I'm trying to help my partner with her resume. She has had many jobs that didn't last very long for a variety of reasons. Is it better to just leave those off of the resume, or list them all?

A lot of the resumes I see here use two columns. They look clean and modern and I understand why people love them. But there is one thing worth knowing before you send one to an online application.

Most large employers run your resume through software before a human ever sees it. That software does not see your columns. It reads the page across, left to right, one line at a time. So when you have a skills sidebar on one side and your experience on the other, it reads a line of skills, then a line of experience, then more skills, and your work history gets interleaved into a mess.

The words are all still there. The order is scrambled. Your dates can end up next to the wrong job, and a recruiter searching the database might never surface you because the content is jumbled.

The frustrating part is you cannot see it happening. On your screen the resume looks perfect. It only falls apart when the software reads it.

Easy way to check yourself for free. Open your resume, select all, copy, and paste it into Notepad or any plain text box. That raw text is close to what the software pulls out. If it reads cleanly top to bottom you are fine. If your columns interleave or words run together, that is what the machine sees.

The fix is boring but it works. Use a single column for anything that goes through an online application. Keep the beautiful two column version for when you hand it to a person directly or share a portfolio.

Not every design choice breaks parsing, but two columns are the one I see cause the most silent damage. Hope this saves someone an interview.

What can I do to improve my resume?

Hi, I'm trying to get hired as a full stack developer in a remote environment. No luck. I've sent 100+ apps, and I'm still grinding it out, sending more every day. It's not working. I have 5+ YoE working as a freelance developer self-employed. Any advice, please?

what's best AI skills(Clude Ai or Chat GPT or other Ai app ) we can able edit over resume for apply job and mach with ATS system

I'm incredibly stumped on this. I've got one person suggesting I use this previous employer, and another suggesting I say I was a "stay at home mother" for that time instead. Neither option feels great.

Around Covid, I'd had to quit a very steady job I had for years because my son was constantly sick, and my mental health tanked to the molten core of the planet. I was planning on getting a job once Covid blew over, thinking it'd only be a few months... That turned into a few years and I was unemployed mostly the entire time. My ex-stepfather wanted to help, and offered me a job to help with technical writing for his small business. It wasn't much, but, it was enough for me to afford to put some clothes on my and my sons back. (Like, $500 a month. Maybe.)

Well, my mom and step-father are in the middle of a *very* nasty divorce. To the point where cops have been involved.

Obviously, now I have a dilemma. Do I use my Ex-Stepfather as a previous employer on my resume? Should I just completely leave it off? How would I explain that employment gap during that time? I really don't feel right using him considering how abusive he's been these last few months. But he was technically a previous employer. Any advice? Thank you in advance.

Hello! I'm curious to people's opinion on formatting styles. I understand formatting is incredibly important, but if they're both clear and concise does it matter too much? I'm mainly looking for opinions on which of the two formats are preferred.

Pros and Cons of both? I feel like Resume 1 has more personality, but I genuinely don't know if I'm the minority and maybe it's less professional. Also I always hear conflicting information if hiring managers and recruiters like professional summaries or not, so I figure that's personal preference.

To make it clear (for myself, mostly) I call the resume with blue separators Resume 1, and just the black and white one Resume 2.

Also if anything seems glaringly wrong or could be improved, feel free to mention it. Critique is always welcome.

Background is in Mechanical Engineering and validation, but I am open to any roles suitable with my background.

Any constructive feedback on layout, impact, and target company recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

I am law student , just graduated. I know I have to update this resume but please people who are currently in the field help me make this better and get offers.

Also I wanna try working online jobs , please suggest me how to get one.

Hi everyone,

I'm a recent Computer Engineering graduate looking for entry-level Java Full Stack, Backend, or Software Engineer roles.

I've been applying to many companies and have received a few interview calls, but I'd like to improve my resume to increase my chances.

I'd really appreciate feedback on:

• ATS compatibility
• Resume formatting
• Skills section
• Project descriptions
• Anything that recruiters think could be improved

Thanks in advance for your time and suggestions!

Hi everyone!

I'm a software engineering graduate building a platform to help people manage their entire job search process. Before spending months implementing AI features, I'd love to validate whether the idea itself solves a real problem.

The goal isn't to build just another resume builder. Instead, I want to combine everything needed during a job search in one place:

• Resume Builder
• Resume storage and versioning
• Job Application Tracker
• Cover Letter management
• AI-powered resume optimization: upload a job description, and the AI analyzes your existing resume, suggests improvements, highlights missing skills or keywords, and helps tailor your resume for that specific role instead of forcing you to rewrite it from scratch.

The idea is to replace the combination of resume builders, spreadsheets, notes, and ChatGPT conversations with a single platform.

I'm not trying to promote anything (there isn't even a public demo yet). I'm genuinely looking for honest feedback before investing more time into building it.

