Most candidates review their own resume for responsibilities, but recruiters scan for fit in the first 6–8 seconds: current title, company context, tech stack match with the job description, tenure, and measurable impact. Test every bullet against three questions — did I own this, what changed because of me, and can a number prove it? Cut generic phrases like "hardworking team player", keep it to 1–2 pages, and make sure the top third of page one sells your most recent role. If your resume would not survive a recruiter's first pass, it will rarely reach the hiring manager.

Paste your resume along with the exact job description and ask ChatGPT to screen it like a tech recruiter for that specific role — missing keywords, vague bullets, unclear impact, and red flags such as frequent switches or unexplained gaps. Refine bullet by bullet instead of accepting a full rewrite, since AI output tends to sound generic. AI is good for structure and keyword alignment, but it cannot judge market context — how your title, company type, or compensation reads to recruiters in India — so a final check from someone who actually hires for your target roles is still valuable.

In India, CV and resume are used interchangeably for tech jobs, so a CV review checks the same things: structure, relevance to the roles you are targeting, measurable impact, and whether it clears ATS screening. The only real difference is format — academic or research CVs run multiple pages, while tech industry resumes should stay within 1–2 pages. A proper CV review is not proofreading; it tests whether a recruiter would shortlist you for your target role in a single scan.

It usually refers to recruiters, mentors, or coaches critiquing your resume through LinkedIn — sometimes as free public posts, sometimes as paid 1:1 sessions. Free community comments give directional feedback, while a structured review from someone who actually hires for your target roles goes deeper into positioning, title calibration, and how companies in your market read your profile. Also remember that your LinkedIn profile itself gets reviewed alongside your resume, so keep both consistent.

Blind resume review means screening resumes with personal identifiers removed — name, gender, college, sometimes even company names — so candidates are judged on skills and impact rather than background. Some product companies and global teams use it to reduce bias in shortlisting. Since you cannot control whether a company screens blindly, the practical takeaway is the same: put evidence — scope, stack, and quantified outcomes — early in your resume so any first pass, blind or not, works in your favour.

Free options — AI tools, templates, community threads — are useful for fixing structure, formatting, and obvious keyword gaps. What a paid resume review service adds is judgement: how your title, company type, and compensation actually read in the market, whether you are targeting the right tier of companies, and why service-to-product transitions get rejected and how to prevent that. If you have been applying for months with barely any interview calls, generic feedback has already stopped working — that is when an experienced recruiter's review pays for itself.

Salary negotiation is the discussion between you and the employer to settle compensation before you accept an offer — base salary, variable pay, joining bonus, and equity or ESOPs. In India it typically begins when HR asks for your current and expected CTC and continues through the offer stage. It is not confrontation; recruiters expect candidates to negotiate. The meaning of salary negotiation done right is justifying your ask with market data and the value of the role, not personal needs.

Avoid revealing your expected CTC before the company shows real intent; when pushed, quote a range anchored slightly above your target. Negotiate the full package — base, variable, joining bonus, and equity — not just the monthly figure. Use market benchmarks or competing offers as justification, stay polite but firm, and never accept on the spot; ask for the offer in writing and take a day to respond. Do not heavily inflate your current CTC either, since many Indian employers verify payslips and a mismatch can collapse the offer at onboarding.

Formal negotiation starts only after the company has decided to hire you, usually when HR opens the compensation discussion. Sharing a broad expected range during early rounds is fine and often necessary, but pushing hard for numbers before any offer weakens your position because the company has not yet committed to you. The strongest leverage comes after you hold the written offer, when the employer has invested in selecting you and wants to close the role.

A typical flow looks like this — HR: "What are your salary expectations?" You: "Based on the market for this role and my experience with product companies, I am looking at ₹30–34 LPA; I am open to discussing the overall package." If the offer comes in low: "Thank you — I was targeting closer to ₹32 given current market benchmarks and my offer in hand. Could we look at the base or a joining bonus to bridge the gap?" Anchor your ask to role value and market data, keep the tone collaborative, and always get the revised numbers in writing before accepting.

A salary negotiation letter is a short, formal email in which you respond to a verbal offer with a counter — you thank them, confirm your enthusiasm, state a specific ask backed by justification such as market data, niche skills, or a competing offer, and close flexibly. In India most negotiation happens over calls and email threads, so this is usually just a well-structured email after the offer call. It works best for documenting agreed numbers and when your counter needs to be considered formally rather than forgotten on a call.

In tech, annual appraisals typically deliver 8–12%, while a switch commonly fetches a 25–40% hike, and niche skills or competing offers can push it higher. Product companies and big tech hire within fixed bands, so the goal is to enter the band as high as possible rather than break it. Anchor slightly above your target so there is room to settle in the middle, but avoid unrealistic demands — bands are real, and inflated asks simply stall offers. If you are currently underpaid, anchor to the market value of the role instead of your current CTC.

LinkedIn works best for product companies and recruiter outreach, Naukri still drives high volume for service and mid-market companies, and platforms like Instahyre, Cutshort, Hirist, and Wellfound are strong for startup and product roles. Company career pages matter too, since many roles appear there before aggregators pick them up. That said, a large share of product-company hiring runs on referrals and direct recruiter outreach, so treat job sites as one channel — tailor your resume keywords per platform and do not rely on cold applications alone.

Many roles get filled through referrals while the public posting is live or even before it exists. Build a target list of companies, then find engineers, hiring managers, and recruiters from those companies on LinkedIn and send short, specific messages about your relevant stack and impact. Second-degree referrals, recruiter "hiring" posts, and career-page alerts for a shortlist of companies will surface openings that job boards never show you. One referral from a current employee can outweigh dozens of cold applications.

Consider a tech job search coach when you are applying consistently but getting very few interviews, when you are moving from service companies to product companies and unsure how your profile reads, or when you are targeting big tech or overseas markets and cannot decode how titles, compensation, and hiring rounds translate. Someone who has actually hired in that market can show you how screening decisions are made, fix your positioning, and run mock recruiter or hiring manager interviews. If your pipeline is healthy and interviews are converting, free resources may be enough — diagnose where your funnel breaks before spending money.