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Advice / Job Search / Resumes

How to Make the Perfect Resume: Your Step-by-Step Guide (with Examples!)

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Your resume is arguably the most valuable piece of paper for your career. However, writing one can be daunting for many. Maybe you’re not sure how to fit in all your information onto one page. Maybe you’re not sure about the right way to format and write your resume. Maybe you don’t even know what the heck a resume is.

Whatever your concern, we’ll break down everything you need to know and show you how to make a resume—more specifically, the perfect resume—from scratch.

What is a resume?

A resume is a summary of your career, whether it is just getting started or has been going on for years. Coming in at around one page in length (two only under specific circumstances), it showcases the jobs you’ve held and currently hold, the responsibilities you’ve taken on, the skills you’ve developed, and the qualities you bring to the table as an employee.

Typically, a resume includes the following sections:

  • Contact information
  • Summary statement
  • Work experience
  • Non-work experience (e.g. community work, side projects)—if relevant
  • Education and certifications
  • Skills

Together, these elements help hiring managers to see your qualifications and fit for a role. In case you've heard of something called a curriculum vitae (CV), know that it’s slightly different from a resume, and usually more common with academics and job seekers outside the U.S. Thus, you shouldn't worry about it.

Why writing a stellar resume matters

For all the work you may put into writing a resume, hiring managers actually spend very little time—seconds, in many cases—looking at it. Despite this sad fact, creating a great resume (rather than hastily throwing one together) still matters.

“If you miss the mark, your resume may never be read,” says Muse career coach Heather Yurovsky, founder of Shatter & Shine. “Even worse, you might be removed from the applicant pool by a computer before a human even knows you exist.” So you want to get it right.

You might be wondering if you can lean on your LinkedIn profile instead of writing a resume. The answer, sadly, is no. Most hiring managers still expect you to submit a resume, even if they also look at your LinkedIn. If you don’t need a resume for a job you’re applying for now, you’re going to need one at some point in your career—they’re not anywhere close to going out of style. It’s best to always have one at the ready should an opportunity pop up.

Although LinkedIn has plenty of benefits, a resume has one clear advantage: While your LinkedIn is usually a broader picture of your career trajectory, your resume gives you the opportunity to tailor your career story to a specific role or company (more on that later).

What are employers looking for in a resume?

Hiring managers look for three key elements on your resume, “What did you do? Why did you do it? What was the result?” says Muse career coach Martin McGovern, owner of Career Therapy. “If you can answer all three of these questions in your resume bullet points, you’re on the right track.”

Clear and easy-to-understand language is key. You should avoid industry jargon, technicalities, and redundancies. “Try to read a resume that isn’t yours and you will quickly realize that it feels like an alien wrote it,” McGovern says. Put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter who has no idea how your role works—how can you make your resume accessible to them?

The hiring manager also cares about more than just you and you alone—they care about you in relation to them. “Hiring managers want to see if a candidate matches the requirements” of the role they’re hiring for, Yurovsky says. “Your resume should paint this picture so the hiring manager not only knows what day-to-day responsibilities you can handle, but why you, above others, bring value to their organization.”

How to make a resume that grabs recruiters' attention

Whether you’re someone who’s never written a resume in your life, or you need a nice, thorough refresher on the process of creating one, follow this step-by-step guide on how to write a resume that stands out.

1. Pick the right resume format

Before you start typing anything, you have to decide what you want the overall resume to look like. There are three main types of resume formats to choose from:

Chronological resume

By far, the most common (and safest, if you’re unsure which route to take) option is the chronological resume—sometimes called the reverse chronological resume. This means you organize your experiences from most recent to least recent. Your work experiences would go above your education, and your current role would go above previous roles you’ve held.

This of course has its exceptions—maybe you went back to grad school between jobs, or your most recent role is irrelevant to the job you’re applying for. In this case, the whole page may not be exactly in reverse chronological order depending on your situation. It’s just a guideline.

Functional or skills-based resume

Functional or skills-based resumes are used pretty rarely, mainly with career changers and people with limited or complicated work histories. It gets this name because it’s primarily about listing your skills rather than experiences, and showcasing them above your work history and education.

Combination resume

A combination resume is a mix between a reverse chronological resume and a skills-based resume. It highlights your skills at the top, but allows just as much room below to cover your work and school experience.