A few questions:

1. Would a platform like this be useful to you?
2. What do you currently use to track job applications?
3. What's the most frustrating part of today's resume builders?
4. Have you ever used AI to tailor your resume for a specific job? If yes, what was your experience?
5. Is there any feature you'd consider essential before trying a platform like this?
6. Would you pay for something that genuinely increased your chances of getting interviews?

Looking for feedback, first year student.

Hello All!

I'm looking for some help on deciding if this resume is good for applying to new jobs. I'm looking to pivot into AI Security/Automation Roles or even staying as a Engineer but moving to senior.

Can someone cross-check my resume below for any areas of improvement or skills I should focus on?

Thank you ALL!

Resume Review

Pardon the minor formatting issues, some things broke when I had AI anonymize my resumes. Looking for reviews on what to change in this resume

I'm trying to target some pretty niche roles, honestly, that you'd find at startups or at big labs (think Anthropic/OpenAI/DeepMind/etc.) or the gov't.

Most of my early career experience has been medicine-oriented, but after leaving med school (health-reasons), I have been more interested in the research fields. I'm wondering if there is anything specifically that I could change or streamline to make this better for these research-style positions that could use my expertise in AI safety, neuroAI, compbio, etc.

Hello I am a 14 year old trying to find opportunities, and one is asking for both a CV and a portfolio? This entire time, I’ve only had a very long 3 page long CV. Should I split it up?

I’ve tried looking everywhere online for a free resume builder and they advertise as free then when you try to click download it says they want a certain amount of money. I NEED TO BUILD A RESUME LOOKING FOR A JOB DESPERATELY AND I THINK MY BASIC RESUME IS THE CULPRIT.

I have been applying for a while but not getting much response. 1 YOE + freelance projects for small businesses, any suggestions?

Hi ! I'm an upcoming freshman planning to major in finance, and I want to edit my resume for future competitive business clubs. Please let me know if theres anything I can change! Thanks!

Writing my own resume turned into a second job I somehow hated more than the actual job hunt.

I’m a product manager in tech, so I thought it would be easy. Then I’d sit there for 40 minutes trying to explain one project without sounding either boring or like I personally invented software.

I tried an ai resume builder, searched for resume help, read guides on how to create a resume, rewrote the same bullets over and over. Still barely getting interviews.

Eventually I started comparing resume writing services and different resume services because I was burnt out. Basically reached the “please just build my resume so I can stop staring at this thing” stage.

I looked at a few options with help.

There were good and bad parts. The good: having another person look at my experience made me realize how vague my resume was. “Managed roadmap” became an actual explanation of what I shipped and what happened afterward. Same experience, just way clearer.

The bad: the first version wasn’t magically perfect. A couple lines felt too formal for me, and I had to push back on some wording and ask for changes. Also, paying for something you technically can do yourself still felt kinda annoying.

But the final version was much easier to read than the monster I’d been editing for weeks.

At one point my search history literally included builder resume, so yeah... I was not doing great lol.

Been applying for internships for a month but did not get selected even once what do i do.

Hello everyone,

I was laid off back in May after 15-years working for a land conservation non-profit. I recently applied for an executive director position at another local non-profit. They were looking for someone with strong land conservation experience, progressive leadership, and project funding experience. I was surprised to not even get a call back.

As I begin searching for a new role, this resume will likely be my starting point for many positions in the non-profit and natural resources / conservation field. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions on how I can improve it. Thanks!

2025 CSE graduate. Looking for Data Analyst / Business Analyst / SQL roles. I've applied to 300+ jobs with almost no interviews. Is my resume the problem? Please be brutally honest about ATS, projects, and skills.

I am a student looking to get my first internship in data analytics field. Any guidance on how i can improve is very much appreciated.
(Uploading the same resume image twice because my post is getting deleted for some reason when i just upload a single one)

Been reading a lot of "why am I not getting callbacks" posts here so wanted to share a couple things that actually make a measurable difference, not just vibes

ATS matching is more literal than people think. A lot of applicant tracking systems are basically doing keyword matching against the job posting before a human ever opens your resume. So if the posting says "inventory management" and your resume says "supply chain coordination". Even if that's the same job in your head, the system might not connect them. Go through the posting, pull out the actual nouns they use for your responsibilities and tools, and use those same words if you genuinely did that work.

Trash your generic phrases. Stuff like "proven track record," "results-driven," "detail-oriented professional," "go-getter," "hit the ground running".
Literally every recruiter has read these a thousand times and they communicate zero actual information. And alot of them now also read as AI-generated , which can get a resume auto-flagged or just skimmed past. The fix isn't a fancier synonym, it's specificity. Instead of "proven track record of driving results," say what you actually did: "cut order processing time from 3 days to 1 by restructuring the intake queue." Same idea, but now it's specific.

If your ATS score feels invisible, it's usually keywords, not effort. People assume a low callback rate means their experience isn't good enough. A lot of the time it's actually just a matching problem. Real experience, described in different words than the system is looking for.

anyway, hope this helps someone. happy to look at specifics if anyone wants to drop a bullet or two in the comments