How to Make a Resume

How to Write a Resume

We’re here to help! Our step-by-step writing guide on how to make a resume will show you:

• What makes a good resume
• Resume examples and templates you can use, created by experts
• Guidance on how to write a resume that’s professional and impresses hiring managers

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What is a resume?

A resume is a written record of your job history, skills and qualifications which is one to two pages long. A resume does the following:

• A resume introduces employers to who you are as a job candidate. This is your opportunity to give hiring managers a summary of your background and qualifications.
• A resume explains your most relevant skills and experiences. Highlight achievements and abilities that match what the employer needs.
• A resume shows you’re the right person for the job. Your combination of training, skills and work history should show that you can perform the role’s tasks and contribute to the company’s success.

So, now that we’ve gone over what this document is about, the question becomes: how to make a resume? Follow our guide below for all the answers. And remember, our Resume Builder provides all the resume templates and step-by-step guidance you need to write a resume.

Need insights on writing a CV? Check out our How to Write a CV page.

Review the job description

Want to know how to make a resume that targets what the employer wants? The sure-fire answer: understand what the employer is looking for by taking a close look at the job description.

A job ad will include specific skills and experiences that are needed for the job. Plan to cover as many of these skills and experiences as you can in your resume. For example:

Office Manager: Detail-oriented applicant with more than five years of experience needed.

Just from this brief sentence alone, you already can narrow down what the employer is looking for: skills such as attention to detail (“detail-oriented”), and proof that you have more than five years of experience in office administration.

As another example, here’s a more detailed job description for a teacher position:

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree – required, Master’s – preferred
• Possession of a valid Multiple/Single Subject (internship, preliminary, or clear) state teaching credential
• Possession of either a Bilingual, Cross-Cultural, Language or Academic Development (BCLAD) certificate; a Cross-Cultural, Language and Academic Development (CLAD) certificate; a Bilingual Certificate of Competence (BCC); or a Language Development Specialist (LDS) certificate is desirable; EL Authorization
• Desire to teach in an urban school environment
• Confident in managing student behavior
• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to change easily
• Demonstrated success working with students from educationally underserved areas

From this set of requirements, we can draw these key points:

• Your resume’s education section should list a bachelor’s degree at bare minimum, or an even higher accreditation if you have it.
• Not only should you list a language teaching certificate as noted above, but you should also provide details about languages you know in your resume skills section (i.e., “Fluent in Spanish”) as well as experiences you have with cross-cultural education (i.e., “Led class of 30 students in bilingual English and Chinese general education”).
• Note the interpersonal (“confident in managing student behavior”) and intangible requirements (“ability to work under pressure and adapt to change easily”). These can translate in your resume to skills such as “classroom management,” “stress management,” and “flexibility.”
• The phrase “Desire to teach in an urban school environment” should tell you that your resume should feature any past experiences you’ve had teaching in an urban setting if you have them, or if you haven’t, that you state in your resume that you’re ready and willing to teach in such an environment (i.e., writing “Elementary school teacher with 5 years’ experience, seeking position in challenging urban school environment” in your resume objective — more on objectives below).

What we’re doing is finding keywords – the words that spell out exactly what the job needs. Keywords will be the life-blood of your resume, and they’ll also help your resume pass applicant tracking systems (ATS) that employers often use to scan resumes before they reach human eyes. Employers will add keywords to ATS, and if your resume has the right keywords, you’ll be assured a thumbs-up, and move on to a hiring manager’s desk.

For instance, a technical resume example might feature this set of skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree
• State teaching credential
• Bilingual
• Cross-cultural
• Urban school environment
• Managing student behavior
• Work under pressure
• Adapt to change

So just by reading the job description, you should already have ideas about what to feature in your resume. Now let’s move on to how to feature it.

The clock is ticking

According to Motley Fool, 40% of hiring managers spend less than 60 seconds reviewing each resume they receive, and 25% spend less than 30 seconds. In other words, make the words in your resume count.

