How to use Focus Resume

Focus Resume is a free resume builder that runs in your browser. You do not need an account or an email address. This guide explains what the tool does today and how to get the best result from it.

Quick start

1. Open the builder with the Create your resume button.
2. On a phone you will see two tabs at the bottom, Edit and Preview. Fill in the form in Edit, then switch to Preview to see the page.
3. Add your personal details, a short summary, your jobs, your education and your skills.
4. Open Design and style and pick a template. If you are applying through a company website, choose an ATS plain style.
5. Check the ATS score and fix anything it lists.
6. Tap Save PDF and choose "Save as PDF".

Want to see how it works first? Open the … menu at the top and choose Load sample. You can clear it afterwards.

Importing an old resume

If you already have a resume, you do not have to type everything again. At the top of the form, open Import an old resume and tap Upload old CV. Choose a PDF, a Word (.docx) file or a text file, and the form fills itself. You can also paste the text of your resume and tap Fill the form from this text.

The tool looks for headings such as Summary, Experience, Education, Skills, Projects, Certifications and Languages. It then splits each job into title, company, dates and bullet points. It works best when:

• your name is on the first line and your job title is on the second,
• each section heading sits on its own line,
• each job has its dates on the same line as the job title or company, such as Mar 2021 – Present.

Importing replaces the text in the draft you are working on, so use an empty draft if you want to keep the current one. Your photo and design are kept. An import is a starting point and can miss things, so read through every section afterwards.

A scanned PDF that is only a picture cannot be read, and neither can old .doc files. For a .doc file, open it in Word, save it as .docx, and upload that instead.

Your file is read on your own device and is not uploaded to our server. To read a PDF, the page loads a small helper script from a public content delivery network, but the text of your resume is not sent to it.

Filling in your details

Personal details

Add your name, job title, email, phone, city and country, website and LinkedIn. The job title under your name should be close to the title in the job advert. You can leave out any field you do not want to show.

Photo

A photo is optional. It is resized automatically on your device. Use the Show photo on resume switch to hide it without deleting it. In the US, UK and Canada, employers usually prefer resumes without a photo, so it is safer to leave it off there.

Summary

Two to four lines about what you do and what you are good at. Write it for the job you want, not for every job you have ever had.

Work experience

Press Add job for each role. Fill in the job title, company and dates. If you still work there, tick I still work here and the end date becomes "Present".

In Details, write one achievement per line. Each line becomes a bullet point. The lines that work best start with an action word (led, built, reduced, launched) and include a number where you have one, such as "Cut cost per lead by 25%".

Education, projects and certifications

These work the same way. Projects have no dates. Certifications take a single date, and the Details box is a good place for a credential ID.

Skills and languages

Type them separated by commas, for example SEO, Excel, Customer service. For languages you can add the level in brackets, such as English (native), Urdu (fluent).

Custom section

Use this for awards, volunteering or publications. You choose the title, and each line becomes a bullet.

Show, hide and reorder sections

Every section has a Show switch. Turning it off removes the section from the resume and the PDF, but your text is kept, so you can bring it back later. A section with nothing in it never appears, so there is no empty heading.

At the bottom of the form, the Section order card has up and down arrows. The resume follows the order you set there. If you are a recent graduate, you might put Education above Work experience. If you have years of experience, keep Work experience near the top.

Design and style

The Design and style card sits just under your personal details. Changes show in the preview straight away.

• Template: 54 ready-made styles in twelve layouts. Use the filter buttons (ATS safe, Modern, Classic, Creative, Two-column) and tap a style to apply its layout, colour and font in one go. You can still change the colour, font and sizes afterwards. Two-column styles put your skills, languages and certifications in a side panel.
• Accent colour: pick one of the colour dots or choose any colour you like.
• Heading style: underline, side stripe, filled, or plain.
• Font: eight common fonts. These come from your own device, so they look the same in the PDF as they do on your screen.
• Text size and line spacing: small changes here are the easiest way to fit a resume on one page.

Which template should I use? For online application forms, use an ATS plain style. It is black and white, has a single column and hides the photo, which is the safest layout for software that reads resumes. The other styles look nicer and are fine when you send your CV directly to a person. Two-column styles are popular in parts of Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

ATS score and keywords

Many companies use an applicant tracking system (ATS) that reads your resume before a person does. The ATS score and keywords card gives you a score out of 100 and a short list of things to fix first.

