How to Write a Resume: Guide & Examples for 2024

How to build a resume the right way

Before we get started, here’s an overview of what a great resume looks like when it includes the right sections:

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How to write a resume in 9 easy steps

You’re here because you want to make a resume to help you land your next job.

Writing a resume can be straightforward when you know the steps to follow. Here’s what you’ll learn in the guide below:

1. Choose a format that’s appropriate for your career goals: Decide between chronological, functional or combination formats based on your experience and job target.
2. Pick a template with a design that highlights your professionalism: Select a visually appealing template that emphasizes your qualifications and is ATS-friendly.
3. Create a header that includes your essential contact info so employers can easily reach you: Ensure your name, phone number, professional email and any relevant links (like LinkedIn) are prominently displayed.
4. Craft a compelling summary that grabs attention: Write a brief summary that showcases your key achievements, skills and career goals.
5. Describe your work history with quantifiable achievements: List your previous jobs, focusing on measurable accomplishments to demonstrate your value.
6. Emphasize your most relevant skills: Highlight both hard and soft skills that are pertinent to the job you’re applying for.
7. List your education and credentials: Include your degrees, relevant coursework, and any honors or awards.
8. Add optional sections like certifications and volunteer work: Customize your resume with additional sections that showcase your unique qualifications.
9. Proofread your resume and save it as a PDF: Carefully review your resume for errors and save it as a PDF to preserve formatting.

Want more detail? Let’s get started!

While every resume contains the same ingredients — professional summary, work history, skills and education — the final product reads differently depending on the resume’s format.

There are three standard formats:

The best resume format for you will depend on your career goals, work experience, skill set, and whether or not you have unique challenges like employment gaps.

But for most job seekers, the chronological resume is the way to go.

Why? Recruiters spend only seven seconds glancing at a resume before deciding whether to give it a closer look, which makes paying attention to your resume outline critical. In it, they expect to see your work history. If they don’t see it immediately, they think you’re trying to hide something. It’s as simple as that.

Here’s an example of a reverse-chronological resume format:

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Resume formatting tips

Need to get past employer screening software? Here are five formatting issues to keep in mind as you make your resume:

1. Font choice: Select a professional and easy-to-read font like Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman in sizes 10-12 for body text and slightly larger for headings.
2. Margins and spacing: Use 0.5 to 1-inch margins and ensure consistent spacing between sections to make your resume look clean and organized.
3. Section headers: Make your section headers stand out by using bold text, larger font size or underlining.
4. Bullet points: Use bullet points to list achievements and responsibilities clearly and concisely.
5. Consistency: Maintain consistent formatting throughout your resume, including font sizes, bullet points and spacing.

For more tips on proper formatting, check out our comprehensive resume-formatting guide.

After you format your resume, check out resume examples to see how the formatting principles are applied.

You can make the words on the page say so much more with an eye-catching resume template. Templates provide the design and layout to put your skills, qualifications and work experience in the best possible light.

We have many different styles to choose from.

Here’s an example of how a well-chosen resume layout can transform your resume:

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Your resume needs to make a good first impression, starting with the professional summary. Professional summaries are three- to five-sentence resume profiles packed with action verbs and power words.

When the right words don’t immediately spring to mind, take a closer look at the job listing. What keywords does the employer use? Is there a way to rewrite your work experience to include these keywords?

Beyond keywords, your summary should include your greatest accomplishment, most relevant skills, and an accolade or award, if possible. It should sit at the top of your resume, close to the header.

Here’s what a good professional summary looks like:

Professional summaries are best suited to applicants with at least one year of experience. Anyone new to the workforce or changing careers may want to consider the alternative — the resume objective statement.

Is a resume objective right for you?

Resume objectives are the professional summary’s no-nonsense cousin. In an objective statement, you tell the employer exactly what you intend to do.

Objectives are best for candidates who are:

Here’s an example of a well-written career objective:

This job seeker means business. After citing her experience level, she tells you which department she’s interested in, the skills that would transfer into the role and why she wants to work for the company. See more examples like this for different industries and jobs in our library of resume objectives.

Work history is one of the most important parts of creating a perfect resume. Employers want to know you can deliver results, and here is where you show them your track record.

Start by listing your most recent employer first and move backward. Work experience over 15 years old may not be relevant anymore, so as you get further into the past, carefully weigh the benefits of adding each job. Don’t be afraid to cut an irrelevant job or add a second page to the resume if you need more space.

The most valuable parts of your job history are the quantifiable achievements. Hiring managers prefer metrics over lists of job duties because they show the results of your work, suggesting you can do the same for them.

Writing your work history as a list of measurable accomplishments will help you stand out from the competition. Here’s an example:

When an employer reads “retention rates,” they see value in their bottom line.

Quantifiable achievements can come from various activities, such as increasing customer satisfaction or saving a company money. Accomplishments can be hard to quantify in retrospect, especially if you don’t have access to a previous employer’s analytics tools, so keep careful track of them while you’re working.

Most success can be measured in terms of time, dollar amounts, volume and percentages by putting in a bit of thought.

