How has writing resumes and cover letters changed?

Writing strong, successful resumes and cover letters isn’t what it used to be. While you may have been able to use the same resume in different job applications in the past, recruiters and hiring managers now expect custom tailored resumes and cover letters specific to each particular position.

If that weren’t enough, almost every Fortune 500 company and most smaller companies now use automated systems to scan and evaluate your application before a human ever reads it. Those programs, known as applicant tracking systems (ATS) match keywords and phrases in your resume and cover letter to the job description of the job to which you're applying. If your application isn’t tailored precisely for that job there’s a good chance it won’t make it in front of the hiring manager at all.

But who has the time to custom tailor a new resume and cover letter for every application? When applying to dozens of jobs or more, it’s just not feasible to copy-and-paste between documents that many times, let alone customize and re-order all of your information based on the particular position.

Yet not doing so is its own catch-22. The less your application is tailored to a job, the more difficult it will be to get an interview and the more positions you’ll need to apply to. Job seekers are stuck either spending the time applying to more jobs than necessary with the same generic resume, or spending an unnecessary amount of time tailoring the language in each document to each job.

What if there was a better way? One in which you could still create a custom, tailored resume and cover letter for each job to which you apply, but which would only take a few seconds to create?

Enter Savviest

Savviest exists to solve this problem (in addition to helping you find jobs and impress employers, but we’ll get to that in a bit).

With Savviest, creating successful resumes and cover letters is as easy as the click of a button. All you need is a link to a job description and Savviest uses a combination of insider best practices — sourced from HR professionals across the country — and new advances in natural language processing to automatically build a custom tailored resume and cover letter for that job.

Don’t have a job description? No problem. You can still use Savviest’s one-click builder to create a resume that follows those same best practices. All resumes and cover letters are then fully customizable — change the design, wording, formatting, and more, just with a few clicks.

Before you submit your resume, make sure to grade it using Savviest’s language scoring system to help you find additional ways to strengthen your application and make the best impression on recruiters.

Savviest's natural language processing tools score a resume and give feedback on how to improve.
Score your resume to get detailed feedback on how to make it shine.

Remember those applicant tracking systems that are reading your resumes? Savviest knows what they’re looking for, and helps build your resume to get past them and onto the recruiter’s desk.

If you want the best possible chance of landing an interview, give Savviest a shot and see just how easy it is.

How is Savviest different from other online resume builders?

Job seekers have many choices these days when choosing how to build their next resume. There are some great options out there that may serve you well.

However, it’s worth knowing what you need out of a builder before choosing one to make sure it meets all of your needs. Here are the four ways that Savviest takes building resumes and cover letters to the next level.

1. Custom tailored resumes in a single click.

Build a new, custom tailored resume in seconds using Savviest's resume builder.
Build a new, custom tailored resume in seconds.

It just doesn’t get easier than this.

While other builders help you create a single resume, Savviest lets you can build a new, tailored resume every time you need one in just a few seconds.

Never worry about copying-and-pasting again. All of your resumes and cover letters are saved in your account if you need them later, but when you can build a brand new one in a click there’s no reason to apply with an old version ever again.

2. Download a PDF or share your resume online to stand out.

Most online resume builders end with the same product: a nicely formatted PDF. For many people this may be all they need, and Savviest allows you to download your documents as PDF or TXT files.

However, if you’re looking to make extra impact you can also share your resumes and cover letters online. This gives employers easy access to your documents, a suite of additional tools they can use to interact with your resume, and the ability to download a PDF or get in touch with you directly.

Sharing a Savviest resume online is easy and helps build your professional footprint.
Share your resume online to stand out and increase your professional footprint.

You can add links to your resumes to your LinkedIn page or other online profiles, printed on your business cards, or embedded in your email signature.

You can even enable comments so that advisors can review and comment on your resumes right from the online page.

3. Savviest takes into account everything that makes you awesome.

You are so much more than a single page worth of awesome.

Most online builders, and even LinkedIn, encourage you to condense your professional and educational information into one or two pages of the highlights.

All employers and jobs are different though, even in the same industry. It’s likely that some of your accomplishments, skills, or awards will be important for one application but less necessary for others.

Savviest takes it all into account when building your resumes. In fact, the more information you have in Savviest, the better!

That allows Savviest’s natural language processor to pick the most relevant information that will make you the most competitive candidate for every job.

