A strong resume needs six core elements: a header with contact information, a professional summary, a work experience section with achievement-driven bullet points, a skills section, your education, and any relevant extras like certifications or volunteer work. But knowing the right sections is only half the battle. What you put inside each one, and how you phrase it, is what separates a resume that gets interviews from one that disappears into a database.
Contact Information and Header
Your resume starts with your name, displayed prominently, followed by your job title or professional credentials if they add value. Directly below, include your phone number, a professional email address, and your location (city and state are sufficient). A full street address is unnecessary and takes up space.
If you have a LinkedIn profile, portfolio site, or personal website relevant to the work you do, add the link here. For designers, developers, writers, and other portfolio-driven roles, this link can carry as much weight as the resume itself.
Professional Summary
A two- to four-sentence summary at the top of your resume gives recruiters an immediate snapshot of who you are and what you bring. If you have work experience relevant to the role, use this space to highlight your strongest qualifications and areas of expertise. If you’re a recent graduate or changing careers, shift the focus toward your transferable skills and the specific type of role you’re targeting.
The key distinction: make it specific, not generic. “Seeking to leverage my skills in a dynamic organization” says nothing useful. “Data analyst with five years of experience building dashboards in Tableau and Python, focused on workforce planning and operational efficiency” tells the reader exactly what you offer. Every word in this section should earn its place.
Work Experience With Measurable Results
Your work experience section is the centerpiece of most resumes. List positions in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent role. If you’ve been promoted or held multiple titles at the same company, list each title separately under that employer to show progression.
The biggest upgrade you can make to this section is replacing duty descriptions with achievement statements. Copying responsibilities from a job posting looks generic and doesn’t show what changed because you were there. Instead, use a simple framework: state what you accomplished, quantify the result, and explain how you did it. This is sometimes called the XYZ formula: “Accomplished X, as measured by Y, by doing Z.”
Here’s the difference in practice:
- Weak: “Responsible for managing client accounts and driving sales growth.”
- Strong: “Managed 20+ enterprise accounts, growing annual recurring revenue by 30% year over year by developing tailored sales strategies and leveraging CRM insights.”
- Weak: “Oversaw product feature development and worked with engineering teams.”
- Strong: “Ran cross-functional sprints with design and engineering, reducing feature turnaround time from 4 weeks to 10 days.”
Not every bullet point needs a dollar figure or percentage, but try to quantify wherever you can. Number of people managed, projects completed, customers served, time saved, or budget handled all count. Even a rough figure (“reduced processing time by approximately 25%”) beats a vague description.
One more thing: you don’t need to list every job you’ve ever held. Roles from more than 10 to 15 years ago, or positions completely unrelated to your current career direction, can usually be dropped. No one needs your 2009 retail gig on a 2025 marketing resume.
A Core Skills Section
Place a dedicated skills section on the first half of page one. This serves two purposes: it gives hiring managers a quick scan of your capabilities, and it helps your resume pass through applicant tracking systems (ATS), the software most companies use to filter resumes before a human ever sees them.
ATS software scans for exact keyword matches between your resume and the job posting. If a posting asks for “Salesforce” and your resume says “CRM software,” you may not match. To make this section work for you, pull five or six job postings for your target role, highlight the technical terms and skills that appear most frequently, and use that exact phrasing on your resume. Include both the full name and common abbreviation when applicable (“Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”).
Skip vague soft skills like “hardworking,” “team player,” or “detail oriented.” These are claims anyone can make, and they don’t differentiate you. If you want to demonstrate teamwork or attention to detail, show it through your achievement bullets instead.
Education
List your degree, the institution, and your graduation year. If you graduated within the last few years, you can include relevant coursework, academic honors, or a strong GPA. For experienced professionals, education typically moves below work experience and stays brief. The further you are from graduation, the less detail this section needs.
Certifications and Licenses
Professional certifications can set you apart, especially in fields like IT, finance, healthcare, project management, and human resources. List the certification name, the issuing organization, and the date earned or expiration date if applicable. Place this section after your skills or education, depending on how central the credential is to the role. If a job posting specifically requires a certification, move it higher on the page.
Volunteer Work and Projects
Volunteer experience is worth including, particularly if it’s relevant to the job you’re applying for or if your paid work history is thin. Label it clearly by adding “Volunteer” to the title (for example, “Volunteer Social Media Manager”) so there’s no confusion. Treat these entries the same way you’d treat paid roles: focus on what you accomplished, not just what you did.
Side projects, freelance work, and open-source contributions also belong here, especially for developers, designers, writers, and other creative or technical professionals. If you built something that demonstrates the skills a hiring manager is looking for, include it with a brief description and a link if available.
Formatting That Gets Past ATS Software
Even great content won’t matter if the software can’t read it. Stick to a single-column layout with standard fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Avoid graphics, logos, tables, text boxes, and multi-column designs. Many visually polished templates from design tools look great on screen but fail automated scans completely.
Use standard section headings (“Work Experience,” “Education,” “Skills”) so the ATS can categorize your information correctly. Save your resume as a .docx or a simple PDF, and test it by copying and pasting the text into a plain text editor. If the text comes through cleanly and in order, the ATS will likely read it fine.
What To Leave Off
“References available upon request” is a relic. Recruiters already know they can ask for references, and the line wastes space you could use for something meaningful. Similarly, skip your full mailing address, your photo (in the U.S.), and any personal details like age, marital status, or hobbies unless they’re directly relevant to the position. Every line on your resume should either demonstrate a skill, prove a result, or provide necessary contact information.