What Every Resume Needs
| Section | Required? | Typical Length |
|---|---|---|
| Contact Information | Always | 3–4 lines |
| Resume Summary | Strongly recommended | 2–4 sentences |
| Work Experience | Always | Largest section |
| Skills | Always | 8–15 items |
| Education | Always | 2–4 lines per degree |
| Certifications / Awards | If relevant | Optional |
Step-by-Step: Building Each Section
Contact Information
Include your full name, city and state (no street address), phone number, professional email, and a LinkedIn URL if your profile is up to date. Skip the photo — most US employers do not expect one.
Resume Summary
A two to four sentence paragraph at the top of your resume. It should state your job title, years of experience, two or three top skills, and one notable achievement. Rewrite this for every application to match the job description.
Work Experience
List jobs in reverse chronological order. For each role include: company name, your job title, dates (month and year), and three to six bullet points. Each bullet should start with a strong action verb and include a quantifiable result where possible.
Skills Section
List hard skills — tools, technologies, software, and methodologies — not soft skills like "good communicator." Pull the required and preferred skills directly from each job description and include every one you genuinely have.
Education
Include your degree, school name, graduation year, and GPA only if it was 3.5 or above and you graduated within the last three years. Once you have more than five years of experience, education moves to the bottom of the resume.
Formatting Rules That Matter for ATS
- Use a single-column layout — multi-column formats confuse most ATS parsers
- Avoid tables, text boxes, headers and footers, and graphics
- Use standard section headings: Work Experience, Skills, Education
- Font size 10–12pt for body text, 14–16pt for your name
- Margins of 0.5 to 1 inch on all sides
- Save as PDF unless the posting specifies otherwise
Putting contact information in the header of a Word document. Many ATS systems cannot parse header content and your name and email will be missed entirely.
How to Write Strong Bullet Points
Every bullet point should follow this formula: Action verb + what you did + the result.
Before You Submit: Tailoring Checklist
- Does your summary mention the job title from the posting?
- Are the top three required skills in your skills section?
- Do your top bullet points reflect what this job cares about most?
- Have you removed irrelevant experience that could distract from your fit?
- Is your ATS match score above 70%?
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