Not Dead Yet

How to build a sharp looking resume

Unfortunately, rumors of the death of the resume have been greatly exaggerated. As far as we’ve come with GitHub, Behance, LinkedIn and personal sites replacing the resume, you still need one on hand for any serious job search.

So rather than battle Microsoft Word or Google Docs for hours, it’s best to utilize one of the endless options for resume tech out there.

Here are five services worth a look.

	Resumonk Resumonk wins high marks for its simple templates, the easy editing, and for a brand that invokes both asceticism and the curriculum vitae. The LinkedIn upload option is helpful, as is the simple PDF download. The drawback of the free plan is the Resumonk logo on the bottom, and you have limited templates – upgrade for $23 here.
	CVMaker Another solid, no-frills option with six simple styles to choose from. Some 2.2 million resumes have been downloaded from the site to-date. There’s no LinkedIn upload option, and you will pick up a tiny CVMaker logo on the bottom – but it is, after all, free. Get started here.
	Resumup You have to go premium here even to download the PDF from Russian startup Resumup, but this is a standout in the visual one-part-CV-one-part-rock-show-poster crowd. Part of a broader platform that offers talent management services to recruiters, Resumup is straightforward enough to use and builds a visual resume in a couple of clicks. Premium starts at $15/mo. here.
	Visualize.me From the oldie-but-goodie department is Visualize.me, which made waves during the infographic craze of 2011-2012. Despite apparently not being updated since, it’s still a useful, visual option for resumes. The LinkedIn upload gets you started in seconds, and it’s fairly easy to customize from there. Get started here.
	Loft Resumes If you’d rather not deal with any of it, and still get a great looking resume, Loft is for you. For $99, one of their designers will take your existing resume and turn it out per one of three styles: “Conservative”, “New”, and “Best Selling”. If you need editing and other services, those packages start at $159. The Loft is the priciest, but definitely the best-looking, option we’ve seen. Check it out here.

If you can think of anything we can do to hasten the death of these things altogether, let us know.

Now go forth (and visualize).