What the score looks at

It checks common basics: a name, a valid email and phone number, a summary of a sensible length, work experience with dates, bullet points that include numbers and start with action words, education, enough skills, a reasonable length, and weak phrases such as "responsible for". It also warns you if a photo is showing.

Matching a job advert

1. Copy the full job advert and paste it into the Job ad box.
2. The tool picks out the words that appear most in the advert and shows a keyword match percentage.
3. Words missing from your resume appear as orange chips. Words you already have appear in green.
4. Tap an orange chip to add that word to your Skills. Only add words that are true for you.

The score is a guide, not a promise. Every employer's system works differently, and nobody can tell you exactly how a particular system will rank you. A high score also does not mean your content is strong. Real results and clear writing matter most.

Drafts

You can keep three separate resumes. Open the … menu and pick Draft 1, 2 or 3. This is handy if you apply for different kinds of jobs and want a different summary and skills for each. The draft you are on is marked with a tick.

Saving your PDF

1. Tap Save PDF.
2. In the print window that opens, set the destination to Save as PDF.
3. On a computer, open More settings and turn on Background graphics, so header colours and heading boxes are included.
4. Save the file, then open it and check it over.

The PDF keeps real text, not a picture of text. To check, press and hold a word in the PDF. If you can select it, job sites and ATS software can read it too.

Downloading a PNG image

Open the … menu and choose Download PNG image, or use the button above the preview. You get a sharp picture of the page that is showing, which is handy for sharing on social media or in a chat. If your resume runs to several pages, all of them are in one tall image. For job applications, send the PDF instead, because a picture cannot be read by ATS software.

Downloading a Word file

Open the … menu and choose Download Word (.docx). You get a real Word document that you can edit in Microsoft Word, Google Docs or LibreOffice. It follows your section order, accent colour and font, and it uses true bullet points.

The photo is not included in the Word file, and the layout is simpler than the PDF. Use the PDF when you want your design to look the same everywhere. Use the Word file when an employer asks for one, or when you want to keep editing in another program.

Writing a cover letter

Many employers ask for a cover letter along with your resume. Focus Resume can write a first draft for you and match it to your resume's look.

1. Open the … menu and choose Cover letter, or scroll to the Cover letter card at the bottom of the form.
2. Enter the company, the job you are applying for, and, if you know it, the hiring manager's name.
3. Choose a tone: professional, friendly, or short and direct.
4. Tap Write a draft from my resume. The draft uses your name, job title, skills, your years of experience (counted from your earliest job date) and one result from your work.
5. Edit the text however you like. Leave a blank line between paragraphs.
6. Tap Preview cover letter to see it on a page.

The draft only uses what is already in your resume. If you have not written a result with a number, it leaves a note in [brackets] for you to fill in. Replace anything in brackets before you send the letter.

Saving the PDF: above the preview there is a switch between Resume and Cover letter. Save PDF saves whichever one is showing, so check the switch before you save. Each of your three drafts keeps its own cover letter.

A draft is a starting point, not a finished letter. Add one detail that shows you know the company, such as a product you like or a goal they have mentioned, and read it out loud before you send it.

Backup and your data

Focus Resume does not upload your resume anywhere. Everything you type is stored in your own browser, on your own device. That keeps your information private, but it also means:

• If you clear your browser data, your drafts are deleted.
• Your drafts are not available on another phone or computer.

To stay safe, open the … menu and choose Save backup file now and then. To get it back, choose Restore from backup and pick the file. Clear this draft empties the current draft, so use it carefully.

Getting to one page

Fastest way: open Design and style and tap Fit to one page. The tool lowers the line spacing, then the text size, one small step at a time, until everything fits. If it still does not fit, hide a section or shorten some bullets. The same card also shows how many pages your resume is now.

A thin red line in the preview shows where a page ends. If a few lines spill onto page two, try these in order:

1. Lower the Text size by a point or two.
2. Lower the Line spacing a little.
3. Turn off sections you do not need, such as Languages.
4. Cut older jobs down to one or two bullets.

If you have under ten years of experience, one page is usually enough.

Questions people ask