Recently laid off
Start with the rebuild kit and don't skip the support resources, the heavy part is real.
Vetted, organized, honestly labeled
Free resources
for every stage.
Most resources here are free. A few are paid — and we always label cost up front so you know before you click. We add new resources as we vet them and remove ones that stop being useful.
By audience
Not sure where to start? Pick the situation closest to yours.
New graduate
First job out of school. Templates that pass ATS, communities to actually meet people, and interview prep that doesn't pretend you have ten years of experience.
Trades and blue collar
Apprenticeships, union paths, and free retraining you've already paid for through taxes.
Returning to work
Caregivers, veterans, formerly incarcerated. Programs that actually hire, free coaching, and fair-chance employers.
Mid-career change
Translate, retrain, pitch yourself into the next chapter. Books and free training programs that pivot people for real.
Resume and LinkedIn
Get past the bots. Land in the human pile.
JobBoost.ai
Our own AI career tool. Tailored applications, smarter outreach, and faster turnaround across resume, cover letter, and recruiter messages. Built by Zero Equals Zero LLC, the same team behind 5M.AI.
Free + paid plans from $9.99/mo
Teal
All-in-one resume builder, application tracker, and job match scorer with a Chrome extension. Best overall for most job seekers.
Free + paid plans from $13/wk or $79/qtr
Resume Worded
Free resume scoring plus a separate LinkedIn profile audit. The free tier alone is worth running before you apply anywhere.
Free + paid plans from $19/mo (annual)
Jobscan
The original ATS scanner. Paste your resume and a job description, get a keyword match score back.
Free + paid plans from $24.95/mo (annual)
FlowCV
ATS-friendly resume builder with clean templates. Free tier gives you 1 resume forever with unlimited watermark-free PDF downloads.
Free + paid plans from $4/mo
Earnbetter
Free resume rewriting and cover-letter generation. Fully free for job seekers; employer-funded model where companies pay only when a candidate is hired.
Free
Rezi
Heavy ATS-optimization focus with AI bullet writing. Useful if you want a more guided drafting flow than a blank template.
Free + paid plans from $29/mo or $149 lifetime
Enhancv
Visually-distinct templates with personality fields. Stands out in design, marketing, and creative roles where look matters.
Free + paid plans from $13.33/mo (semi-annual)
LinkedIn Open to Work
Flip the switch and recruiters can find you. Set it private to recruiters first; only go public-banner if you want everyone to know.
Free
ChatGPT
OpenAI's general-purpose LLM. Give it your resume, the JD, and three samples of your voice, and it'll out-write most paid AI resume wrappers. Don't pay extra for a wrapper.
Free + paid plans from $20/mo
Claude
Anthropic's general-purpose LLM. Same approach as ChatGPT — feed it your resume, the JD, and voice samples, and it'll out-write most paid AI resume tools. Don't pay extra for a wrapper.
Free + paid plans from $20/mo
Google Gemini
Google's general-purpose LLM. Same playbook — paste your resume, the JD, and voice samples and let it draft. Bundled into Google AI Pro alongside extra Workspace features.
Free + paid plans from $19.99/mo (Google AI Pro)
Job search and discovery
Where the real listings live, and how to find them faster.
LinkedIn Jobs
Largest professional network. Best for white-collar roles and networking-led applications. Premium adds applicant counts.
Free
Indeed
Highest job volume globally. Strong for hourly, retail, admin, and trades alongside professional roles.
Free
Google for Jobs
Aggregates from company career pages and major boards. Often has the freshest results. Search any role and the Jobs widget appears.
Free
Hiring.cafe
AI-driven aggregator that scrapes directly from company career pages. Fewer stale listings, no third-party reposts.
Free
We Work Remotely
Largest remote-first board. Tech-heavy but covers marketing, customer support, and design too.
Free
Wellfound
The startup standard, formerly AngelList Talent. Salary and equity displayed up front. Strong for seed through Series C.
Free
Y Combinator Work at a Startup
YC company jobs only. Higher technical bar than Wellfound, but a tighter signal-to-noise ratio.
Free
Built In
Tech roles by city, NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, Austin, Boston, with rich company culture profiles.
Free
USAJobs
Official US federal portal for civil-service jobs, roughly 450,000 announcements posted per year across every agency. Use the built-in resume builder; federal resumes are longer than private-sector ones.
Free
Welcome to the Jungle / Otta
European-rooted tech board with rich company profiles. Good filtering by funding stage, mission, and culture. Welcome to the Jungle acquired Otta in January 2024, both brands still operate.
