If you’re looking for professional CV writing to help you land more interviews, it’s likely you’ve already heard of TopResume.
With over 1 million customers, they might just be the largest resume writing service in the world.
But does bigger always mean better?
In this review, we’ll give you an in-depth look at their services to help you decide if they’re worth the money.
Table of Contents
So keep reading to see customer reviews, comparisons with competitors, and real examples of TopResume’s writing in action.
TopResume Reviews – What does TopResume do?
TopResume creates resumes with the goal of getting you more interviews.
They do this with a team of 1500+ “specialist writers” trained in formatting, hiring strategy, and ATS optimization.
Aside from writing custom resumes, TopResume also offers extra career advancement services like LinkedIn makeovers and Interview Coaching.
Who is this service for?
In spite of what TopResume claims, it’s obvious that their services are geared towards junior candidates. More specifically, junior candidates seeking roles in the corporate world.
This is because they focus more on ATS and “getting your resume seen” than on advanced career strategies that might land you a job.
Overall, ATS is far more common in the corporate world and tends to be a bigger obstacle in junior roles. Over 98.8% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS to weed out “irrelevant” resumes (compared to only 35% of small businesses).
So if you’re working in a non-corporate sector or a more senior role, it’s worth considering TopResume’s effectiveness for your own goals.
TopResume: the pros and cons
Now that we’ve looked briefly at what the service is and who it’s for, let’s quickly explore the pros and cons.
| Pros: 1-2 week turnaround times Trusted by major job sites 60-day interview guarantee Options for financing | Cons: Aimed at more junior roles Lack of true customization No option for phone communication Very mixed customer reviews |
TopResume’s process
Understanding what TopResume offers is important, but it’s even more important you understand how they deliver. In this section, we’ll look at how TopResume actually works.
How does TopResume’s writing process work?
TopResume’s process is fairly simple.
First, you complete a questionnaire about your work history and goals.
Next, you’ll be asked to share links to job postings you want to apply for so writers can pull out relevant keywords for ATS.
While you have the option to upload your existing resume at this stage, this isn’t required. Although it could give your writer a clearer picture of what you want.
Once you’ve entered your details and paid, TopResume will review your application to match you with a writer.
While there is no option to talk face-to-face or over the phone, you can message your writer through the TopResume dashboard. This gives you a chance to explain what you want in detail.
How long does the process take?
TopResume claims their standard resume writing packages take 1-2 weeks.
For people looking for faster results, you can opt for their ‘Elite Executive Priority Package’ which promises a 2-day turnaround.
In our experience, it took only 1 day to receive a first draft after completing the questionnaire. Although we did have to give feedback on wording and a few technical errors.
While speed might be good for job seekers in a hurry, it does raise questions about whether TopResume is good at customizing each resume without relying on templates and AI.
What do TopResume resumes look like?
To put TopResume’s service to the test, we submitted a resume to be rewritten by one of their professional writers (specifically, for a more technical role within marketing).
What we received back – unfortunately – shows a few telltale signs of being templated. The formatting and wording don’t feel customized to the industry or experience level.
In fact, much of the content from the original resume was left intact or just minimally reworded. The writer seems more focused on inserting dramatic adjectives like “innovative” and “dynamic” in an attempt to spice things up.
For those in complex fields, the use of generic wording is worrying. More experienced workers may find TopResume doesn’t show their career story in full.
Is their platform easy to use?
Having said that, TopResume’s platform is clean, simple, and effective.
Even without the option for phone consultation, it’s useful to have all your messages in one place, and email alerts mean it’s unlikely you’ll miss updates on tasks.
Compared to some services that operate through email alone, this gives you much more flexibility with how you keep track of your resume.
How qualified are TopResume’s writers?
Here’s where things get tricky. Although TopResume claims their resume writers have experience in 65 industries, there isn’t much proof of this.
A full list of writers isn’t available, and the few writers shown on specific industry pages often have unrelated backgrounds.
For example, if you navigate to the Engineering or IT specialty pages, the listed writers have irrelevant credentials like “Bachelor of Arts in Humanities”.
While this doesn’t prove TopResume’s writers are unqualified, it’s worth keeping in mind if you work in a more technical role, as it could take more time to explain things.
TopResume’s Pricing, Packages & Guarantees
TopResume offers four packages ranging from $149 to $699.
The basic Professional Growth package at $149 includes a custom resume. Stepping up to the $219 Career Evolution package nets you a cover letter and a 60-day interview guarantee along with the resume. The Career Confidence package at $349 adds a LinkedIn profile makeover to the previous services and guarantee.
