Securing a job interview can be a time-sensitive challenge, with numerous applicants vying for the same dream position. To stand out and increase your chances of success, let’s delve into our comprehensive tutorial on crafting the perfect Resume. If you’re looking to save time and have your resume ready quickly, utilize our resume generator, which offers user-friendly features and pre-written content for easy customization. Follow these ten simple steps to create an effective resume:

1. Choose the most suitable resume format for your background.
2. Select a resume template that aligns with your personality and industry.
3. Include your name, contact information, and job title at the top.
4. Craft a strong resume objective or summary statement.
5. Detail your previous work experience and highlight significant accomplishments.
6. Clearly outline your educational background.
7. Incorporate relevant qualifications, both hard and soft skills, matching the job requirements.
8. Add any essential additional sections or attachments to enhance your resume.
9. Write a well-crafted cover letter tailored to your resume.
10. Thoroughly edit, download, and submit your resume.

With these steps, you’ll be on your way to crafting a professional and compelling resume that will increase your chances of landing the job you desire.

Select the Proper Resume Format

Before diving into filling out a resume template, it’s essential to start by choosing one of the standard resume formats:

Format in reverse chronological order

Advantages: Potential employers are familiar with the traditional resume format.

Disadvantages: Not the most inventive resume design format, and very popular.

Format in combination

Advantages: Excellent for highlighting transferable skills for career changers and seasoned professionals.

Disadvantages: Not recommended for entry-level job seekers; uncommon type; less familiar.

Functional style (skills-based)

Advantages: Entry-level job seekers can highlight their skills over their lack of experience.

Disadvantages: HR managers might suspect you of lying.

The reverse-chronological resume format tends to be the preferred choice for most job seekers. It is a conventional structure that highlights your job responsibilities, experience, and work history. Starting with your most recent positions and then moving backward in time, it presents your career in reverse-chronological order. This format is widely used because it is easy to read and scan, making it the standard and fundamental choice for resumes.

Regarding the spelling of “resume,” there is ongoing debate, but we recommend using the version without accents.

To find the best resume format for your specific situation, you can compare typical resume format samples or explore our articles on chronological, combination, or functional formats and resume design. Additionally, you can check out our guide to free resume templates for further assistance.

Resume Advice: Numerous research studies have proposed potential links between the information conveyed in resumes and an applicant’s personality traits and employability, ultimately influencing hiring decisions. Therefore, it is crucial to exercise caution and thoughtful consideration while determining the information to include in your resume.

Add Your Contact and Personal Information

Contact details that are essential:

• Name: Initials and last name (middle name optional).
• Phone: A personal cell phone should be used instead of a home phone.
• Email address: Today’s preferred method of communication is email.
• LinkedIn address: Add your LinkedIn profile in (hiring managers will spy on you anyway).

Optional:

• Skip including your address on your resume (unless required)
• Title of the resume 
• Personal webpage

Contact information to avoid:

• Birthday date: Your birthdate could cause ageism if you include it. Add only when necessary, as for jobs like providing alcohol.
• Second email or phone number: They will be confused if you provide them a second email address, mailing address, or phone number (and you).
• Photo/Headshot: In the US, it’s typically not advised to use resume photos or profile photos.

Resume Tip: Instead of using your old high school handle (sexypapa69xoxo@….) or an out-of-date email provider (…[email protected]), provide them a professional email address. A formal email account is far more employable than an informal one, according to studies.

Use a Heading Statement (Resume Summary or Resume Objective)

Summary statement for resume

Do you have enough relevant experience? Opt for a summary statement for your CV.

When applying for a position that aligns with your experience, a well-crafted resume summary can be highly effective. It highlights your qualifications and experience related to the job.

Now, let’s explore both suitable and unsuitable approaches to writing a professional summary:

RIGHT

WRONG

Over the last four years, my role as a graphic designer has involved managing challenging customer accounts and utilizing various software and design programs. Additionally, I excel in handling high-pressure situations and meeting tight deadlines.

Notice the differences in these examples? The incorrect one primarily lists routine tasks without showcasing achievements, while the proper example provides evidence of talents, accomplishments, and experience on an IT consultant resume.

Resume Tip:

Objective statement for a resume

RIGHT

WRONG

I am a motivated Customer Service Representative eager to transition into the field. While I may lack direct experience in this sector, my former colleagues have commended my ability to learn quickly. What excites me the most is the prospect of working outdoors instead of being confined to a cubicle.

