you finish.
Clearing browser data erases it too. So keep a downloaded file, or the .json backup, which reopens the builder on any computer and needs no account.
Your resume text leaves the page in three cases, and you start every one of them.
- You press Save to my account. The resume goes to your account and is stored encrypted. Delete it any time from Account, then Resumes.
- You finish a PDF or Word download while signed in. A one-line count of the download goes to your account activity. The file itself stays on your computer.
- You tick "Include my current resume text" on the Hire an expert form. That one works without an account, and the text goes with your message to us.
The import reader, the PDF maker and the Word maker all run in the browser. The details are in the privacy policy.
Who made it
GetJobTools built and runs this resume builder, the ATS resume checker and the other tools on this site; the about page has the story. If a file comes out odd, tell us on the contact page which look and which format you used.
FAQ
Do I need an account?
Only for the downloads and for saving to your account, and a free one does both. Build and preview as a guest, press Download, sign up or log in, and the file starts on its own. No watermark.
Is the PDF readable by an ATS?
Yes. It is real text in one column under standard headings, so tracking software pulls the words straight out. For a score against one job, run it through the ATS resume checker.
Can I upload my old resume?
Yes, up to 8 MB as PDF, Word (.docx) or text: press Upload my resume and your device reads the file, splits it into sections and keeps your wording. A .doc or .pages file needs exporting as PDF or .docx first.
What is free and what is Pro?
Free: the editor, the preview, the line fixer, First look, the Classic, Modern and Compact looks, downloads as PDF, Word and text with no watermark, and 3 saved resumes. Pro: every layout, color and font, 50 saved resumes, 10 versions of each, and Tailor to a job.
Can I edit the Word file in Google Docs?
Yes. Drop the .docx into Google Drive and double-click it. Google Docs opens it, and you edit from there.
Does it work as a CV maker for the UK or Australia?
Yes. A CV in the UK or Australia follows the same layout rules, so fill in the builder the same way. Then open the Design screen and press A4 under Paper; preview, PDF and Word file all switch to A4.
Where is my resume saved?
In your browser, on this device. Log in and press Save to my account and a copy sits encrypted in your account as well. Clear your browser data and the browser copy goes, so keep your downloaded files.
How long should my resume be?
One page until you have about 10 years of experience, then two pages for most people. If the preview shows a second page, switch to Compact or cut your oldest and weakest bullets.