4. Why stop at resumes? Savviest helps you write the very best cover letters too.

Yes, cover letters are still an important part of your application. Yet they get little love from other builders. You can find nice templates online, but it’s difficult to find anything that helps you write your cover letters.

Savviest lets you save sections from your cover letters and then use its natural language processing tools to build out custom cover letters tailored specifically to each job.

You can then link your resumes and cover letters so that they use the same templates and can be viewed together when shared online.

Can Savviest help me find jobs that fit my experience?

Of course! One of the most useful things Savviest can do that other sites can’t is compare everything in your profile to potential jobs to determine which ones are a good fit.

Search across millions of jobs without leaving Savviest. We partner with Indeed to bring you their entire selection of jobs. When you find one you like, click it to see a score of how well your information matches with the language in the job description — broken down by work, education, and other achievements.

Savviest works with Indeed to provide millions of job results, which are then scored against your profile to see how you match up.
Search millions of jobs and get detailed feedback about how your profile matches up.

You can then use that information to decide if you’re already a good fit for the job or whether you should update your profile to become a stronger candidate.

Save the job to your account, and once you’re ready to apply it’s one click for a tailored resume and one click for a tailored cover letter.

How else can Savviest help me stand out professionally?

Aside from being able to create persuasive, professional resumes and cover letters, Savviest can help you stand out from other candidates by sharing your documents online.

Here are a few ways to make an impact and increase your professional presence online:

When contacting a potential employer, either through an online application or via email, include a link to your online resume as well as a PDF.

The easier it is for recruiters and hiring managers to get to know you as a candidate, the more likely they will be to carefully consider your application. You don’t want them glancing quickly over the PDF and missing something important.

Even if the PDF version didn’t clear the applicant tracking system, the recruiter may still click the link to the online version.

Employers will appreciate the additional tools they get when they view your resume online, including automatic summaries of your most relevant information.

Recruiters and hiring managers can then easily share that link with other people in the organization, all of whom can (if you so choose) download PDF versions from the online page.

Finally, anyone with the link can easily get in touch with you, meaning other people who viewed your resume but don’t have your email will be able to reach out.

Including a link to one of your resumes on other sites increases your professional footprint online. When potential employers, clients, or anyone else searches the web for your name you’ll want the top links to be not just about you, but about your professional successes as well.

A man searches on Google on his laptop.
Increase your professional Google presence by adding links to your resumes across other sites.

If you have a few different versions of your resume for different aspects of your professional life (say one for consulting roles, one for leadership positions, and one for your creative writing) you can add links to all three across the different sites you use. That will increase the chances that people searching will find you and your information.

Then they can get in touch right through your online resume. You can decide what contact and address information to include in each version, so you never need to worry about what info about you is available online.

Looking for a job? Looking for new clients? Add a link to your resume in your email signature or printed on business cards. That way anyone you contact will have quick access to your credentials and an easy way to get in touch.

Depending on your profession or business, this is a good way to create your own personalized online presence without needing to build out (or pay for) your own website.

4. Customize the URL of your online documents for added personalization.

A great way to set yourself apart from other candidates or competitors is by customizing the link you use to share each resume or cover letter. That way anyone using or viewing the link will immediately know who it’s about and will be that much more likely to click through.

Savviest allows you to customize the links to your resumes and cover letters.
Customize your resume and cover letter share links to engage employers and further stand out.

We recommend using your name (or company name if you’re soliciting clients). Then, if you’re using this resume for a specific purpose such as applying to a particular job, include the name of the company in the URL as well.

Doing so will catch recruiters eyes and make them significantly more likely to click through to your page. The more time they spend looking at your information the better, and such customizations can go a long way in appearing professional and prepared.

Where can I learn more about Savviest and if it’s a good fit for my needs?

The quickest way to learn more about Savviest is through our site or blog.

That said, the best way to figure out if Savviest is a good fit is to get in touch! We’re always happy to chat about what you’re looking for, the challenges you’ve had, or about applying for jobs and career growth in general.

In fact, you don’t have to use Savviest at all to ask us questions about your job search or career. We mean it when we say that Savviest is here to get you hired, and if that means chatting for a bit and moving on — great! We love to see success in whatever form.

Get in touch with us at hello@savviest.com or through our contact page. We’ll be happy to hear from you!