As a candidate without specific experience, I understand that the organization may perceive some level of risk. Therefore, I must demonstrate my capabilities convincingly.

In the improved version, we incorporated relevant transferable skills from my previous job and highlighted some notable achievements, backed by quantifiable figures.

Keep in mind that numbers carry more weight than mere words. The less effective candidate fails to showcase enough compelling information to capture the hiring manager’s attention.

Resume Tip: If you noted, both “bad” examples above used the first-person. On your resume, omit this.

And for experienced candidates it’s good considering a summary of qualifications too.

Drag and drop the bullet points, abilities, and tedious information when creating a resume using our builder. Use spellcheck. Check.

List Your Relevant Work History and Major Accomplishments

How to format the work experience portion of a resume:

You can see our suggested structure for your career history in the job experience area by referring to the infographic up top:

• Job Title: To make it simple for potential employers to scan and identify, the job title should be at the very top of each entry of your employment history. Make it bold and/or enlarge the font by one or two points in comparison to the remainder of the entry.
• Company, City, State: On the second line, list the name of the company you once worked for as well as the city and state where you were employed.
• Dates Employed: In the third section, list your employment dates. There is no requirement to include specific days; you can add the year, the month, or both.
• Important Responsibilities: In your career history, don’t just write every single task you performed. Focus on the few tasks that are most important to the new position.
• Key Achievements: Important but frequently disregarded key accomplishments. Although employers are aware of what you accomplished, they also need to know how well you did it.
• Keywords: The experience portion of a resume should be sprinkled with resume keywords (more on this in a moment).

Customizing your work experience resume:

WRONG

Groth team was managed by me.

RIGHT

I managed a growth team.

How many years of experience should be listed on a resume?

Correctly List Your Education

The education part is sometimes overlooked, but you shouldn’t. It’s crucial to the format of your resume.

Here’s how to put education on your resume so you don’t get schooled:

• Your highest degree should be first on your educational list on a resume.
• Reverse-chronologically order any additional degrees after that.
• Don’t include high school information if you have a university degree.
• It’s acceptable to list completed credits from some college coursework on a résumé.
• Include any accolades, awards, or courses that is pertinent (such as earning the Dean’s List).
• A lovely finishing touch are extracurricular activities.

Simple, huh?

Resume Tip:

Put In-Demand Skills in The Section For The Job

Think of a piece of meat (the cow variety, not Chris Hemsworth).

Now picture a nicely grilled and seasoned steak.

Your resume falls into one of two categories: either it’s a bad resume, the prime cut strewn with the wrong resume skills, or it’s a nice resume, prepared to be served.

Contrasting hard and soft skills

Hard talents are specialized knowledge and capabilities (e.g., Photoshop, cash register).

Soft talents are traits that one develops through time (e.g., social skills, adaptability).

These taken together represent a job seeker’s variety of talents and competencies, or skill set.

Resume Tip: Avoid mentioning irrelevant talents! A chef’s resume shouldn’t mention your photoshop talents, and an IT resume shouldn’t mention your veterinary expertise.

How do I list my skills on a resume?

• Social skills: nonverbal communication, listening skills, and interpersonal skills are all examples of communication skills.
• Technical skills: Knowledge necessary to carry out particular jobs, such as computer or administrative expertise.
• Job-specific skills: specific aptitudes needed by the employer.
• Leader and management skills: Being a good manager, leader, and supervisor requires leadership and management abilities.
• Critical thinking skills: ability to take initiative and make judgments independently using critical thinking skills. includes the ability to think critically, make decisions, and solve problems.
• Organizational talent: The capacity to organize, coordinate, and complete tasks.
• Transferrable talents: are abilities that career changers have acquired and can apply to their new role.

Resume Tip: Don’t just type “skills for a [industry] resume” into Google and paste the results. As we discussed earlier, take the time to customize your resume’s skills list to the job posting.

How should talents be listed on a resume?

There are various ways to present a skill list on a resume. For most people, a simple skills section with 5-6 core skills and proficiency levels will suffice. However, if you want to provide more specific information about your expertise in certain areas, you can choose to list your specialized knowledge under each skill, especially for specific job titles and technical skills.

Keep in mind that not all skills are relevant to include on a resume. It’s important to focus on skills that are directly related to the job you’re applying for. A strong skills section on a resume can make a significant impact while occupying minimal space. For more guidance on how to create an effective skills section, refer to our tips on what essential abilities to include on a resume.