Free
Huntr
Visual kanban application tracker with a Chrome extension. Drop URLs in and it pulls the role detail for you.
Free + paid plans from $26.66/mo (biannual)
FlexJobs
Hand-screened remote and flexible roles. The only paid board worth considering. They vet for scams, which other remote boards don't.
Paid plans from $5.95/mo (annual)
Interview prep
Free practice, frameworks, and the questions you'll actually be asked.
Interview Warmup (Google)
Free AI mock-interview tool with feedback on what you said and how. The single best free behavioral practice tool.
Free
Interviewing.io
Anonymous mock interviews with senior engineers from top companies. Free anonymous practice plus paid premium interviews; price varies by subject and target company. Full refund if you're unhappy. Strong sessions can convert into real interviews at FAANG-tier employers.
Free + premium interviews from $179
Yoodli
AI speech coach that tracks pace, filler words, and eye contact. Free Starter tier covers 5 roleplays; paid plans unlock more frequency and unlimited roleplays. Great for polish on presentations and panel-style rounds.
Free + paid plans from $8/mo (annual)
Hello Interview
System design interview prep, the leading resource for senior software engineers preparing for design rounds. Pay-per-session mocks sold separately from the Premium subscription.
Free + Premium: $47/mo, $79/yr, or $279 lifetime · Mocks: $170 general, $289 target-company
LeetCode
The standard for coding interview practice. Free covers most of what you need; Premium unlocks company-specific question banks.
Free + paid plans from ~$35/mo
Glassdoor Interview Reviews
Recent interviewees report the questions they were asked, by company and role. Almost always a free directional read.
Free
Big Interview
Video practice with industry-specific tracks and AI feedback on your answers. Lifetime pricing makes it cheaper than monthly tools long-term.
Paid plans: $39/mo, $99 for 3 months, or $299 lifetime
Exponent
Strong for product, eng manager, data, design, and strategy interviews. Coaches plus structured courses plus mock interviews.
Paid plans from ~$12/mo (annual)
Offer and negotiation
Don't leave money on the table. Most people do.
Levels.fyi
The standard for tech compensation data, by company, level, and location. Their negotiation coaches charge only on increase, so the free data alone is reason enough to visit.
Free data
Fearless Salary Negotiation
Josh Doody's free book is the best salary-negotiation guide on the open internet. Read it twice before the offer call.
Free
Candor
Free offer review and negotiation help for tech roles. Worth submitting your offer for a sanity check before responding.
Free
Glassdoor Salaries
Self-reported salary data, broad coverage across industries. Reasonable for non-tech roles where Levels.fyi is light.
Free
Payscale
Free personalized salary report after answering a survey. Strongest for non-tech mid-market roles.
Free
BLS OEWS
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: official US salary data by occupation and metro area. Slow to update, but authoritative.
Free
Salary Transparent Street
Hannah Williams' on-the-street pay-transparency interviews. A useful gut check on what people in your geography and role actually make.
Free
ADPList Negotiation Mentors
Filter ADPList mentors by "salary negotiation" and book a free 30-minute session before the offer call. Practice the conversation out loud.
Free
Mental health and resilience
Unemployment is heavy. You don't have to white-knuckle through it.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988 from anywhere in the US. Free, confidential, 24/7. If you're in crisis, this is the number.
Free
Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741 for free, confidential crisis support. Useful when calling feels like too much.
Free
SAMHSA National Helpline
1-800-662-4357. Free, confidential, 24/7 information and referrals for mental health and substance use, in English and Spanish.
Free
Open Path Collective
Sliding-scale therapy from licensed therapists: $40–70 per session for individual therapy ($30–40 with student interns), $40–80 for couples/family. One-time $65 membership fee. Best low-cost option for ongoing therapy in the US.
Sliding scale
NAMI HelpLine
Free peer mental-health support and referrals from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. ET. Call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or text 62640.
Free
Focusmate
Virtual coworking with a real human on a video call. Free for three sessions a week. A powerful tool for breaking job-search procrastination.
Free + paid plans from $8/mo (annual)
211
Dial 211 from anywhere in the US for local referrals to food, housing, mental health, and crisis services. Often the fastest path to local sliding-scale care.
Free
Walking outside
Sounds trite. Works. Thirty minutes outside daily measurably reduces job-search depression and is free everywhere.
Free
Communities and networking
Coffee chats are the unit of networking. Aim for two to five a week.
ADPList
38,000+ mentors offering free 30-minute sessions across industries. The best free coaching option, period.
Free
Lunchclub
AI-matched 1:1 coffee chats with people in your space. Useful for serendipitous job-search conversations.