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Choose your resume format

Every resume will have at least these sections:

• Resume header, with your contact information
• Professional resume summary or objective
• Skills section
• Work experience section
• Education section

We’ll get into these sections in more detail below. But before you make a resume, you’ll need to decide which information will be the focus. That will depend on your resume format.

There are three formats to choose from:

Chronological resume:

Employers are most familiar with this resume format. The chronological resume focuses on career achievements, and thus has a robust work experience section. It’s ideal for candidates who have more than nine years of experience in the same field.

Functional resume:

Also known as the skills-based resume, this format emphasizes your skills rather than your employment history, with multiple sections outlining your best abilities and qualifications. This format is best if you have little to no experience, or are switching careers and can highlight transferable skills.

Combination resume:

As the name suggests, this resume format (also known as a hybrid resume) focuses on both your work history (from the chronological resume) and top skills (from the functional resume). It’s also a good option for career changers, as well as mid-level professionals with three to eight years of experience.

Visit our resume formats page for more tips on how to choose the format that’s best for you.

Use resume examples and templates

Once you’ve settled on your resume format, it’s time to tackle your resume layout. You could do this from scratch, but to save time and ensure you have a resume that looks its best, use resume templates and resume examples.

A resume template can give you a polished design to work from, while resume examples for specific job titles can give you inspiration on skills and work experiences you can feature in your resume for a similar profession.
For instance, a technical resume example might feature this set of skills:

• Coding and programming
• Security and networks: IP setup
• Data synchronization
• Agile
• Kanban

It might also give this as a job history example:

• Provided troubleshooting assistance and support to 100-member team.
• Maintained IT asset inventory database, as well as related budget and repair records.

Even if these qualifications and experiences don’t exactly match your own background, they provide a useful window into what employers are looking for, and how these credentials should be presented in your own resume.

Follow these basic rules of thumb for formatting your resume layout:

• Choose a professional font like Arial, Helvetica and Times New Roman.
• Make sure you have 1-inch margins throughout your resume.
• Keep the font size of your body text and section headings readable, with consistent spacing between sections.
• Make sure your resume template follows applicant tracking system (ATS) standards.

For more pointers on how to get your resume template looking as good as it can be, visit our resume design section.

Designs galore

Our professionally designed resume templates run the gamut, from simple resume template designs to traditional resume layouts to cutting-edge, modern resumes.

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Write a top-notch resume summary

Now that you’ve selected a resume template or resume example to work, it’s time to write your resume.

At the top of your resume is your resume header, which contains your contact information: your name, phone number, address, and a professional email address where you can be reached). Yes, we mean “professional” — a Motley Fool survey shows that 35 percent of employers have a problem with an unprofessional email address, so don’t use a silly address here.

Next comes your resume summary. As this is the first text a recruiter will read on your resume, it’s important that you make it count. In a few brief sentences, describe who you are through your top skills and experiences. If you’re short on professional experience, you can use an resume objective, which also focuses on important skills while including a statement about your career and job goals (e.g., “Trained caregiver seeking opportunities to serve the senior community”).

Resume summary example:

“Medical assistant well-versed in basic patient work-up and examinations. Five years’ experience with managing patient flow, maintaining electronic medical records, and providing efficient, compassionate care.”

Resume objective example:

“Energetic graphic designer seeking a position at a company that focuses on high-quality creative for client marketing initiatives. Certified in Adobe Creative Suite, with experience creating relevant, powerful designs for brand management.”

As you can see, the samples here don’t look too different. The major difference is that the job candidate who writes the resume summary can point to important professional experiences that apply to the job, while the job seeker who writes the objective focuses more on what she’s looking for, and the skills she brings to the table.

Key tip for your resume summary or objective:

Think of your resume summary or resume objective as an “elevator pitch” in which you only have a few seconds to explain who you are as a job seeker and your strength.

Focus on key soft and hard skills

Your resume skills section will normally feature a mixture of 8-10 hard skills and soft skills relevant to the job. Hard skills are abilities you’ve learned through experience or training, such as financial analysis, or how to operate specific equipment. Soft skills are intangible traits that define how you approach work or interact with others, such as attention to detail, problem-solving skills or flexibility.