Include More Significant Sections On Your Resume

Indeed, these sections are quite common on resumes across the board. However, the key lies in what specific information should be included in a resume.

To distinguish your resume and make it stand out, consider incorporating additional resume sections. These additional sections can showcase various aspects of your profile, such as notable achievements, language proficiency, and more.

If you want to enhance your resume and make it more eye-catching, follow these steps on how to add more sections that highlight your unique attributes and set you apart from other applicants.

Hobbies and passions

You might not imagine that a future employer would be interested in your love of baseball and your work as the Little League assistant coach.

However, mentioning your likes and hobbies quietly demonstrates your capacity for teamwork, and the coaching can attest to your leadership and management skills.

Voluntary service

According to studies, volunteering increases employability. The majority of job seekers find that including any volunteer work in one of their other CV sections is a terrific approach to demonstrate their devotion and morals. It also demonstrates to them that you are not solely concerned with making money. Volunteering is a great substitute for experience for entry-level or first-time applicants.

Internship history

Only those who are recently out of school, who have held one or two other positions, or who haven’t been on the job market for more than four years should list internships on their resumes.

Awards and certifications

Do you have any credentials to display, such as licenses or honors? Include them if they are pertinent to the position and the sector!

Languages

Know a second language? Impressive!

Particularly at multinational corporations or places where a sizable portion of the population speaks that second language, include language abilities on a resume only increases your employability. List the language, any regional variations (like Spanish spoken in Latin America), and your level of language proficiency.

Projects

If you’ve completed a lot of projects, you can include them separately in a section or just briefly mention a few underneath each job description.

Publications

Have articles been written for a newspaper, blog, or scholarly journal? On a resume, mention those publications. Make a brief bibliography of the works you want readers to credit if your published work isn’t already available online.

Additionally, think about creating an online portfolio to keep track of everything if you’ve produced graphic designs or other creative products, or if your list of publications or projects is too large to include on a resume. In this scenario, link to it from the contact page.

Add A Cover Letter to Go Along With Your Resume

Definitely include a cover letter with your submission.

You can go into more detail about things that you need to keep on the resume in your cover letter or job application letter. Additionally, it makes it easy for you to speak in regular sentences!

Overkill, you say?

Think again.

Most employers believe that a CV is not sufficient to make a choice.

You can complete this task quickly and easily by following our tutorial on how to create a cover letter (or a cover letter for an internship or one without experience).

The Correct Way to Proofread, Save and Email Your Resume

Don’t send it off just yet; you’re almost there.

For peace of mind that you created the ideal CV, keep in mind the following best practices.

Double-check and proofread

Before sending out your draft CV or resume, double-check it. Use a program like Grammarly to check your email, cover letter, and resume. Then, have a friend or relative double-check everything.

Safer to be safe than sorry!

Resume Tip: For further information, see our recommendations on resume tips and resume errors to avoid.

Present on the web

Do you recall our conversation on LinkedIn and social media in the previous section on contacts? Do you still recall the nude photos you uploaded on Facebook a few months ago?

Yes, those ought to be taken down.

You best clean up your web presence before a recruiter or hiring manager has a chance to check you up and your career history! While you’re putting together your resume, you should delete any inflammatory posts or at the very least label them as private. While you’re at it, make any necessary updates to your LinkedIn profile to ensure its accuracy.

Resume Tip: Unless the job posting clearly instructs you to do so, avoid sending your email to the company’s catch-all public email address. Find the HR manager’s personal email address.

Keeping a resume

PDF or Word Doc? Hiring managers favor resumes in PDF format. Microsoft Word.doc type resumes are preferred by recruiters. Go with what you prefer in the end (and know that our builder will let you download in both file formats). Additionally, if you’re generating your resume in Word, keep in mind that saving it as a PDF will preserve your formatting more effectively.

How do you save a resume? Use a naming convention for your resume that contains your name, hyphens or underscores, the position you’re applying for, and the words “resume” or “cover letter” throughout all of your attachments.

RIGHT

maria-doe-marketing-specialist-resume.pdf

maria-smith-buyer-cover-letter.docx

Resume Tip: Before emailing your resume, be sure the job description says that applicants must send emails with a specified subject line. If not, use the title of the position, any required job reference numbers, your name, and the word “resume.”

How do references appear on a resume? They should not be on a resume at all, although references may be listed alongside a resume.

