A resume has one job: to get you an interview. It does not need to tell your whole story, list every duty you ever had or prove you are a good person. It needs to show, quickly, that you can do the job being offered.
This guide walks through a resume from top to bottom in the order most people write one. Each step says what to include, what to leave out and why. Where it helps, you will see a weak line next to a stronger version of the same line.
Before you start, gather what you need
Writing is much faster when the facts are already in front of you. Spend twenty minutes collecting them before you write a word.
- Your jobs for the last ten to fifteen years: employer, job title, city, start and end month and year.
- What you achieved in each: numbers you are sure of, projects you finished, problems you solved, praise you received in reviews.
- Your education, licenses and certifications, with the dates and the organizations that issued them.
- Two or three job postings you would like to apply to. They tell you which skills and words matter.
Old performance reviews, project reports and emails thanking you are the best source of results. People almost always remember less than they did.
Choose a format and a template
For most people the right format is reverse-chronological: your most recent job first, then the one before, and so on. Recruiters expect it and applicant tracking systems read it reliably. The other formats have narrower uses, which our guide to resume formats explains.
The template is the design on top of that format. If you are applying through job portals, choose a one-column template with standard headings; if a person will read your resume first, for example after a referral, a two-column design is fine. You can see which is which on our resume templates page, where each template is labeled by how well software reads it.
Keep the design calm: one or two typefaces, body text between 10 and 12 points, clear space between sections and margins of about half an inch to an inch.
Put your contact details at the top
The header is where a recruiter looks when they want to call you, so make it complete and easy to read.
- Your name, larger than anything else on the page.
- A headline with the job you do or want, such as "Registered Nurse" or "Junior Data Analyst".
- Phone number and a professional email address.
- City and state, or city and country. A full street address is no longer needed.
- A link to LinkedIn, a portfolio or GitHub if it helps your case and is up to date.
In the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, leave out your photo, date of birth, marital status and nationality. Employers there are not supposed to consider them, and many prefer not to see them. Some countries, including Germany and Turkey, still expect some of these details; follow local custom when you apply there.
Write a short summary
The summary sits under your header and answers the reader's first question: who is this person? Two to four sentences are enough. Say what you do, for how long, what you are best at, and one result that proves it.
- Instead of
- Hard-working, motivated professional looking for an opportunity to grow in a dynamic company.
- Write
- Customer service representative with five years in phone and chat support. Keeps a 94% satisfaction score and resolves 85% of issues on first contact.
The first version could describe anyone. The second tells a hiring manager the job, the experience and the level of performance in two sentences.
Write the summary last, once the rest of the resume shows you what your strongest points are. Our guide to resume summaries has examples for every stage of a career.
Describe your experience with results
Experience is the heart of the resume and the part recruiters read most carefully. List each job with the title, employer, city and dates, then three to six bullet points underneath. Give recent jobs more bullets and older ones fewer.
Write bullets as actions with outcomes
A good bullet starts with a verb, says what you did and ends with what changed because of it. Where you can, add a number: how many, how much, how fast, how often.
- Instead of
- Responsible for managing the social media accounts.
- Write
- Grew the company's Instagram from 4,000 to 19,000 followers in a year by posting customer stories three times a week.
Responsibilities describe the job; results describe you. The stronger line shows the scale, the outcome and how it was achieved.
- Instead of
- Helped with inventory.
- Write
- Ran weekly cycle counts for 2,000 products and brought stock accuracy from 94% to 99%.
Even routine work has a measure. Accuracy, volume and time saved all count.
Use numbers you can explain
Numbers make a claim believable, but only if they are true. If you do not know the exact figure, describe the change in words or use a range you can defend. An interviewer who asks how you measured something should get a clear answer.
What to do with gaps and short jobs
A gap does not need an apology on the page. If you were studying, caring for someone or looking for work, you can add a one-line entry that says so, or simply explain it in an interview. Very short jobs can be left out if they add nothing, as long as you are honest if asked.
For the right words and results in your field, look at the resume examples by job. Each has ten bullet points you can adapt.
Add your education
List your highest qualification first, with the school, the degree or certificate, and the year you finished. If you are still studying, write the expected date, for example "expected May 2027".
- With several years of experience, education goes after your jobs and takes a line or two.
- As a student or recent graduate, it goes first and can include relevant courses, projects and honors.
- Include a GPA only if it is strong (3.0 or higher is the usual rule in the US) and you graduated recently.
- High school can be left out once you have a college degree.
The student resume example shows education placed first with coursework and a club role doing the work that a job history cannot yet do.
List skills that match the job
A skills section helps both people and software find the abilities a job needs. Keep it to six to twelve items, and choose the ones the posting asks for that you could prove in an interview.
- Hard skills are specific and testable: a language, a machine, a method, a piece of software.
- Soft skills are how you work: communication, leadership, patience. List a few, and show them in your bullets as well.
- Avoid rating yourself with stars or bars. Nobody knows what three out of five means, and software cannot read the graphic.
Our guide to resume skills has lists by field and explains how to prove each one.
Add the sections that help your case
After the core sections, add only what makes you a better fit for this job.
| Section | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Certifications and licenses | The job requires or rewards them, as in healthcare, trades and IT. |
| Languages | You speak another language well enough to use it at work. |
| Projects | You are early in your career or changing fields and need proof of skills. |
| Volunteering | It shows skills or commitment the job values. |
| Awards | They are recent and meaningful to the reader. |
| Publications | You are in research, academia or a field that values them. |
Leave out "references available on request", which everyone assumes, and hobbies unless they relate to the work or show something unusual that an interviewer might ask about.
Tailor it to each job
Sending the same resume everywhere is the most common reason good candidates hear nothing back. You do not need to rewrite it for every application, but you should adjust three things: the summary, the order of your bullets and the skills.
- Read the posting and mark the skills and duties it mentions more than once.
- Make sure each of those appears on your resume, in the same words, where it is true.
- Move the most relevant bullets to the top of each job.
- Change the summary so it speaks to this role.
Our guide to tailoring a resume to a job description walks through this with an example.
Check it, then save the right file
A single typo can cost you an interview for jobs that value precision. Read the resume aloud, then read it again from the bottom up, which makes spelling mistakes easier to spot. Ask someone else to read it if you can.
- Dates are consistent in style and there are no unexplained overlaps.
- Every bullet in a past job uses the past tense; your current job uses the present.
- Your phone number and email address work.
- It fits on one page, or two if you have many years of relevant experience. See how long a resume should be.
Send a PDF unless the employer asks for Word. A PDF keeps your layout exactly as you designed it, and modern applicant tracking systems read text-based PDFs well. Name the file with your name and the role, such as "Maya-Okafor-Resume-Registered-Nurse.pdf".
Before you submit through a job portal, read our guide to making an ATS-friendly resume.
Questions
What should a resume include?
Contact details, a short summary, work experience with results, education and skills. Add certifications, languages, projects or volunteering when they help you fit the job.
How far back should a resume go?
Usually ten to fifteen years. Older jobs can be removed or listed briefly without bullet points, unless they are directly relevant.
Should I write a resume in the first person?
Resumes are usually written without "I": "Managed a team of five" rather than "I managed a team of five". The summary can be written either way, as long as you are consistent.
Is it all right to use a resume template?
Yes. A good template saves time and keeps the layout consistent. Choose one that software can read if you are applying online, and change the content, not just the name.
How do I write a resume with no experience?
Lead with education and training, then describe volunteering, projects, part-time work and caring responsibilities as if they were jobs. Our resume example for people with no experience shows how.