A resume is a marketing document designed to secure an interview by showcasing your qualifications and value to an employer. An effective resume distinguishes you from other candidates by presenting a clear case for why you are the right person for the job. It demonstrates your impact and aligns your career story with the needs of a potential employer, turning a historical record into a forward-looking argument for your candidacy.
Choose the Right Resume Format
The most common and widely accepted format is the reverse-chronological resume. This layout lists your most recent work experience first and is favored by recruiters because it clearly shows your career progression. It is best suited for individuals with a steady employment history, as it highlights growth and recent accomplishments.
For those changing careers or with gaps in their employment history, a functional resume can be a choice. This format emphasizes your skills and abilities over a chronological work history. It groups accomplishments under skill-based headings, such as “Project Management,” to showcase qualifications that may not be apparent from a timeline of past jobs.
A combination, or hybrid, resume blends the reverse-chronological and functional formats. It starts with a professional summary or skills section, followed by a condensed chronological work history. This approach allows you to highlight relevant skills while still providing the career trajectory that hiring managers expect, and is useful for experienced professionals or career changers.
What to Include in Your Resume
Contact Information
Your contact information should be professional and easy to find at the top of the page. This section must include your full name, a professional email address, your phone number, and a link to your LinkedIn profile. Your city and state are sufficient for location; avoid personal details like age and only list social media handles if they are relevant to the job.
Professional Summary
The professional summary has replaced the objective statement. It is a 2-3 sentence “elevator pitch” below your contact information that focuses on the value you bring to the company. It should briefly introduce your professional background and highlight 1-2 achievements relevant to the role.
Work Experience
In the work experience section, list your job title, the company name, its location, and your employment dates for each position. Consistency in how you format each entry is important for readability and helps recruiters quickly scan your career history.
Education
The placement of your education section depends on your experience. For recent graduates, this section should appear near the top of the resume. For professionals with several years of experience, this section should be placed at the bottom. Include the name of the institution, your degree, and your graduation date.
Skills
A dedicated skills section allows you to list your abilities in a format that is easy to scan. This section should include a mix of hard skills, which are specific, teachable abilities like software proficiency, and soft skills, which are interpersonal qualities like communication and teamwork.
How to Write Compelling Content
Effective resumes demonstrate tangible impact, not just job duties. Start every bullet point in your work experience with a strong action verb to convey ownership and accomplishment. Words like “managed,” “developed,” or “implemented” are more powerful than “responsible for” or “duties included.”
Quantify your accomplishments with numbers and metrics. Instead of saying you “improved efficiency,” state that you “reduced project completion time by 15% by implementing a new workflow system.” This provides concrete evidence of your capabilities and helps the hiring manager visualize the value you could bring.
A useful framework for structuring these bullet points is the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, and Result. This narrative structure transforms a list of tasks into a story of your contributions. For example, a weak point might read: “Responsible for managing social media accounts.” A strong, STAR-based bullet point would be: “Grew social media engagement by 45% over six months (Result) by developing and executing a new content strategy (Action) for a B2C technology brand (Situation).”
Optimize for Applicant Tracking Systems
Many companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen resumes. These programs scan your document for keywords and formatting to determine if you are a match for the role. To get past this automated gatekeeper, incorporate keywords directly from the job description, mirroring the language used for skills and responsibilities.
Your resume’s structure affects its compatibility with an ATS. Use standard section headings like “Work Experience” or “Education” rather than creative alternatives. Avoid using tables, columns, headers, or footers, as these can confuse the parsing technology and cause your information to be read incorrectly.
A simple layout with a standard font is the safest choice for ATS optimization. Complex designs with graphics, images, or unusual fonts can be unreadable to the software. Submitting your resume as a .docx or .txt file can be more reliable than a PDF, as some older ATS platforms struggle with converting PDF documents.
Perfect Your Resume’s Design and Layout
Once your resume passes the ATS, it needs to impress a human reader. The design should prioritize readability and professionalism. Choose a clean font like Calibri, Cambria, or Garamond in a 10 to 12-point size. Consistency in formatting, such as using bold for job titles, creates a polished appearance that is easy to follow.
Use white space effectively. Ample margins (between 0.5 and 1 inch) and space between sections prevent the document from looking cluttered. This balance makes the content more digestible and allows a hiring manager to quickly scan for information. Break down large blocks of text into shorter paragraphs or bullet points.
For most professionals, a one-page resume is the standard. This constraint forces you to be concise and focus on your most relevant accomplishments. A two-page resume is acceptable only for senior-level executives or individuals in academic or scientific fields with extensive lists of publications or projects.
Tailor and Proofread Before Sending
A generic resume is less effective than one tailored to the job. Before each submission, customize your resume by adjusting your professional summary to align with the company’s mission. Review the job description and ensure your skills and work experience highlight the qualifications the employer is seeking.
The final step is proofreading. A single typo or grammatical error can get your application discarded, as it suggests a lack of attention to detail. Read your resume multiple times, use a grammar-checking tool, or have a friend review it. Reading your resume backward can help you catch errors your brain might otherwise overlook.