How we build your resume and cover letter

When you generate a resume for a match, an AI model tailors your profile to that job. It also sees the job posting and the summary and selling points from your match, but only as context. The content comes from your profile, and it borrows the posting's wording only where that wording describes something you have done.^{[1], [2], [3]} If the model isn't available or can't produce a usable draft, you get a profile-based resume instead, described below.

Each match gives you an ATS resume (.docx), a human-readable resume (.pdf) in the template you pick, and a cover letter when one is available.

To see the result, read the sample tailored resume and cover letter, a worked example with a fictional candidate and job.

For a tailored resume, we ask the model to open each experience bullet with the result that matters most for the role, and to use the XYZ pattern (accomplished X, measured by Y, by doing Z) for your strongest achievements when your profile has all three parts.^[7]

We also ask for a two- or three-sentence summary and bullets that don't all share one shape. Those two are our own preferences, not advice from the sources.

For a tailored resume, we ask the model to list your most relevant skills first and to use the posting's keywords only where they fit naturally, not repeated for the software's benefit.^[3]

The .docx is a single column with no graphics or tables, and it uses the standard section headings parsers expect.^{[3], [4]} Most modern parsers handle other layouts fine, but some older systems still don't, so we play it safe.^[5]The free resume checker scores against the same layout.

Your PDF template changes how the resume looks and the order of its sections, not what it says.

Employers, job titles, dates, education, and licenses and certifications are copied straight from your profile, and every skill has to match one you listed. We also confirm that each rewritten bullet belongs to a real entry in your experience. We don't fact-check the wording itself. The model is told to use only facts and numbers from your profile,^{[1], [2]} but it can still get things wrong, so read the resume and fix anything inaccurate before you send it.

We rewrite up to eight experience entries and include any others unchanged. If tailoring is unavailable or the model's draft is unusable, such as one that names a skill you didn't list, you get a profile-based resume instead, labeled in the app. It keeps your bullets and skill order as written, uses your profile summary (or a short one built from your profile if you haven't written one), and adds the role you're applying for. A final check compares the finished resume's work history and skills to your profile, and if they don't match, we show an error and don't save it. Resumes saved before we tracked tailoring show their status as unknown.

Your profile needs at least one experience entry and one skill to generate a resume.

The letter is written for the specific role and draws on two or three relevant parts of your experience instead of repeating the resume.^[6] It aims for one page, about 250 to 350 words,^{[2], [6]} and closes by asking for a conversation and thanking the reader.^[6]

Those are instructions to the model, not guarantees, so a letter can run long or get a detail wrong. If the model fails to produce a usable letter, you get a short profile-based one instead, labeled in the app. It only names the role and sums up your background, so expand it before you send it. When cover letters are turned off for the site, the option doesn't appear.

The advice above comes from these references:

1. 1
   MIT Career Advising and Professional Development: five steps to writing a great resume

   Choosing what to include from the position description, and recording accomplishments rather than responsibilities.

2. 2
   Harvard Mignone Center for Career Success: guide to creating a strong resume

   Specific, fact-based language, reverse chronological order, and cover letters kept to a single page.

3. 3
   MIT Career Advising and Professional Development: make your resume ATS friendly

   Avoiding graphics, tables, and text boxes, and using posting keywords without spamming them.

4. 4
   Robert Half: ATS-friendly resume tips to outsmart the screening system

   Conventional section headings the parser can categorize, and simple formatting without tables or columns.

5. 5
   Enhancv: the state of resume parsing

   Argues that modern parsers read two-column layouts, citing parser vendor and research work, and recommends a single column for Taleo, older SuccessFactors, and government systems.

6. 6
   MIT Career Advising and Professional Development: how to write an effective cover letter

   One page, directed at a specific role, citing a few examples instead of repeating the resume.

7. 7
   Yale Office of Career Strategy: writing impactful resume bullets

   Leading each bullet with the impact, then measuring it, then describing what you did (the XYZ formula).

Sources last reviewed September 22, 2026.