Free
Tech Ladies
Women and non-binary in tech, active job channel and warm intros. One of the highest-signal Slacks in the space.
Free
RevGenius
50,000+ sales, marketing, and revenue-ops professionals. Active hiring channel and warm intros across SDR, AE, CSM, marketing, and RevOps.
Free
Online Geniuses
Tens of thousands of digital marketers in one Slack, SEO, paid, content, lifecycle. Pick your channel.
Free
The Product Folks
Product manager community with mentorship, events, and a job board. Strong for early- and mid-career PMs.
Free
MicroMentor
Free 1:1 mentorship platform connecting entrepreneurs with volunteer business mentors. Originally part of Mercy Corps, now an independent nonprofit. Broader than career advice, strong for small-business and career-pivot conversations.
Free
Government, training, and benefits
Free programs you've already paid for with your taxes. Use them.
CareerOneStop
Department of Labor hub linking to American Job Centers, training, salary data, and unemployment offices in every state. Start here if you're newly unemployed.
Free
American Job Centers
Local one-stop centers offering free career counseling, resume review, interview prep, and referrals to WIOA-funded training. Open to anyone.
Free
Unemployment Insurance
File the week you're laid off, even if you're unsure you qualify. Most states have a one-week waiting period that runs from the day you file, not the day you lost the job.
Free
WIOA Training
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funds free retraining for in-demand careers. Apply through your local American Job Center, funding is competitive, so apply early.
Free
Year Up
Free, intensive ~6-month training program followed by a ~6-month paid corporate internship, about one year total. For adults 18–29 with a high school diploma or GED.
Free
Per Scholas
Free tuition-free tech training for career changers: software engineering, cybersecurity, IT support, data engineering. Cohorts fill fast.
Free
Goodwill
155+ independent, community-based local Goodwill organizations across the US and Canada. Free job training (IT, healthcare, retail, customer service), resume help, and placement, exactly what's offered varies by your local Goodwill.
Free
Benefits.gov
Single federal portal that screens you for 1,000+ benefit programs: food, housing, healthcare, training. Faster than calling each agency individually.
Free
Affinity and specialty resources
Mainstream platforms miss a lot. These don't.
RecruitMilitary
Veteran job board plus in-person and virtual career fairs. The single biggest hub for transitioning service members and spouses.
Free
Hire Heroes USA
Free 1:1 career coaching, resume help, and employer connections for veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses.
Free
PowerToFly
Job board and community for women and underrepresented professionals, with a remote-friendly bias and active employer events.
Free
Jopwell
Job board and community for Black, Latinx, and Native American professionals across industries.
Free
Out in Tech
LGBTQ+ tech community with mentorship, a job board, and chapter events worldwide.
Free
Inclusively
Job platform built around workplace accommodations for disabled and neurodivergent candidates. You disclose needs once and they're shared with vetted employers.
Free
AARP BACK to Work 50+
Free job training and placement program for workers 50 and older. Pairs with the AARP age-friendly job board.
Free
Honest Jobs
Job board specifically for fair-chance employers, companies that hire people with criminal records.
Free
Dress for Success
Free professional attire, interview coaching, and career mentorship for women re-entering the workforce. 145+ affiliates worldwide.
Free
Reading and listening
Newsletters, podcasts, and books worth your time between applications.
Madeline Mann (YouTube)
Self Made Millennial. HR insider with practical, current advice on resumes, interviews, and salary. The single best free YouTube career channel.
Free
Lenny's Newsletter
Lenny Rachitsky's weekly newsletter for product, growth, and ops. Free posts plus paid tier for deep dives, podcast archives, and a 30,000+ member private Slack. Heavily read by hiring managers in tech.
Free + paid plans from $200/yr (~$16.67/mo)
Workhap (Sho Dewan)
YouTube and LinkedIn content built around concrete job-search frameworks. Strong on networking scripts and follow-up cadence.
Free
Designing Your Life
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. Stanford's design-thinking approach to career change. Foundational reading for anyone pivoting industries.
$ (book)
What Color Is Your Parachute?
Richard Bolles' classic, updated annually. The exercises on transferable skills and informational interviewing remain best-in-class.
$ (book)
Hannah Williams (YouTube)
Salary Transparent Street. Person-on-the-street pay-transparency interviews. Reality-checks what people in your role and city actually make.
Free
The Pragmatic Engineer
Gergely Orosz's newsletter on tech industry hiring, leveling, and engineering culture. Required reading for senior+ tech job seekers.
Free + paid plans from $150/yr (~$12.50/mo)