With TopResume’s premium package, the $699 Elite Executive Priority Package, you can get your resume within 2 days, with unlimited revisions plus two interview prep sessions.
One of the benefits of using TopResume is that they offer financing through Affirm with 0% or 10-36% APR.
What are their guarantees?
The Career Evolution and Career Confidence packages have 60-day interview guarantees. Meaning if you don’t get two times more interviews in 60 days, you’re entitled to a free rewrite.
How does TopResume compare to other resume writing services?
TopResume has very few things that make it stand out. For one, their pricing is about in line with other similar services, and their lack of writer credentials is a sadly common trend.
While it’s possible that – as one of the largest review sites – others have copied their blueprint, it’s also possible that TopResume has stopped innovating.
It’s interesting to note that TopResume is owned by the same company as ZipJob (Talent Inc.). Because of this, their platforms are strikingly similar – even down to the signup screens.
While this doesn’t say anything about the quality of TopResume, it could be concerning for those hoping for a more personalized, bespoke resume writing service.
TopResume.com reviews
To give you a balanced view of opinions about TopResume and to save you time, let’s look at how they performed on different third-party review sites.
TopResume reviews from TrustPilot
On TrustPilot, TopResume scores a respectable 4 out of 5 stars.
TrustPilot has generally positive customer feedback, with only 11% of reviews being 1-star.
TopResume reviews from Yelp
Surprisingly, reviews for TopResume on Yelp are quite different from other platforms.
With an abysmally low 1.1 star rating from 77 reviews, reviews highlight inconsistencies in writer qualifications and question the level of customization.
TopResume reviews from SiteJabber
With a rating of 4.27 out of 5 stars, SiteJabber’s feedback is pretty positive.
But it’s important to note that 16.89% of reviews were 1 star, which is slightly higher than average.
What else should you know?
With reviews for TopResume being such a mixed bag, you might be struggling to reach a decision about whether this service is worth the money.
To help you out, let’s scratch below the surface and explore some of their more specific claims
How effective is TopResume?
In reviewing this resume writing service, we couldn’t find any real success metrics.
While insisting they’ve helped over 1 million job seekers, TopResume doesn’t seem to publish specific stats about their success rates – period.
For example, their claim “a professional resume can make you 31% more likely to land an interview” is a generic, non-service specific stat.
This lack of transparency could raise doubts about TopResume’s actual effectiveness (especially compared to other services that tend to shout their wins from the rooftops).
Which other services do they have?
Aside from their core resume writing service, TopResume can help with LinkedIn profile enhancement, thank you letters, cover letters, 1-on-1 mock interview coaching, free resume assessments, tailored federal and military resumes, and academic CVs.
(It’s important to note: the 1-on-1 mock interviews cost an additional $149 and are not included in the basic packages as standard).
So while there are some questions about the overall effectiveness of TopResume, they can help you to not just get in touch with employers but to keep that contact going.
What kind of support do they offer?
TopResume offers a customer support line to provide general assistance. However, any communication with your writer must happen through a digital dashboard.
There are no options for real-time consultation via phone or video chat.
This could pose a challenge for those who would benefit from more fluid, face-to-face discussion, or competitive industries where fully capturing career narratives matters more.
What makes TopResume different?
TopResume is large. So large, in fact, that they promise their 1500+ team of writers can cater to a wide range of industries.
This seems to be a major selling point for the service… but it’s not a claim backed up by hard data (as we discussed earlier).
That said, TopResume’s dominance of the industry means they have connections to many top job boards and career sites like Monster, USAJobs, and Dice – potentially speaking to their ongoing success.
How safe is my information?
TopResume’s Privacy Policy allows them to collect and share data with third parties for advertising and in case of mergers. This means, while likely not selling data directly, this could be concerning for people in sensitive industries.
If privacy is a big issue for you, there is a manual opt-out on their “Do Not Sell” page to limit data sharing by submitting an email address.
Conclusion: is TopResume worth the money?
In summary, TopResume seems best suited for job seekers early in their careers aiming to break into corporate roles.
The company’s practice of reverse-engineering job posts to pull out keywords hints at strong ATS optimization potential.
However, TopResume seems to rely more on templates than custom writing, with questions raised about the credentials of their writers.
Based on reviews, those further in their careers may find the templated approach to sell their stories short. And those going for more senior roles should probably look elsewhere.
With that said, TopResume does deliver resumes in a timely manner. So if you’re looking for a fast turnaround at an affordable price, they could be an okay option.
