Making a resume starts with choosing the right format, filling it with achievement-focused content, and formatting it so both hiring software and human recruiters can read it easily. Whether you’re writing your first resume or rebuilding one from scratch, the process breaks down into a series of clear steps that work across industries and experience levels.
Pick the Right Resume Format
There are three main resume formats, and the best one depends on your work history. A chronological resume lists your jobs in reverse order, starting with the most recent. This is the standard choice if you have a steady work history with clear career progression, and it’s what most recruiters expect to see.
A functional resume organizes your experience around skills rather than job titles. It works well if you have gaps in employment, are switching careers, or have a mix of freelance and volunteer work that doesn’t fit neatly into a timeline. The tradeoff is that some recruiters view it skeptically because it can obscure when and where you worked.
A hybrid resume splits the difference: it leads with a skills section, then follows with a brief chronological work history. This is a strong option for recent graduates whose coursework and extracurriculars are more relevant than their job history, or for anyone who wants to highlight transferable skills without hiding their timeline. For most job seekers with at least a couple of years of experience, the chronological format is the safest bet.
Set Up Your Layout
Use a single-column layout with one-inch margins on all sides. This keeps the page balanced, prevents text from looking cramped, and ensures applicant tracking systems (the software many employers use to scan resumes before a human sees them) can read your content correctly. Tables, multiple columns, and graphics often confuse these systems, so avoid them unless you’re in a creative field and know the employer reviews resumes manually.
Choose a clean, professional font like Arial, Calibri, Georgia, or Times New Roman. Set body text between 10 and 12 points and section headers between 14 and 16 points. Save your resume as a PDF unless the job posting specifically asks for a Word document. PDFs preserve your formatting across devices.
Write Your Contact Header
At the top of the page, list your full name, phone number, professional email address, and location (city and state is enough). If you have a LinkedIn profile, portfolio site, or personal website relevant to the job, add that link here too. Skip your full street address. Recruiters don’t need it at the application stage, and it takes up space you could use for something more useful.
Add a Professional Summary
Below your contact info, write two to three sentences summarizing who you are, what you do well, and what kind of role you’re targeting. This is your pitch. A strong summary names your field, your level of experience, and one or two standout skills or accomplishments. For example: “Operations manager with six years of experience streamlining warehouse logistics. Reduced order fulfillment time by 30% at a mid-size e-commerce company. Looking to bring process improvement expertise to a growing distribution team.”
If you’re early in your career and don’t have a long track record, use this space to highlight relevant coursework, certifications, or internship experience. Keep it concrete. Avoid vague phrases like “passionate team player” or “results-driven professional” that could describe anyone.
Build Your Work Experience Section
This section carries the most weight. For each role, list the job title, company name, location (city and state), and the dates you worked there. Below that, add three to five bullet points describing what you accomplished, not just what you were assigned to do.
The difference between a forgettable bullet point and a strong one comes down to structure. A useful framework is APR: Action, Project or Problem, Result. Start each bullet with a specific action verb, describe the project or problem you worked on, then state the outcome. Quantify results with numbers, percentages, or dollar amounts whenever possible.
- Weak: “Responsible for managing social media accounts.”
- Strong: “Managed four social media channels, growing combined follower count from 12,000 to 45,000 in eight months and increasing website referral traffic by 60%.”
Vary your action verbs from bullet to bullet. Starting multiple lines with “managed” or “led” makes the resume feel repetitive. Words like “negotiated,” “redesigned,” “launched,” “trained,” and “streamlined” paint a more specific picture. Avoid weak openers like “helped with,” “worked on,” or “responsible for,” which describe proximity to work rather than ownership of it.
If you’re wondering what counts as an accomplishment, ask yourself: Did I save time or money? Did I improve a process? Did I train someone? Did I hit or exceed a target? Did I build something new? Even small wins count when framed clearly.
List Your Skills
Create a dedicated skills section with six to twelve relevant skills. This serves two purposes: it gives recruiters a quick snapshot of your capabilities, and it gives applicant tracking systems keywords to match against the job description. Include both technical skills (specific software, programming languages, certifications) and transferable skills (project management, data analysis, client communication) that appear in the posting you’re applying for.
Use the exact phrasing from the job description when it matches your real abilities. If the posting says “stakeholder engagement,” don’t paraphrase it as “working with people.” The tracking system is scanning for specific terms, and close synonyms sometimes get filtered out.
Include Education and Credentials
List your highest degree first, with the school name, degree type, field of study, and graduation year. If you graduated within the last few years, you can include your GPA if it’s 3.0 or above and add relevant coursework or academic honors. For experienced professionals, education typically sits near the bottom of the resume and needs only the basics.
Certifications, licenses, and professional development courses go in this section or in a separate “Certifications” section right below it. If a certification is central to the job (a CPA for an accounting role, a PMP for project management), make sure it’s easy to spot.
Tailor Your Resume for Each Application
A generic resume sent to fifty employers will underperform a tailored resume sent to ten. Before you submit an application, read the job description carefully and identify the top skills, qualifications, and responsibilities the employer emphasizes. Then adjust your summary, reorder your bullet points so the most relevant achievements come first, and make sure key terms from the posting appear naturally in your skills section and work experience.
This doesn’t mean rewriting the entire document each time. It means keeping a “master” resume with all your experience, then creating a customized version for each application by selecting and reordering the most relevant content. Use standard job titles that match the posting. If your actual title was something creative like “Client Happiness Lead,” list it as “Client Services Manager” (or whatever the closest standard title is) so tracking systems and recruiters recognize it immediately.
Using AI Tools to Polish Your Resume
AI writing tools can help you refine wording, suggest stronger action verbs, and identify gaps in your resume. But they work best as editors, not authors. Start with your own draft and your own details, then feed it into an AI tool section by section for targeted suggestions. Generic AI-generated text tends to sound vague and impersonal, which is the opposite of what you want.
Always review AI suggestions carefully. Make sure every bullet point accurately reflects what you actually did, because you’ll need to speak to every line of your resume in an interview. Read the final version out loud to catch repetitive phrasing or claims that don’t sound like you. Also keep an eye on application instructions. Some employers specify whether AI tools can be used in preparing materials, and ignoring those rules can disqualify you.
One practical caution: avoid pasting sensitive personal information (Social Security numbers, salary details, proprietary company data) into any AI tool.
Final Checks Before Submitting
Keep your resume to one page if you have fewer than ten years of experience. Two pages are acceptable for senior professionals with extensive, relevant history. Proofread everything, ideally by reading it out loud and having someone else review it. Check that your contact info is current, your dates are accurate, and your formatting is consistent (if one job title is bolded, they all should be).
Save the file with a clear name like “Jane-Smith-Resume.pdf” rather than “Resume-final-v3.pdf.” Small details like this signal professionalism before the recruiter even opens the document.