JobFox.com provides generic critiques generated by a computer. I had the opportunity to have a critique shared with me by two of my clients. It was apparent to me that it was a form letter and computer generated, because it had the following problems:

1. Wrong job title used throughout the document in both instances.
2. Provided no real advice on how to fix the "mundane" and "flat" resumes.
3. Called the clients' experience "pudding in a cup." Yes, pudding in a cup.
4. Pulled out half of two bullet points and stated that those bullet points didn't have accomplishments in them.
5. Said that one of the clients had an objective and a career summary. The resume had niether. I would never include an objective on any resume.
6. Indicates that only entry-level candidates have an objective. Well, there is no objective and the client is an entry-level candidate.
7. Makes a point that the resumes change case and emphasis. Untrue.
8. Said the resumes do not contain keywords, when the software clearly pulls out keywords to create the "critique."
9. It's insulting to the reader and tries to convince the person that they need to spend about $400 to fix his/her resume.

Real resume writing companies, with true experts, will be comfortable showing you examples of what they can do. This company does not.

JobFox.com fails on all accounts on this one. In case you are interested I have included the information in this complaint. Below is one of the critques for a client that had two months of experience and a certification:
____________________
I'm the Jobfox resume expert that was assigned to critique your resume. I reviewed your resume with the goal of giving you an honest, straightforward assessment of your current resume, and not a judgment of your skills and qualifications. I should warn you about my style: I'm direct and to the point, so I hope you won't be offended by my comments. My perspective is that resumes get chosen, not candidates. In a perfect world, interview candidates would be selected based on their strengths and experiences. In reality, this isn't how the process works. A recruiter chooses the short list of candidates from a pile of resumes. Meaning, we have to make sure your resume does the heavy lifting in the selection process.

Here’s the good news: my first impression of you is that you are off to a good start in your career. You’re an up and coming contract management support professional, with a lot to offer an employer. Now, here’s the bad news: your resume isn’t doing a good job saying that to an employer. I found it to be mundane and unlikely to catch an employer’s attention. If you were selling yourself as Crème Brulee, it’s as if your resume is saying “pudding in a cup”.

Your resume needs a boost from a visual, content, and organizational standpoint to engage the reader. It needs to make them want to learn more about you. I didn’t find it to be exciting and it didn’t make me want to run to the phone to call you. These days, employers are being flooded with resumes, and we need yours to compel a hiring manager to continue reading and contact you for an interview. Countless studies have proven that resume quality is the key determinant as to whether a candidate is selected to be interviewed.

Amanda, to be honest with you, I think you should view this version of your resume as a work in progress. It's missing many key elements that we like to see on resumes at your level.

Here are the major issues I see on your resume:

VISUAL PRESENTATION

Your design is very flat and visually uneven. The appearance is not polished, and doesn’t say “experienced Contract Administrator”. By way of example, it’s like the difference between a professionally printed brochure, and one that was done at home and printed on an inkjet printer. For people at your level and experience, I’m used to seeing a much stronger visual appeal. In the real world this means your resume is at a disadvantage when the manager is culling the pile of resumes. The ideal resume format is airy, clean, and uncluttered, with the effective and strategic use of white space.

CONTENT

As I was reading your resume I was trying to imagine myself as a hiring manager, looking for that ideal Contract Administrator. I then asked myself whether I’d have picked your resume, and whether it was memorable. I concluded that much of the information was superficial and that in many instances it was too unclear. Simply put, I wouldn’t remember you. There are a lot of words on your resume, but they’re not formulated into powerful and impactful statements.

You have both an Objective and a Career summary. Having one or the other is fine, but not both. Objective statements are used often by recent graduates, so you may give the impression that you are not an experienced professional. In addition, your Career Summary is weak. It’s a critical element of your resume that should be designed to compel the hiring manager to keep reading. The purpose of this section is to define you as a professional and cover those areas most relevant to your career level and job target. By having a weak Career Summary, you are making it easier for the reviewer to say “pass” when your resume is given the customary cursory glance.

From a grammatical standpoint, I found your resume to possess many of the most common flaws. Expressions like “maintained” and “collaborated” are monotonous for the reader, and serve to repel versus attract their interest. There were some disagreements in case and punctuation and I also noticed that you often used passive language.

From the way the resume is worded, you come across as a “doer” not an “achiever”. Too many of your job descriptions are task based and not results based. Meaning they tell what you did, not what you achieved. To be effective and create excitement, a great resume helps the hiring manager visualize you delivering similar achievements at his or her company. By way of example, you can say you were responsible for managing a particular business process, or you can wow them by describing how you overhauled the process to deliver 50% higher results. Here are some examples of task based sentences in your resume.

Entered, tracked and maintained contract
Developed a comprehensive understanding
These statements are more about what you did, not what you achieved. It would be like you saying “I played tennis last week” when you could have said “I won the tennis tournament at my club last week unseating the person that held the title for the past three years.” Which sounds more impressive?

Employers want to know not only what you accomplished at your jobs, but the depth of those accomplishments. How did your work improve things, save money, etc. Employers are looking for return on investment (ROI).

Additional Issues

Also, I noticed that your resume changes emphasis patterns, which may make it difficult for some employers to follow. Successful resumes use emphasis elements in patterns that are easy for the eye to follow and that highlight the things that are most important to employers. This makes it easy for hiring executives to decide on whether to contact you or not.
It was difficult to give you a detailed critique, because your resume has limited information on your skills and achievements. Our professional resume writers can help you expand your resume so that employers have the necessary information to decide if they want to contact you.

Lastly, I'm a little concerned that you won't be found in resume databases. A well-designed resume includes the keywords and formatting that makes it easy for a resume parsing machine to learn about you and route you to a decision maker. I'm not suggesting you put a block of keywords in your resume. That just annoys recruiters. Rather, it's important that as you describe yourself, your accomplishments, and your skills, that you do it in a way that gives hints to the key word filtering system.

SUMMARY

Amanda, I’d like you to go back, reread your resume, and ask yourself whether it’s selling you short. Does it say “Amanda is a contract management support professional with tremendous expertise?” A great resume is the lynchpin in your job search, and I hate to see a strong person like you being underserved by something that’s so easy to fix.

NEXT STEPS

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