Use caution when choosing these formats

“Combo and skills-based resumes can be hard to follow,” says Muse career coach Angela Smith, founder of Loft Consulting. “Because they force the reader to hunt for connections between your skills and experience and don’t provide the full context of your work.”

According to Smith, some recruiters automatically discount skill-based resumes because they feel the candidate is trying to hide something, she says. “I don’t necessarily believe that, but I think it’s important for job-seekers to know that perception is out there.”

2. Start with your contact information

Your contact information should always go at the top of your resume. In this header you’ll want to include anything that could be helpful for a recruiter to get in touch with you. Usually, this means adding in:

  • Your full name (preferably the name you use across the web)
  • Your phone number
  • Your personal email address

You might also choose to include other basic information, such as your LinkedIn or personal website URL, your GitHub (for technical roles), your social media profiles (if relevant to the job), or your city and state (no need for your full address). If you’re looking to move for a job, you may choose to leave this information out or write “open to relocating” to better your chances of getting an interview.

The key is to make this part as clear as possible. If a hiring manager can’t reach you, there’s no point in perfecting the rest of your resume. Here’s an example of what it should look like:

Carolynn Smith

Portland, OR 97086

555 123-1234

csmith@email.com

https://www.linkdin.com/in/csmith/

3. Write a resume summary statement—if relevant

A resume summary statement isn't strictly necessary, but it can be helpful to include after your contact information if you want to provide clarity or context to your resume. For instance, if you’re a career changer, you might find a summary statement helpful in explaining your leap and tying your experience to your new path. If you’re a more experienced professional, the summary statement can highlight a theme that brings your career trajectory together.

Overall, you probably won’t need a summary statement if your career is pretty linear and your bullet points are well crafted, emphasizing what you have to offer in terms of skills and experience.

However, if you think it makes sense to include one, “take the time to think about what the person reading your summary wants to know before you write it,” McGovern says. “Good summaries explain why you do what you do and how it can help. For instance, ‘Merging a background in ABC, I help companies improve XYZ through 123.’ Summaries shouldn’t be any more complicated than that.”

Here's how it could look like:

Merging a background in social media marketing and PR with seven years in the consumer tech space, I help companies improve their internal and external communication and brand awareness through data-driven, quality content and strategies that align with the modern trends of the space.

Yurovsky adds that your resume summary statement shouldn't be a dense paragraph with too much information. Instead, you want it to be easy to read, concise, and memorable. “Almost like a tagline,” she says.

4. Add in your work experience

This section will most likely be the bulk of your resume. Even if you’re changing careers, employers still want to see where you’ve worked, what you’ve done, and the impact of that work to get a sense of your background and expertise.

Your “Work Experience” might be one entire category, or you might choose to break it up into “Relevant Experience” and “Additional Experience” to highlight the jobs that are most important for hiring managers to focus on. Either way, you’ll almost always want to have your most recent experience at the top and your older experience down below.

Within your work experience, you’ll want to include each official job title, the company (and possibly its location), and the years you worked there. Below that, you’ll add in two to four bullet points explaining what you did in that job, the skills you built and exercised, the tools you used, and the results of your work.

If you accomplished a lot during your time there, focus on the responsibilities that made the most impact or you’re most proud of, as well as the ones that best align you with the job you’re applying for (more on that in the following sections). It’s key here to list quantitative as well as qualitative accomplishments. For example, you might write:

Associate Accountant, Finances and Co., Ann Arbor, MI
September 2020 – Present

  • Manage billing and invoicing for more than 50 clients, ensuring the deadlines and needs of our enterprise partners, including Big Company and Super Star Org, are met
  • Collaborate closely with sales, account management, and project management teams on project setup, maintenance, and invoice management
  • Assist in the streamlining of invoicing guidelines and the implementation of new software, resulting in an average two-week decrease in total time spent per client

Your resume bullets should be in past tense if you’re referring to past jobs and present tense if you’re talking about your current roles. In addition, your bullets should always start with a strong action verb that best describes what you did or do. If you have examples of your work, consider hyperlinking them here as well.

What to do if you have a lot of experience

If you have a ton of experience and this category is starting to run long (read: over one page), consider kicking out your oldest jobs unless they’re super relevant to the job you’re applying for, or extra impressive for your field.

Not sure where to start? “It’s helpful to do a brain dump and create a document that has everything and anything you consider as experience or an achievement,” Yurovsky says. From there, she explains, you can start to whittle down what is and isn’t important. You can refer to this document later if you ever decide to update your resume for a specific role.

