Welcome to our list of the best tools and resources for job seekers and career professionals.
This list will grow over the next few months, so feel free to bookmark it and use it as a reference if you’re job hunting in the future, too.
Professional Resume Writers
The right resume writer can take your career history and shape it into what employers want to see for the exact type of jobs you’re applying for.
The best online resume writing resource for you will depend on a few things including your budget, your level of experience, and your desired turn-around time.
So we put together a list below with our top recommended resume writer in three categories: Budget/Low Cost, Mid-Range, High-End/Executive.
Top 6 Recommended Resume Writers
Job Search Websites
The majority of your time should be spent networking, and applying directly to companies that interest you. That’s how people are getting hired for the BEST jobs right now.
However, there’s still a place for job boards in your job hunt, as long as you don’t rely on them too much.
We highlight the 10 best job boards to use, and how to find niche job boards for your specific line of work in our full guide below.
Top 10 Job Search Engines Overall
And if you’re looking for jobs in tech, web design, data science, etc., or looking for fully remote jobs, don’t miss these resources either:
- The Best Tech & IT Job Boards
- The Best Remote Job Boards
- The Best Management/Executive-Level Job Boards
Career Coaches & Interview Coaches
If you’re looking for 1:1 career help or have specific questions that go beyond what the standard job search resources like books and videos cover, then coaching is strong option to consider. The professional coaches on our list below can help you with your specific situation and goals. Some also offer group coaching which is a great way to get access to an expert coach without having to pay the higher cost of 1:1 coaching.
9 Recommended Career Coaches and Interview Coaches
Best Books For Job Seekers
Some of the best resources for job seekers are books that can be bought on Amazon for around $5-10 (and we think that’s a relatively small investment for what it could get you – a higher paying job in less time).
So we put together a list of the best books for job seekers, broken down by categories like: Resumes, Interviews, Networking, Negotiation and much more.
(Going beyond job searching, I also put my absolute FAVORITE book about entrepreneurship on the list. If you have any interest in building a side-hustle that makes money, starting a business, or working for yourself one day, then make sure to check out that last book recommendation on the list below.)
ATS-Compliant Resume Templates
If you need to create your resume from scratch, here are some of the best free resume templates online.
“Signature” templates from professional resume writers:
Large websites with a variety of free resume templates:
…And if you’re going to purchase a unique/premium resume template online instead of using a free one, we recommend Etsy. The quality tends to be quite high there.
Resources to Build a Resume Online
Cultivated Culture:
NovoResume:
Read Our Full List of the 10 Best Resume Builders Here
Resources for Writing/Improving Your Resume
What to put on your resume – sections and recommended order:
This is the best resource to start with if you’re a job seeker who isn’t sure how to order your resume sections, what to include, what to leave off, etc. This article will walk you through every major resume section you should include, and the ideal order to put them in.
How to write a great intro/summary paragraph for your resume:
This is often the first thing employers look on your resume, so it’s important to write something that will grab their attention and make them say, “yes, this is the person we want to interview!”
The resource below will walk you through the do’s and don’ts of writing your resume summary, with plenty of examples you can copy.
How to write great resume bullets:
The next place employers often look on your resume is your employment history – particularly your bullets (most hiring managers and recruiters skim at first; they don’t read word for word immediately. So you need great bullets to grab their attention).
This article shows you how to do it:
Job Interview Tips and Resources
The top 20 interview questions and answers:
Employers across all industries ask many of the same questions in a first or second interview to assess your motivation, your reasons for job searching, your work ethic and more.
The 14 questions below will help you ace your phone interview or first face-to-face interview so you can get hired for the jobs you really want.
Job interview preparation checklist:
Make sure you’re not forgetting any vital steps before your next interview with this step-by-step preparation checklist.
Just follow the steps in order and you’ll be MUCH better prepared than the average job seeker for your next interview.