List your skills using bullet points. Depending on your resume format, you may have a single section dedicated to your skills, or several skill sections under different categories (e.g., “Organizational Skills” or “Soft Skills”).

Here’s an example of a “general” skills section you might see in a chronological or combination resume for a sales resume:

Skills

• Product knowledge
• Client acquisition and retention
• Proficient in Zendesk Sell and Clearbit
• CRM management and integration
• Strategic thinking
• Written and verbal communication
• Self-motivation
• Organization
• Negotiation skills
• Attention to detail

Note that this candidate includes both hard skills (client acquisition, CRM management, proficiency in Zendesk) and soft skills (strategic thinking, attention to detail).

In a functional resume, skills play a heavier role, with separate sections highlighting specific skills. Take this teacher resume sample, for example:

Professional skills section example

Lesson Planning

• Tailored instruction to meet individual student needs.
• Designed lesson plans that improved student test scores by average of 20%.
• Familiar with virtual learning software and learning apps.

Communication

• Handled group management with positive discipline strategies.
• Utilized interpersonal skills in one-on-one situations and large groups of 40+ students.
• Collaborated with fellow teachers for group presentations and lesson planning.

Organization

• Proficient with MS Office and Quickbase.
• Familiar with Schoology and ClassDojo classroom management apps.
• Managed student records for 300-student school.

In this example, the job candidate groups three critical skills (lesson planning, communication and organization) under the title “Professional Skills” and gives examples of how she utilizes these skills.

Need suggestions for skills that employers value? Check out our resume skills pages, which focus on specific skill categories that are in high demand.

• 50 technical skills for your resume
• Top 20 leadership skills to feature in your resume
• 10 essential interpersonal skills
• Top 10 communication skills
• Best tips for listing management skills on a resume
• How to highlight analytical skills
• Best ways to list problem-solving skills on a resume
• Adding time management skills to your resume

Key tip for resume skills section:

Analyze the job ad and pinpoint the skills required for the job, then match them up with your own skill set. Sometimes you can figure out skills based on the nature of the job; for example, a position that involves managing a team of 20 people indicates that you need to feature leadership skills when you write your resume. As always, look for keywords in the job ad that tell you what skills to put in your resume.

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Get specific about your achievements

Instead of just listing every responsibility from past jobs in your work experience section, focus on major achievements. If you can include a number or quantifiable metric, all the better.

Here’s an example of how to write a resume work history section bullet point that incorporates this advice:

“Led new process that led to 15% increased profits from the previous quarter.”

Anyone can say they’re good at something. It’s much better to show how good you are at it. Did you handle employee records at work?

Don’t just state “Managed employee records,” write “Managed employee records for a 500-person office.” Instead of stating “Oversaw processes that increased on-time deliveries,” write “Oversaw processes that increased on-time deliveries by 10 percent.” Numbers can set you apart from other job seekers.

Use action words when describing your job history

Take a look at these two phrases:

“Was responsible for product management.”

“Led product management.”

See the difference between them? Describing your job history and accomplishments with action verbs like “led” or “managed” energizes your resume, and tells employers you’re in charge of your career. A TLNT study shows that using action words in your resume increases your chances of getting noticed by employers by 140 percent.

Here’s just a few prime action words you can use for your resume. For more suggestions, visit our Action Words page.

Your work experience section is presented in reverse-chronological order, meaning that your latest or current job is at the top. For each job title, provide the company name, your dates of employment and three to five bullet points that describe your job highlights, as in this example:

Work history example

Take a look at these two phrases:

Lead Barista, Morrissey’s | Jan 2021 – Present

• Manages welcome, seating and orders for 100+ guests daily, building rapport with repeat clients.
• Handles dishwashing and inventory for kitchen of 10 employees, cleaning and stocking on a daily basis.
• Elected “Employee of the Month” five times in past calendar year while helping cafe achieve a 5-star rating on Yelp!.

Remember, focus on showing how you’ve performed above expectations or contributed to company success in previous jobs.

This is also a good section to show off key skills. For example, if the job you’re applying for lists “collaboration” as a needed skill, you could write “Collaborated with interdepartmental teams to create monthly sales report presentations” in your work history section.