Need more specific advice on listing your work experience on your resume? Check out these additional resources:

5. Include volunteer work or other experience—if relevant

Anything you’ve done that’s not work experience—your side hustle, volunteer work, special projects—can be hosted under clearly-labeled sections (“Volunteer Experience” or “Activities,” for example).

Depending on how robust your work experience is, these things may be worth including, particularly if they’ve helped you level up your skill set or better align you with the job you want. Plus, they make you look that much more well-rounded, passionate, and hardworking.

If you’re a recent grad, you might also build out a section for on-campus activities, such as clubs, organizations, or leadership experience. This can be a great supplement if you’re lacking in the jobs department. You can frame these just as you would professional jobs—including your title, the organization’s name, and bullets describing what your role was and what you accomplished.

Here’s what this section could look like:

Volunteer Work

Food Bank of Northern Nevada, Fundraising Volunteer

January 2022 - February 2023

  • Sourced $3K in donations in a month through a cold calling, door knocking, and email campaign
  • Managed over 30+ new volunteers in the course of year, providing training and daily instructions

If you don't have space to spare but your volunteer work is extremely relevant for the job you're applying for, summarize it in one sentence. For example:

Fundraising Volunteer | Food Bank of Northern Nevada | January 2022 - February 2024

Sourced $3K in donations in a month through a cold calling, door knocking, and email campaign, while leveraging leadership skills to manage and train new volunteers.

6. Add in your education

If you’re still in school or just graduated, your education can go at the top of your resume, but for pretty much everyone else, this goes near the bottom. Most people include their school, graduation year (for folks less up to about a decade out of school), major, and degree.

Brand-new grads might also write in their GPA, honors and awards, study abroad, thesis, or other notable achievements. However, you should keep this section super simple, as you don’t want it to take up too much space over your work experience, if you have it.

It’s possible you have unique education experience, such as an online course or certification. If you did this specifically as a way to boost yourself within your industry, definitely include it. Online courses and certifications can be added to your education section or have a dedicated section, labeled “Certifications” or "Additional Education.” Choose the option that keeps your resume clean and easy to understand.

Again, list everything more or less reverse chronologically—so a grad school degree would go above an undergrad degree, and a more recent relevant online course would go above that. For example:

Education

University of Colorado Boulder - Bachelor of Communications, Journalism

September 2019 - June 2024

7. Top it off with some skills

The skills section of a resume gets a bad rap, but it’s just as important as the rest of the stuff you include. It’s a quick list a recruiter can scan to see if your skill set aligns with what they’re hiring for. It also is super ATS-friendly (ATS stands for “applicant tracking system,” the robot that in some cases reads your resume before a human does) because it allows you to add in keywords the machine is scanning for.

Usually this section goes at the bottom of your resume, but in special cases you may place it further up (e.g. in a skills-based resume or if you're switching fields). You’ll want to list any hard skills and applications you’re familiar with (Photoshop, SEO, JavaScript, to name a few examples). If relevant, add in your level of expertise. Avoid including soft skills here, like time management or public speaking—save those for your bullet points instead.

Be strategic and don't list skills you actually couldn’t do at a high competence level. Nix skills that are completely irrelevant to the job you want. For example, you may not need to include Excel if you’re applying for a design position, unless it’s listed as a job requirement.

Here's how to list skills on a resume in two different ways:

Example #1:

Skills

  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Figma
  • Final Cut

Example #2:

Skills

JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, GitHub, Linux/Unix

8. Take advantage of optional sections—if it makes sense

Optional sections can be hit or miss on a resume, depending on how you use them. If you don’t have much experience, they can help give the hiring manager a better idea of who you are, what skills you have, and what you're about. But if you add too much irrelevant info or go overboard, it can backfire. And if you’re running out of space, cluttering your resume won’t look great either.

So, use your judgment when adding these sections. Here are a few examples of optional sections you might want to consider:

Hobbies and interests

Maybe you’re thinking, I’m a really good volleyball player, but that’s not a “skill,” right? No, it’s not, but it is a hobby. Adding in a hobby section at the bottom of your resume is underrated, and frequently a smart choice.