Unique questions to ask the interviewer:
This is an under-rated aspect of your job interview performance: the questions YOU ask them.
This can set you apart and cement your name in the hiring manager’s mind after you leave the room. Most job seekers ask the same generic questions, or no questions at all, which leaves the hiring manager wondering if you really want their job, and if you really care about your career.
Stand out by picking a couple of great questions from this list and asking each employer you talk to:
Tools for After Your Interview:
“Thank you” email templates for after your interview:
We recommend sending a “thank you” email after your interview… around 24 hours later or lunchtime the next day.
If your interview was on a Friday, you can wait until Monday if you’d like, but don’t delay any longer.
This is an important way to show that you have great communication skills and that you appreciate the employer’s time in meeting with you.
While it isn’t going to land you the job if the interview went poorly, it can serve as a tie-breaker or put you over the top if the hiring manager likes a few candidates. And failing to send a “thank you” email CAN cost you the job, depending on the hiring manager.
So don’t risk it. Use our “thank you” emails resource below with 3 ready-to-send templates for job seekers:
How to follow up after your interview if you haven’t heard any updates:
This is one of the biggest areas of anxiety for many job seekers – waiting for feedback after an interview (and wondering if you should follow-up or not yet).
Use the resource below to determine when and how to follow up for feedback after your interview if the employer hasn’t updated you recently:
LinkedIn Tips and Resources
What to put on your LinkedIn profile:
Your LinkedIn profile isn’t just a place to paste the info from your resume/CV.
There are unique sections and areas, and you need different strategies than you used on your resume if you want to get noticed and get interviews.
(And your LinkedIn profile is extremely important right now, because more than 50% of hiring managers we’ve spoken with this year report looking at a candidate’s LinkedIn profile before deciding to interview them… even if they did *not* apply via LinkedIn).
So make sure you’re maximizing your interviews by setting up your LinkedIn profile properly. The resource below will show you how:
How to get LinkedIn recommendations (and why it’s the BEST way to impress employers with your profile):
This is our favorite way to set your profile apart and get more interviews from recruiters and hiring managers who read your LinkedIn page.
Use the strategy laid out in the article below if you’re a job seeker who wants to improve your LinkedIn profile. This resource also contains a word-for-word script you can use to ask colleagues to write you a recommendation politely and easily:
How to reach out about jobs on LinkedIn
You don’t have to take a passive approach to LinkedIn and wait for recruiters and employers to contact you. After you’ve built a great profile, you can reach out to them.
This article explains how with word-for-word templates:
Networking Resources for Job Seekers
Elevator pitch for networking and interviews:
Many job seekers struggle to articulate what they do, what they bring to an employer, etc.
Don’t make that mistake; you only get one chance to make a first impression when meeting someone new, whether it’s in an interview, a networking event, or job fair.
Use the resource below to craft a powerful elevator pitch in 3 steps:
Why networking is the fastest way to get hired (and how to start):
Networking has the potential to be the fastest way to go from beginning a job search to signing a job offer.
The article below explains why, and gives you steps you can use to start getting results with job search networking immediately – even if you don’t have an existing network and have never done anything like this in the past.
Tips for Working With Recruiters
If you want with how to approach a recruiter, or how to get recruiters to help you, then this article is for you.
You’ll discover how recruiters REALLY work, and how to interact with them to give yourself the best chance of finding a job.
Next, here’s a resource showing you how to reach out to recruiters directly to hear back and get help finding jobs:
Online Resources to Learn New Skills or Start a New Career
Finally, here are some of the best resources for learning new skills or advancing your skills online. Leveling-up your skills before job hunting can help you gain access to higher-paying opportunities or even completely new career paths.
Skillshare review (with a free trial). One of the best online learning platforms.
10,000+ video courses on LinkedIn Learning with a free month trial.
Learn digital marketing online and launch a high-paying digital marketing career.
We’ll add more e-learning and career training resources to this list as we discover them.