In the American job market, a resume serves as your primary marketing document. Its purpose is to secure an interview by presenting your qualifications in a format that is quickly understood by hiring managers. Because recruiters may spend only a few seconds on an initial review, adhering to specific formatting and content conventions ensures your most relevant attributes are immediately visible.
Formatting an American Resume
The layout of an American resume is clean and straightforward, designed for maximum readability. For most professionals with under ten years of experience, the standard length is one page. This constraint forces you to be concise and prioritize the most impactful information. Use a professional and legible font such as Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman, typically in a size between 10 and 12 points.
Margins should be set between 0.5 and 1 inch on all sides to prevent the content from looking cluttered. The most common structure is the reverse-chronological format, where you list your work experience starting with your most recent position. This layout is favored by recruiters because it provides a clear and immediate snapshot of your career trajectory.
Key Information to Exclude
To comply with U.S. anti-discrimination laws and workplace norms, certain personal information must be omitted from your resume. Including a photograph is a common practice in many countries, but it is explicitly discouraged in the United States. Photos can introduce unconscious bias related to age, race, and gender, and employers avoid them to maintain a fair hiring process based on qualifications alone.
You must also exclude your date of birth, age, marital status, and any details about your family or dependents. Similarly, information about your nationality, visa status, or religion has no place on the resume. The goal is to prevent any form of discrimination by focusing the document entirely on your professional capabilities and experience. Personal hobbies should also be left off unless they are highly relevant to the job you are applying for.
Essential Resume Sections
Contact Information
Your contact information should be placed at the very top of the page. This section must include your full name, a professional email address, and a reliable phone number. It is also standard practice to include your city and state, though a full street address is no longer necessary for privacy and security reasons. Adding a link to your updated and professional LinkedIn profile is highly recommended.
Resume Summary or Objective
Directly below your contact details, you should include either a resume summary or an objective. A resume summary is ideal for professionals with established careers; it is a 2-3 sentence pitch that highlights your most significant achievements and skills. For instance, a summary might read: “Marketing Manager with over eight years of experience developing data-driven campaigns that increased lead generation by 30%.”
An objective statement is better suited for those who are just entering the workforce or changing careers. It focuses on your career goals and how they align with the company’s needs. An example for a recent graduate could be: “A highly motivated and detail-oriented recent finance graduate seeking to apply quantitative analysis skills to an entry-level financial analyst position at a leading investment firm.”
Work Experience
The work experience section forms the core of your resume. For each position, include the name of the company, its location (city and state), your job title, and the dates of your employment (month and year). The substance of this section—the bullet points detailing your responsibilities and accomplishments—is where you will demonstrate your value.
Education
List your highest degree first. Include the name of the institution, its location, the degree you earned (e.g., Bachelor of Science in Business Administration), and your graduation date. If you have recently graduated, you might also include your GPA if it was 3.5 or higher, but this becomes less relevant as you gain professional experience.
Skills
A dedicated skills section allows you to highlight specific capabilities that are relevant to the job. This area should be easy to scan and can be broken down into subcategories for clarity. You might include a “Technical Skills” subsection for software programs (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, Python) and a “Soft Skills” subsection for interpersonal attributes (e.g., Communication, Teamwork, Problem-Solving). Listing these skills makes it easier for both recruiters and automated systems to identify you as a qualified candidate.
Writing with Impact
To make your work experience stand out, begin each descriptive bullet point with a strong action verb. Words like “managed,” “developed,” “led,” and “executed” are much more powerful than passive phrases such as “responsible for.” This approach frames you as a proactive individual who takes initiative.
Instead of simply listing your job duties, focus on your accomplishments and quantify them with specific numbers and data whenever possible. For example, a generic statement like “Handled customer service inquiries” does not convey your effectiveness. A much more impactful version would be, “Resolved over 50 customer inquiries daily, achieving a 95% customer satisfaction rating.” Using metrics demonstrates the tangible results of your work.
Tailoring Your Resume for Each Application
Customizing your resume for each job application is more effective than submitting a generic one. Analyze the job description to identify the skills, qualifications, and responsibilities the employer is seeking. Pay close attention to recurring words and phrases, as these are likely the keywords the company values.
Many companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to perform an initial screen of resumes. These software programs scan your document for specific keywords and phrases that match the job description. To ensure your resume passes this initial filter, you must strategically incorporate those identified keywords. For instance, if a job posting repeatedly mentions “project management” and “data analysis,” you should feature these terms in your skills section and work experience descriptions.