It can be a great conversation starter with a hiring manager, and it can show that you’re a good culture fit (or a culture add) for the company. It’s also a nice way to add in some of your personality. So tack on a bullet point listing out some of your interests, such as hiking, rowing, or crafting (no more than five to seven work-appropriate verbs), and you’re all set here.

Awards and recognitions

If you’ve received awards that are valued in your industry and set you apart, you might want to create a dedicated section for them—unless you've already mentioned them in another part of your resume. For example, if you work in healthcare and your peers have publicly recognized your efforts, or if you're in advertising and a campaign you developed won a silver medal at the American Advertising Awards, this is the place to highlight those accomplishments.

Languages

Being bilingual or multilingual—and mentioning it on your resume—can help set you apart from other applicants. First, it shows resilience, dedication, and an openness to learning new things. Second, and more importantly, depending on your field or the type of work you do, speaking multiple languages can be incredibly useful. For example, customer-facing roles in large cities (like retail, hotel front desk, or grocery store clerk positions) may require occasional interactions with tourists.

When listing the languages you speak, be sure to include your proficiency level. For example:

Languages

Spanish, Full professional proficiency

German, Native or bilingual proficiency

Publications

If you are a freelance writer or editor, or work in a field where publishing papers is important, you can create a "Publications" section to list your most relevant work. But if you’ve already mentioned your publications in another section, such as the experience section, or included a link to your portfolio in the contact information, you can skip this section.

Extracurricular activities

This section is particularly useful for freshers or students who are writing a resume with no experience. Like volunteer work, extracurricular activities can showcase your skills and give employers a sense of your personality. You can list clubs, after-school activities, and projects that helped you develop real-life skills relevant to the job you're seeking.

For example, maybe you were the president of your student council, demonstrating strong leadership skills, or perhaps you initiated a recycling program on campus that helped reduce the college's cleaning costs.

9. Tailor your resume to the job—and the ATS

Once you have your resume written out, it’s important to go back to the job description (or multiple job descriptions, if you’re applying to several similar jobs) and ensure that your resume matches up with the kind of candidate the employers are looking for. In other words, tailor it.

Begin by tackling the ATS. Comb the job description to see if individual words and phrases line up. What skills are they asking for, and have you listed them (so long as you actually have them)? What words are they using to describe their ideal hire, and do you use similar language in your resume?

Next, take a bird’s-eye view. If you were the hiring manager for the role, where on your resume would your eyes be drawn to? What would you be looking for? Whatever you think will be most important for the recruiter, make sure it’s near the top of your resume, or otherwise emphasized.

Finally, dig into the role and responsibilities of the job. Does your resume reflect similar work experience? If not, is there a way you can spin it so that it’s clear you’re capable of doing the job well?

These articles can help you if the word “tailoring” makes you start to sweat:

10. Edit and refine it

Don’t just write your resume and shoot it out without giving it a second glance. Hiring managers may not spend hours browsing a resume, but if there’s one thing that sticks out more than anything else it’s a glaring typo. The best approach? Write a rough draft, then leave and come back to it later with fresh eyes to give it an edit.

Cover the basics:

  • Is your contact information correct and updated?
  • Are you using the right verb tenses?
  • Does everything look consistent and accurate in terms of spelling and grammar?

Then, do some cutting if your resume’s quite long. It’s no longer a hard-and-fast rule that all resumes must be only one page—but consider it a smart guideline for most applicants, especially if you've got less than 10 years work experience. The exception is if you’re very senior or very established in your career; in this scenario, a two-page resume isn’t completely out of the question. Everyone else, read this article for advice on how to cut your resume down.

11. Format your resume

Formatting-wise, font and font size are key elements. First, what font are you using, and is it legible (for a human and a robot)? When in doubt, go with one of these simple, but sleek, options:

  • Arial
  • Arial Narrow
  • Calibri
  • Cambria
  • Garamond
  • Helvetica

For font size, aim for 11 or 12 points for regular text, and 14 or 16 points for section titles. Never shrink the font size to fit everything onto one page. Your resume needs to be skimmable for recruiters and ATS. Instead, try refining the content—remove any unnecessary or irrelevant information. If it's still two pages long, that's perfectly fine.

Second, are you going to save it as a Word document or PDF? Neither option is wrong, although a PDF helps ensure that your formatting is maintained, no matter what type of computer the hiring manager uses to open the document. Check the job listing to see if the employer specifies a preferred format. If not, use your judgment to decide.

