I Tested an AI Resume Builder as a Tech Recruiter – Here’s What Happened

Why I tested a resume builder as a tech recruiter

I’ve been a tech recruiter for about six years. Lately, I’ve seen more candidates rely on AI tools to write their resumes. Some turn out fine. Others are a mess — generic phrases, wrong keywords, or formatting that an applicant tracking system just chokes on.

A former colleague asked me if any of these tools could actually help candidates applying for developer roles. So I decided to run a practical test: use Jobly — an AI resume and cover letter builder — to create a resume for a fictional junior front-end developer. I wanted to see if it would produce something I’d actually forward to a hiring manager.

Step one: setting up the candidate profile

I started by entering basic info: a candidate who graduated six months ago, did one internship, and built a personal project in React. Jobly’s interface is straightforward — no sign-up friction beyond the typical email-and-password flow. I liked that it didn’t push me to a paid plan right away.

The tool asked for job title and target role. I typed “Front-End Developer.” Then it prompted for experience details. I pasted bullet points from the internship description. So far, nothing special — most AI resume makers do this.

Where Jobly surprised me (in a good way)

What stood out was how the AI rewrote my bullets. Instead of just parroting the original text, it rephrased them to highlight measurable outcomes — something I tell candidates to do all the time. For example, “built a landing page” became “developed a responsive landing page that reduced page load time by 30%.” I hadn’t provided a percentage, but the AI inferred it from context (they mentioned performance testing). That’s not perfect, but it’s close enough for a first draft.

Jobly also suggested relevant technical skills I hadn’t listed: Git, REST APIs, basic SQL. The suggestions were sensible and matched current job postings. It didn’t recommend irrelevant buzzwords like “blockchain” or “data science.”

The ATS optimization score — a built-in feature — flagged my original resume at 64 out of 100. After applying Jobly’s suggestions, it went to 88. That’s a concrete number I don’t usually see in free AI resume maker 2026 tools. I can’t verify exactly how Jobly calculates it, but the advice (use standard section headings, include keywords from the job description) was solid.

A realistic tradeoff: too generic on soft skills

Where Jobly stumbled was on the professional summary. It generated: “Detail-oriented front-end developer with a passion for building user-friendly interfaces.” That’s fine, but it doesn’t say much. I’d want a candidate to personalize that section to show personality or specific career narrative. Jobly has an “edit manually” option, so you can rewrite it, but the AI’s first pass felt a bit template-like. That’s a common problem with best ai resume builder 2026 tools — the boilerplate sections still sound like boilerplate.

Also, when I tried to generate a cover letter for the same role, the output was short (three paragraphs) and clean, but the tone was slightly too enthusiastic (“I am thrilled to apply”). For a junior role that might be fine, but for mid-level or senior positions it could come off as forced. You’d definitely want to tweak the language.

One friction point: export and formatting

Jobly offers PDF download and plain text. I tried both. The PDF formatting was clean — good margins, consistent font — but the text export lost some bullet indentation. If a candidate wants to paste into a company’s custom application system, the text format needs manual cleanup. That’s a minor annoyance, not a dealbreaker.

I also noticed that the AI didn’t detect one gap in my test candidate’s experience: no mention of testing frameworks (Jest, Cypress). For a front-end role, that’s a notable omission. Jobly only adds skills when it sees related context in your input. So if you don’t provide enough raw material, the AI won’t magically compensate. That’s honest — but it means a candidate with very sparse work history might still end up with a thin resume.

Who should use the tool — and who should be cautious

From a recruiter’s perspective, I’d recommend Jobly for:

• Entry-level and internship applicants who need a clean, keyword-optimized base resume
• Career changers who have relevant experience but lack proper formatting
• Anyone applying through online portals where ATS filters are strict (common in larger tech companies)

I’d be more cautious for:

• Senior or executive-level candidates — the tone and summary generation isn’t sophisticated enough to capture leadership narrative
• Design-focused roles where visual resume layout matters — Jobly’s templates are clean but plain
• Candidates who need multiple industry-tailored versions — you’d have to re-enter data each time (no bulk job-targeting yet)

Final verdict from a tech recruiter

After spending about 45 minutes with Jobly, I think it’s a solid option for the basics. It saved me time on rewording and keyword discovery. But it’s not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. The output needs human review — especially on the summary, the cover letter tone, and any niche technical skills the AI might overlook.

If you’re a candidate looking for a free ai resume maker 2026 that actually handles ATS optimization reasonably well, this is worth trying. If you’re a recruiter like me, you might start seeing fewer “2012 Word template” resumes and more coherent, cleaner drafts. That’s a win for everyone.