1
Can you do the job?
Evidence that the work you did maps to the work the role needs. Not duties listed, outcomes shown.
What good feedback looks like
Resume Feedback
Most resume feedback is generic. The good kind quotes your bullet, names the issue, and proposes a rewrite. Five sources of feedback, the formula hiring managers look for, and what to spend money on versus what to get for free.
- Score in 60 seconds
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- No sign-up to try
Drop your CV to start
.pdf, .docx or .doc, up to 10 MB
✓We score your CV across 6 dimensions: keyword match, parseability, formatting, contact info, action verbs and quantified achievements.
Prefer not to upload yet? See a sample report
The four questions feedback has to answer
Hiring managers scan in 15 to 20 seconds looking for answers to four specific questions. Any feedback that does not address at least three of them is wasting your time.
2
How well did you do it?
Metrics. Numbers, percentages, time saved, revenue moved. The Resume Worded data on metric frequency makes this the single biggest opportunity.
3
Will you stay?
Tenure pattern in your recent roles. Two short stints back to back trigger an explanation request, not a rejection, but explain it in the cover letter.
4
Are you findable in a search?
Whether your CV mirrors the exact keywords the recruiter is searching for. The reason we keep coming back to keyword optimisation on every page in this hub.
What good feedback looks like, in practice
The difference between feedback you can act on and feedback you cannot is specificity. Same CV, two pairs of comments, one useful pair, one useless pair.
Generic AI feedback
"Consider strengthening your experience section by using more action verbs and quantifying your achievements where possible. Also make sure your skills section reflects relevant industry keywords."
Why it is useless: Three problems. No specific bullet quoted. No specific verb suggested. No specific keyword named. Applies to literally any CV. The writer cannot act on it.
Specific, actionable feedback
"Bullet 2 under your role at Acme: \"Responsible for managing social media accounts\" lacks a metric. Try \"Managed a 4-person social team across Instagram and TikTok, growing combined audience by 180k in 9 months.\" If you have the real number, drop it in. If not, ask: how many channels, how many people, over what period?"
Why it is useful: Quotes the actual bullet. Names the role. Proposes a specific rewrite. Asks a follow-up question if the data is missing. The writer can act immediately.
Generic human reviewer note
"Looks good overall. I would polish the language a bit and maybe add more numbers. The summary could be stronger."
Why it is useless: Vague. Tells you the writer skimmed the CV but did not engage with it. "More numbers" is the right idea but a useless instruction without specifics.
Specific human reviewer note
"The summary positions you as a generalist marketer. Your strongest evidence is the lifecycle email programme you rebuilt at Acme (4.1% to 6.4% conversion). Lead the summary with that. Replace the first sentence with: \"Lifecycle marketing specialist with 6 years of experience growing free-to-paid conversion at B2B SaaS scaleups.\""
Why it is useful: Identifies the strongest claim, suggests how to rewrite the summary around it, gives an exact sentence to start with. The writer can decide whether to use it or modify it, but has something to react to.
The bullet formula good feedback steers you toward
Action verb plus what you did plus how you did it plus result with a number. Resume Worded analysis of 125,000+ CVs found only 26 percent contain 5+ measurable results.
01
Action verb
Led, Built, Reduced, Negotiated, Shipped, Mentored
A different verb per bullet within a role. Recruiters notice when every bullet starts with "Managed".
02
What you did
a 6-person social team / the bookings model in Adaptive Planning / migration from monolith to microservices
Specific scope (team size, system, programme name). Not "various projects".
03
How you did it
across Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn / cutting deploy time from 28 minutes to 4
The method or the lever. Optional but lifts the bullet from claim to evidence.
04
Result with a number
growing combined audience by 180k in 9 months / reducing CAUTI rate by 40 percent over two quarters
A real metric, with a timeframe where possible. Resume Worded data: 26 percent of resumes contain 5+ measurable results, 36 percent contain zero.
Full pattern
Led [what you did] [how you did it] [result with a number].
Example
Led a 6-person social team across Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, growing combined audience by 180k in 9 months.
Five places to get resume feedback
Different sources answer different questions. Use the right one for the gap you have.
AI resume checker
Speed
60 seconds
Cost
Free for the score, $19/month for unlimited
Best for
Parser-side issues, keyword gaps against a spec, formatting problems. The 80 percent of feedback you can fix mechanically.
Watch out: Generic suggestions if the tool is pure keyword-matching. Look for parser-specific notes and quantified impact per fix.
Reddit r/resumes
Speed
Hours to days
Cost
Free
Best for
A free second opinion on a CV you have already optimised. Often catches things software misses.
Watch out: Feedback quality varies wildly. Strong threads turn into useful coaching, weak ones return generic advice. Anonymise first.
A trusted colleague in your function
Speed
Same day to a week
Cost
Free, owed a favour
Best for
Industry-specific feedback on positioning, seniority claims, and the language of the spec. They know what the recruiter is filtering for.
Watch out: Bias toward how their CV looks. Use two readers in your function to cross-check, not one.
A professional resume writer
Speed
2 to 7 days
Cost
$139 to $1,200 depending on tier
Best for
Senior roles, career changes, or any CV that parses cleanly but does not get callbacks. The remaining gap is positioning, not parsing.
Watch out: Quality varies wildly between services. Ask to see a sample report before paying. Premium tiers add the meaningful detail, basic tiers are often template rewrites.
A recruiter in your target function
Speed
Highly variable
Cost
Free (relationship building)
Best for
A read on whether your CV reads as senior, mid or junior to someone who filters for this function daily. The single best signal you can get.
Watch out: Recruiters are time-poor. Ask one clear question, do not request a full review. Offer to follow up with what you changed.
For the comparison of AI checkers specifically, see AI resume checker. For the free options side by side, see free CV review.
Get feedback you can actually act on
Free score, six dimensions, parser-specific notes per major ATS, ranked fix list with quantified impact per fix. Not a generic grade, not a wall of platitudes.
Frequently asked questions
Everything we get asked about getting useful resume feedback, who to ask, and what to spend money on.
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Read next
CV summary examples that get read
Professional summaries by seniority, with templates and the words that actually pull recruiter attention.
Read articleSkills to put on your CV
The skills that score highest in 2026 and how to phrase them so a parser picks them up.
Read articleWhat is an ATS? A plain-English guide
How applicant tracking systems work, what they extract, and where they cut your CV.
Read articleSources and further reading
- Resume Worded: free instant feedback on your resume
- AIApply: AI resume writer vs human (2026)
- Approach Talent: what hiring managers want to see on your resume in 2026
- Great Resumes Fast: what hiring managers want to see on your resume in 2026
- Merit America: 15 must-have resume tips for 2026
- CV Owl: best AI resume review tools compared 2026