TopCV

Take the free critique and make the changes yourself. From my experience this is a total con. MS Word has some templates, and Google can provide you with a list of action verbs. These guys won't add much more but will take a good chunk of your cash.

Having read the mixed reviews I was skeptical, but thought it was worth it even if they only helped me address a couple of the sensible recommendations raised in the free critique. Despite, I was genuinely amazed at how terrible this was. In short, I spent a month engaging with two writers to generate something that still didn't address the recommendations from the free critique, and I certainly wouldn't consider submitting with a job application. For the record, my own CV has a 100% success rate on getting an interview, I just knew it could be better, and the critique hit some points I wanted to address. I was suckered in!

My first writer spent the best part of a week literally deleting all of my 16 years management experience, saying that as I was transitioning from the military it was no longer relevant. In two weeks we didn't make much progress at all, the product was significantly worse than the one I initially provided and didn't align to the target jobs. I put the new CV, which contained literally no experience at all - just a list of qualifications and a fictional summary, back through the TopCV critique tool and got an automated response saying it was in the top 4% of CVs - what a joke!

The complaints team was apologetic, and the second writer certainly had a better go at it, but still lacked either the will or ability to address the recommendations in the free critique. Having spent hours responding to drafts over a month I had to draw a line under it and move on.

Key issues from my perspective:
- Lack of interaction & exchange - this didn't provide the collaborative CV development I had hoped. The writers did nothing more than put the information I provided into one of their templates, with the addition of some action verbs. I made sure to respond to each draft with comprehensive comments within a few hours of receipt, but those comments fell on deaf ears.
- Poorly trained & experienced staff - If these guys were professional CV writers then I should be punting for a job as their CEO. I would be amazed if either of my writers had any real experience of recruitment.
- Lack of internal assurance - it was very clear that there was no process of checking the writers work before it was sent back to me. The first writers drafts were riddled with inaccuracies, spelling, and grammar mistakes. His response when I asked him to re-check his work was to ask if I could highlight the errors. Well, if i'm doing that then I have no need for your services as it's quicker to correct them myself as I go.

A long review, but I wanted to offer something I would have appreciated before I wasted my cash and several hours of my life.