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 ATS plain.
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.

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: Modern, ATS plain, Classic, Bold header or Minimal.
• 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 ATS plain. 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 templates look nicer and are fine when you send your CV directly to a person.

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.

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

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