You may be wondering how to make a resume with no experience, and we get it. We all have to start somewhere. When writing a resume without job experience, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Customize your work experience to the job ad

To get an advantage over other job seekers in a competitive market, you need to make a targeted resume. The one-size-fits-all resume is a thing of the past.

A good rule of thumb is to match everything to the job description. But be honest! If the job calls for someone with strong math skills and yours aren’t that great, focus on your skills that match the position and tailor your achievements around those.

What may seem like a silly exercise could make all the difference. Employers use applicant tracking systems (ATS) that hone in on keywords and disqualify applicants who don’t include the right ones.

Screening programs search for keywords that match the job description, so use as many of those keywords as you can — if they truly apply to you. And don’t just stick them all in your resume skills section. You’ve got to sprinkle them throughout your resume, particularly in your work experience, so the hiring manager can see these skills are part of your work history.

Here’s a job description with some of the most important keywords highlighted — the exact words you’d want to add to your resume:

Now that you have your keywords from the job listing lined up, here’s how you’d add them to your resume:

Highlight your achievements

If you’re wondering how to make a resume that highlights your achievements, start by asking yourself a handful of questions.

Five questions to help you make a results-oriented resume:

Your list of answers will help you create much stronger bullet points.

Here are four examples of well-written, quantifiable successes:

See how much stronger work experience sounds when you have data to back it up?

Next up, the abilities that make you uniquely talented: skills.

In the quest to make a good resume, listing your degrees remains one of the most important stops. However, you don’t want to overload your education section with too much information; There are facts you should include and others you shouldn’t.

Your education section should include:

Your education section should not include:

However, sometimes education isn’t a straight line. For example, millions of people who started college never finished it.

In that case, if your area of study isn’t relevant to the job, don’t bother including it. But there are cases where it should be listed, particularly if your studies relate to your desired position or if the role requires some education.

How to list unfinished college on a resume:

In cases where you’re still attending school, you should also include an expected date of completion: [Month] + [Year].

What about certificates? If you have professional certifications, you can create a separate section for them. While it isn’t necessary — “Education and Certifications” would do just fine — giving them their own space could call attention to how you’ve formalized your skill set.

How to list certificate of completion on a resume:

Here’s a visual example of a strong education section:

Resumes shouldn’t be generic. Every candidate has unique abilities to bring to the table, which may require adding a new section.

Perhaps you took continued education classes or went overseas to volunteer. Maybe you joined a professional organization or parent-student council. These are all details that belong on your resume — but where to put them?

Create new sections for any outside-the-box experiences. The key is that they must be relevant to your job of interest. HR doesn’t need to know about your Yahtzee meetups, for example.

Common optional resume sections include:

Let’s take a closer look at a couple of these optional sections.

Volunteer work

Volunteer work is a great way to distinguish yourself from other candidates. Not only does it show you care about a particular cause or community, but it also demonstrates a commitment to giving back and a willingness to go above and beyond. Plus, it gives you a chance to highlight valuable skills like collaboration, leadership and problem-solving.

How to list volunteer work on a resume:

Publications

Including publications on your resume can help you show your expertise and how you’ve contributed to your field. A list of publications supports your ability to conduct research, articulate your ideas and share knowledge with a wider audience.

How to list publications on a resume:

Quick note: It’s much more common to see publications listed on a CV. If you’re writing a CV, visit our library of CV examples and choose a CV template that appeals to you.

Certifications

Certifications show that you have specialized skills and knowledge, often validating your qualifications for specific roles. Including them on your resume can make you stand out, especially in technical or highly regulated fields. In some cases, you might even want to feature your most relevant certifications in your resume header.

Here’s a visual example of what your certifications section might look like:

Quick note: It’s much more common to see publications listed on a CV. If you’re writing a CV, visit our library of CV examples and choose a CV template that appeals to you.

There’s one more topic we should touch on: how to list references on your resume. These days, you only need to include a line at the bottom of your resume that reads, “Professional references available upon request.” Then, create a separate page listing your references in case the employer asks for them.

How to list references on a resume:

Now that you know how to write a resume for a job, get ready to proofread it. Not once, not twice — proofread your document at least three times.

A resume containing typos, inconsistencies, misspellings, improper formatting, inappropriate fonts and missing information can cost you the job — no matter how strong your qualifications are.

Easy-to-catch mistakes tell the employer you are sloppy and don’t pay attention to details.

There’s an easy way to avoid this mistake: proofread every resume you write more than once. After your first glance, walk away for a while to clear your mind (ideally for an hour) and review your document again with fresh eyes to make sure everything is in order before you send your resume to employers. Proofread it once more. Then give it to a friend to proofread it if you can.

Finally, when you’re ready to submit your resume, save it as a PDF. Always read the job listing carefully to use the employer’s preferred file type when you upload, but the industry standard is a PDF.

Making your resume as a Word document or Google Doc is fine, but you should also save it as a PDF. Unlike Word documents, PDFs are very good at retaining their formatting, so your document is less likely to get mangled in translation.