For more on how to get your work accomplishments to shine, see our page on resume job descriptions.

Education section tips

The education section of your resume usually doesn’t require as much detail as your other sections: focus on your highest, most relevant educational credentials. If you have a bachelor’s degree, don’t include your high school diploma; if you graduated more than 10 years ago, don’t include the graduation date. There’s also no need to include your GPA.

But if you have any special academic projects or recognition for specific achievements that apply to the job, you can feature them here. For example, if you’re applying to a copywriter position and earned honors in creative writing, it’s useful to list your honors achievement here.

Resume education section example

Burlington University, PA
Bachelor of Arts, English

Honors in Creative Writing

Magna cum laude graduate

Consider optional resume sections

One attribute when it comes to how to write a resume that’s often overlooked is adding extra sections.

We highly recommend creating sections for relevant certifications, awards, languages, publications and other important achievements, as long as they apply to the job at hand. For example, if one of the job requirements is knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, listing your certification in Photoshop is a major plus in your favor.

Let’s say you’re applying for a job that favors candidates with language capabilities. You could write a resume with a language section:

Languages

• English (native)
• Spanish (fluent)
• Mandarin Chinese (conversational)

Extra sections are also useful if you’re short on “regular” professional experience. You can create separate sections for volunteer experience, internships, educational coursework and extracurricular activities, as long as they show you have important skills that will help you do the job well.

For instance, if you’re applying for a teaching position but are fresh out of school, it’s perfectly fine to create a “Teaching Activities” section where you can showcase experiences such as being a private tutor, or leading classes at summer camp:

Teaching Activities

• Counselor and tutor
  Richardson Bay Summer Camp
  June-August 2022

• Volunteer teacher
  Naymard High School Summer Program
  May-July 2021

Tips on getting “extra”

According to a recent survey, the five most common “extra” sections job seekers add to their resumes are:

• Languages
• Certificates
• Additional activities
• Interests
• Software

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Keep it concise

Read each statement carefully and remove any words or phrases that don’t add to your message. Your resume should aim to be a single page unless you’re applying for a more senior role and have plenty of experience to back up your qualifications.

Resumes that go beyond two pages are far less common and run the risk of losing a hiring manager’s attention, especially if you don’t include information that targets what the job wants. Focus on your most relevant work experiences and showcase the right technical skills for the job.

Not too long, not too short

According to recent studies, the ideal resume length is between 475-600 words (under two pages).

For more tips on how long your resume should be, check out our page:

How Long Should a Resume Be?

Personalize your resume for each job

You should never submit the exact same resume to more than one job application. It’s important to tailor your resume so it fits each job you apply to.

Take a look at these two sample job ads:

Job A Requirements

• Development experience in Java, C++, APIs, Services
• Ability to design, code and test tools to support the Live Ops/Support function
• Collaboration experience with engineers, managers, and operations teams
• Ability to drive communication with external partners, processors, and vendors
• Willingness to share on-call responsibilities
• Experience with ticketing software such as ServiceNow and Jira
• Payments or financial industry experience

Job B Requirements

• Excellent knowledge of software development lifecycle, testing methodologies, and testing tools
• Proven capabilities in end-to-end software product testing with cross-functional teams
• Experience developing detailed test plans, assessing risks, filing detailed defect reports, and providing relevant data for test reporting
• Able to apply creativity and analytical thinking to all kinds of problems
• Ability to work independently and thrive while focusing on the details
• Passionate about the customer experience and delivering quality software products that inspire
• Excellent cross-functional communication and influencing skills, involving deep collaboration with engineering and design

Both of these jobs are listed as “software engineer,” and while both have some similarities (a focus on collaboration and communication), both have very different requirements.