Resume builders can be helpful for this step—they’ll take all your basic information and organize it for you, eliminating some of the legwork. You can also use a pre-made outline, such as one of these free Google Docs templates. But it’s often safest to start with a clean slate all on your own and eventually upgrade to a more advanced layout.

This allows you to course correct, edit and re-edit, and choose a resume format that best fits your particular situation (after all, not everyone has a career trajectory that’s easy to compartmentalize). If you'd still like a place to write all the relevant information before you get started, check out our resume outline.

12. Have a friend review your resume

Once you’ve given it a few good looks, it may be worth sending it to a friend or colleague (or even a career coach) to get a second opinion. Don’t just have them edit it for spelling and grammar—they should dig into your bullets and offer feedback on whether or not your resume is showing you in the best possible light. It’s smart to also send them the job description for something to compare it to.

Free downloadable resume examples

Your resume won’t ever look exactly like someone else’s, nor should it. How you choose to format it, organize your information, and talk about specific experiences depends not just on your career path, but on your field, the job you’re applying for, the company that job is at.

For this reason, there isn’t a universal way to do a resume. But there are common themes. To give you some context as to how yours might turn out, here are three examples of different kinds of resumes.

Example #1: The most popular—a reverse chronological resume

As previously mentioned, a reverse chronological resume is preferred by many coaches and HR experts, mainly because it’s super readable. When everything’s in a clear order, it’s easy to skim and even easier to draw lines between experiences.

Who it’s good for: Just about everyone—from students applying to internships all the way up to senior-level executives (with an optional resume summary statement).

Example #2: The unorthodox—a functional or skills-based resume

Rather than listing out your experience in reverse chronological order, a functional or skills-based resume has bullet points that reflect how each of your skills is demonstrated by the work you’ve done over the course of your career.

At the bottom, you’ll include everything else, such as your education, job history, professional achievements, community involvement, and other technical skills. This is a good option if you have a somewhat all-over-the-place work history and want to tie everything together neatly.

Who it’s good for: Career changers whose work experiences may not appear to be relevant and people with an abundance of temporary jobs or gaps in their work histories.

Example #3: The creative—an infographic resume or resume website

This resume type is characterized by how it’s formatted visually. You may choose a reverse chronological order or skills-based style to organize your information, but also use graphics, colors, and even multimedia elements to help that information pop.

Keep in mind that any creative resume is still likely subject to an ATS—and certain elements may be unreadable by a robot. For this reason, consider going this route only if you know a human will be reading your resume (and that said human might enjoy it).

Who it’s good for: People applying to creative roles (designers, editors, writers, marketers, video producers, for example), startups, or fun companies, or to jobs where a creative resume is encouraged, if not required.

Not a designer but want your resume to look just as pretty as this example? Check out these articles:

Bottom line

Your resume is a living, breathing document. While you won’t go through this whole process every time you apply for a job, you should be thinking about all these key elements as you update your resume for your next career step. You might decide later on to switch up the order, or remove or add things, or even get creative and try out a whole new format.

If you’re not getting the calls back you expect, you may decide to scrap it and start over—and that’s totally OK. Regardless of where this piece of paper goes and how it grows, when you give it the care and attention it deserves, you set yourself up for success, being more likely to land an interview.

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FAQs

How long should a resume be?

Ideally, a resume should be one page long. However, if you're wondering, “How many pages can a resume be?” the answer depends on the industry. In certain fields, such as academia, where a detailed list of experiences, research, and publications is necessary, a two- or three-page resume is acceptable. For most other industries, particularly in non-academic roles, it's best to stick to one page.

How to build a resume?

A resume generally includes these basic sections: contact information, a summary statement, work experience, education and certifications, and skills. If relevant, or if you're a fresher, you may also include non-work experience, such as volunteer work or community service.

How far back should a resume go?

Typically, a resume should go back no more than 10 to 15 years. However, you don’t need to go back that far unless it’s necessary to clarify your career trajectory for the recruiter. For example, if you’re an experienced professional, you can omit early career or entry-level positions. Focus on what's most recent and relevant to the job you're applying for.

How to list references on a resume?

You don't need to list references on your resume. Employers typically ask for them later in the hiring process, once they’re ready to extend an offer. Listing references upfront won’t strengthen your application. In fact, it takes up valuable space that could be better used for more relevant information, such as your skills or certifications.

Amanda Cardoso contributed to the latest version of this article.