Review of Pongo Resume

Confession: as a former professional resume writer who used to work up every resume "from scratch," I was a bit of a skeptic when I first approached Pongo Resume. They offered a free trial of their resume builder and I took them up on it, expecting to be disappointed.

The first thing I noticed -- and liked -- was that it really was free; they didn't ask for any credit card information. I found the program to be intuitive and a breeze to master. I ended up creating two resumes and two cover letters. While I did bring some writing skills to bear, I was favorably impressed with Pongo's customized templates, step-by-step writing instructions, phrasing tips for each section of the resume I was working on, and editable sample text for the cover letters.

OK, that was the free trial. So far, so good. But as I discovered, your money buys more than just a resume builder.

Because your resume resides on the company's server, Pongo is able to offer a wide variety of options for delivering that resume to your intended target. Download it to your computer where you can print hard copies at will. Or email it directly from Pongo in PDF or plain text format to a job board or in response to an online classified ad. Or fax it straight from Pongo's site to an employer -- no fax machine needed. You can even set up a resume webpage with a unique URL; send the link to an employer, and they can see your resume online.

A subscription-based business model helps keep this resume builder extremely affordable. Ten bucks buys you full access to all the features on the site for a month. Create and download your finished resume and cover letters onto your hard drive, and cancel the service anytime after than. Or, keep the service going to enjoy the emailing and the faxing, the activity tracking, the personalized HTML webpage, and the ability to access and tweak your resume at a moment's notice from any computer in the world, 24/7.

How it all works:

Decide right off the bat whether you want the monthly subscription ($14.95), the annual subscription ($59.95), or the FREE trial, which lets you create a resume at no cost and pay only when and if you think the product is worth it. Hint: Go with the free trial!

Once logged in, the software evaluates your unique occupational status and creates an individualized template specific to your career stage--from entry level to executive. That said, the template remains fully customizable by you. You can add and manipulate a wide variety of headings, adjust page margins, and select different fonts, graphical layouts and formats.

Step-by-step, the system prompts you for information needed for each section. Your unique profile determines what information you're prompted for next. An experienced professional, for example, will be prompted for different information than a student. And by the way, if you've got employment gaps, if you're light on experience, if your skills come from a variety of sources, you don't need to worry which format (chronological, functional or hybrid) will best present your credentials. Pongo's software figures that out for you.

As I mentioned, the resume and cover letter you create remain on the company's servers, accessible to you from any computer anywhere in the world, night or day. Subscribers can then download and print hard copies, or email and fax their resumes directly from the company's online application.

Here's what I liked:

• Each resume created is a unique template--though fully customizable by you.
• Formatting is automatic. Pongo's software decides if you are best served with a chronological format, a functional format, or a hybrid of the two.
• Create as many variations of your resume as you need. And keep track of them easily.
• Subscription includes cover letter. And the sample cover letter template contains pre-written text to help you get started.
• Employers receive both text-only and formatted versions of your resume (Word, HTML or PDF) when you email directly from the application.
• Fax directly from Pongo's website. All subscriptions include 20 free faxes per month. Try to do that from a Kinko's, and you could be out $80.00 or more each month.
• Tracker feature keeps track of all the "who, what, when and where" of resume submissions.
• Excellent customer service: telephone and get a real person.
• It's free to try. If you're happy with the resume you create, and want to be able to print, email, fax, download and track your documents, simply upgrade to a monthly or annual subscription anytime.

In summary, PongoResume.com an excellent resume builder that offers a lot of bang for the buck. You can get by for just $14.95 -- build a few resumes and cover letters, print all you need, and cancel the subscription within thirty days. Or stick around a few months and take full advantage of Pongo's emailing, faxing and webpage services. Or sign up for a year's worth of benefits -- especially if you see a job search taking a while to conclude. Even at that rate, you're only paying one-half to one-third what a professional resume writer would charge -- for a single resume.

With no charge to create a resume, you can test drive the program and look at the finished product before investing a dime. That helped make Pongo my Top Pick for resume builders.

Go To PongoResume.com

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