If we were to tailor our resume to Job A, we would focus on:

• Knowledge of ticketing software (ServiceNow, Jira)
• Knowledge of development in Java, C++, APIs, Services
• Live Ops/Support tool design, coding and testing
• Communication and collaboration, both across departments and with external clients and vendors
• Flexibility (sharing on-call responsibilities)
• Financial industry experience

On the other hand, tailoring our resume to Job B means we would concentrate on:

• Software testing and development
• Creating test plans and reports
• Creativity
• Analytical thinking
• Self-motivation
• Ability to work independently
• Attention to detail
• Cross-functional communication and collaboration

In putting together your resume, mention skills that are in the job posting (or are implied in the posting), and include professional experience that directly relates to the new job’s responsibilities. This way, you’ll be able to capture the unique keywords and requirements each employer has in your job application. Aim to present the abilities and experiences that fit what the company wants to see in an applicant — every time.

Key tip for customizing your resume:

Using a Resume Builder can save you a lot of time in creating different versions of your resume for different jobs. Just save a new version of your resume template, update it as needed, download and use!

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Proofread your resume

Even if your resume has the right “look” and impressive credentials, all of your hard work can go to waste if the recruiter finds a typo.

Motley Fool survey found that 77% of hiring managers immediately disqualified resumes due to grammatical mistakes or typos. Reread your resume a few times before sending it in, checking for grammar and spelling (not to mention accuracy of information), and make sure all your details and facts are correct.

You can also save time with our Resume Builder, which features a handy spell-checking tool.

Does it pay to “fib” on your resume?

Let’s face it, most job seekers probably exaggerate an accomplishment or two on their resumes. Even employers know it; a survey found that only about one-third of recruiters believe candidates are “very honest” about their experiences and abilities.

But telling falsies can result in severe consequences with your employer, and serve as a black mark on your reputation moving forward, so fib at your peril.

Extra resume writing tip: Don’t be afraid to change things up

If you’re not getting any responses to your resume submissions and you’ve submitted to dozens of jobs, look into ways to improve your resume. This could mean brushing up on skills that employers are looking for and adding them to your resume, or emphasizing certain work experiences and achievements over others.

Just remember: you want to show the potential employer why you’re the best person for that specific job, so customize each resume to fit the job. It can also help to get a second opinion from a willing reader who can give your resume a once-over and check it for flow, professionalism and grammatical errors.

How to make a resume, a checklist:

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The next step: your cover letter

So now you know how to make a resume. But a professional job application isn’t complete without a cover letter. Why? Because a cover letter allows you to provide more context about your career highlights, further insight on why you’re the best candidate, and more details about your career and personality.

Here are some tips on how to make a cover letter for a resume:

• Don’t repeat what’s already written on your resume. Your cover letter and resume are not twins, so dress them differently. Make sure they complement each other. Your cover letter should go into further detail about how you believe you’re the right fit for a company, and discuss the specific job that’s on offer.
• Get straight to the point. Your cover letter should only be a few paragraphs long. Don’t go beyond a single page, otherwise the recruiter or hiring manager might not want to read it.
• Personalize your cover letter for the company. A huge part of writing a cover letter is telling the employer why you want to work for them, and what attracts you to the desired job you’re applying for. Find out more about the company and use that information to tell them what inspired you to apply.
• Complement your resume’s content and look. A good cover letter doesn’t just repeat what a resume says; it expands on important points and experiences mentioned in your resume. Your cover letter should also have complimentary fonts, colors, headers and footers. Using our cover letter templates and resume templates with our resume and cover letter builders allows you to match layouts for a cohesive application.

For more on cover letters, read our How to Write a Cover Letter article and Cover Letter Formats page. You can also let us do the heavy lifting by using our Cover Letter Builder.

More resume resources

We have dozens of expert articles with more tips on how to make a resume, as well as career advice to help you put your best foot forward and get yourself the dream job you want.

• Resume Design: Get more resume tips on design to make a professional resume.
• How to Make a Resume With No Experience: Making a resume with no prior employment history might seem daunting but follow our advice and you’ll have a great resume done in no time! 
• Should You List References on a Resume?: Find the answer to that question and how to approach others to make them a professional reference.
• General Interview Tips: Prep for an interview with our expert tips and professional advice.
• Phone Interview Questions: Practice our phone interview questions and impress recruiters right off the bat.
• Questions to Ask an Interviewer: Show potential employers your interest in the job opening by asking them important questions during the job interview.

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