What You Should Include on Your Resume

The Most Important Resume Sections

Your resume is crucial to the success of your job search. How you represent your work experience and skills can make all the difference to the hiring managers who are seeking new team members. There are five main sections that should be included in any good resume. They are:

1. Contact Information

Feature your contact information up top in your resume header, including critical information like your full name, phone number and email address (as well as any links to professional networking pages, such as your LinkedIn profile) should be at the top of your resume. Always be sure to proofread your contact information carefully.

2. Resume summary

Directly under your resume heading, there should be a resume summary or resume objective statement. This section should act as a short introduction to you as a job seeker, including your top skills and experiences so far.

3. Skills

Depending on which resume format you choose, your skills section may be the most important section of your resume. This section contains all of the hard and soft skills that make you ideal for the role they are applying for. When you write your resume skills section, consider the job description as well as your own skills and highlight any soft or hard skills that overlap. If you choose a functional resume format, the skills section will be more substantial and broken out into categories of skills.

4. Work experience

If you choose a standard chronological resume format, your work experience section will be highlighted. This section should be arranged in reverse chronological order with your current or most recent job title at the top of the page. Give 3-5 examples of duties or accomplishments for each job you’ve had, using action verbs that show ownership of your achievements. For example, say things like, “Achieved” or “Managed” rather than “Was responsible for.” This will make a good impression on the hiring manager or recruiter who reads your resume.

5. Education

This is the section for your relevant academic achievements, including professional training and certifications, as well as information about your college degree (or high school diploma, if you don’t have a degree).

These sections combined will create a complete resume that contains all of the information recruiters need to make a decision to invite you in for a job interview. Depending on the job you’re applying for and your background, you also have the option of adding additional sections.

Potential Extra Resume Sections

If you have additional experience, skills or professional certifications that are relevant to the job application that you are undertaking then you should include them on your resume. The additional sections that can make your resume stand out are:

Certificates and licenses

If you have professional certifications or licenses for relevant skills that will be beneficial to the job you are applying for, you should list them in your resume by creating a specific section for them.

Awards and honors

If you have received any awards or honors for actions related to your skill set, you can create a specific section for them. This is a good way to prove you have the right skills for a specific job.

Foreign languages

If you speak more than one language, you should definitely highlight this, especially if you are fluent. This section should be placed near your skills section.

Internships and volunteer work

If you have undertaken internships or volunteer work that would be relevant to the job you are applying for, you should create a specific section for this. While these positions shouldn’t be listed with your professional experience, they can be beneficial.

Remember, you should only add these sections if they contain information relevant to the job description. For more writing tips, ResumeHelp has a resume writing guide that walks you through creating your resume.

What Not To Include in Your Resume

Generally speaking, you should provide as much relevant information as possible in your resume, but there are a few things that you should skip. These pieces of information take up valuable space that’s best used to provide other information:

• Salary requirements
• A picture
• Your GPA
• Irrelevant skills
• Irrelevant jobs

If you follow these simple tips, you will create a great resume and improve your chances of getting an interview for the job you’re after. If you want to make the resume writing process a little easier, you can also make use of ResumeHelp’s resume builder to create a high-quality, editable resume.