To make it readable

If the employer can’t read it, the entire document you’re creating is pointless. By bearing the following in mind, you may make it simple for them to scan:

• Pick a basic font for your resume that will look good on most computers, such as Cambria, Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman, or Helvetica. No cursive!
• Select a font size of 11 or 12 points and single line spacing for the ordinary text. For section titles, increase font size to 14–16 points. Don’t make the margins on your resume too narrow.
• To emphasize certain words or phrases, use bold type. For supporting text, use italics. Avoid underlining on your resume because it looks cluttered (and URLs already use it).
• Any section heads should alternate between serif and sans-serif (or vice versa) to complement the text’s default font. For instance, you can combine the Times New Roman typeface with either the Calibri font (sans-serif) or Arial font (sans-serif) (serif).
• Additionally, if you plan to print your resume, use the nicest paper you can afford; it will give it a more polished appearance.

Be reliable

Consistency is important in both your resume draft and as their potential employee. For instance, format your dates whatever you’d want (15 Nov, November 15, 11-2021, etc.), but do so consistently.

Discover resume icons for each component of your resume if you find one to serve as the introduction, otherwise omit the sections altogether. Ensure that the margins on your resume are the same width on all four sides.

Avoid switching between verb tenses or using the incorrect verb tenses. Use the past tense if it was a former position that you no longer hold.Use the present tense when listing a current position. Keep them the same throughout, whatever you do.

The proper method to email your resume

Your resume and cover letter will be buried in a sea of similar emails from job applicants vying for the same position as you if you send them to a catch-all email address like [email protected].

Find the person’s name who will be reading your resume, and include that information in your email to make it more personalized. When you address a resume to Dear Susan rather than To Whom It May Concern, it comes off as lot more compelling.

Additionally, a strong cover letter that complements your CV will set you apart from other applicants. 

Key Learnings

We are aware that was extremely detailed. So, here are some general resume building tips:

• Maintain relevancy: Each and every item on your resume should demonstrate why you are the greatest candidate.
• Tailor: Create a customized resume for each job and firm you intend to apply to. Choose the firm and the relevant abilities for the open position.
• Pick the appropriate items: Use active voice, create a heading statement that fits your circumstance, and omit any pointless facts when writing your essay.
• Be reliable: Follow the same layout, styles, color schemes, and conventions throughout your resume to maintain consistency.
• Cross-check: Verify again before sending your resume out to ensure there are no grammatical or spelling mistakes. Consult a friend for assistance or review a resume critique.
• Create an online resume: Create a resume online to quickly construct your cover letter and resume. There are more than 20 resume examples and templates available to help you. You can be sure your CV will be strong and land you the desired job with the help of the hints and guidance it provides along the route.

Do you have any inquiries about resume writing? Not sure how to create the ideal work experience section for your resume or how to create a list of abilities and accomplishments? We’ll respond to your inquiries in the comments section below. Regarding your resume preparation, thanks for reading and best of luck!

Questions and Answers on Writing a Resume for a Job

How do I create a resume for employment?

Prior to writing your resume, thoroughly study the job description to identify the keywords you’ll need to succeed on the applicant tracking software exam. Create the areas of your resume required to introduce yourself, your credentials, and your strengths. Sections include:

• Private information
• Professional synopsis or goal
• History of employment Education and skills
• Other things like accolades, credentials, and language licenses

You’ll need to consider which supplemental sections are most effective given the industry and level of experience. But without the other five, you can’t possibly write a resume. By using our resume builder, you can eliminate the stress.

How do you write your first resume?

Include transferable skills in the skills and resume objective areas of your first resume. Add accomplishments that demonstrate your abilities as a good employee, such as curiosity, a desire to learn and help, and improved communication skills, to the work history section. Placements for internships and volunteer work are ideal there. Most crucial, include your academic successes directly after the goal to draw attention to your progress in school.

How can I write a resume that will wow employers?

A resume that reads smoothly and appears professional is one that is impressive. Therefore, take care of the resume style and layout before you get to describing the specifics of your professional and academic achievements.

After that, go on to list your greatest achievements in each of the following categories: resume profile, experience, education, and skills. But additional components provide the best impression, so don’t forget to list your extracurricular activities, accolades, and qualifications on your CV. Claim to be an achiever rather than a doer.

What format should a resume follow?

The most common resume structure, whether for an entry-level career, a specialty role, or an executive post, is chronological. You make the decision to flaunt your job advancement by selecting it.

When switching careers, a functional structure or skills-based resume puts you in the best possible light. It focuses on your skill set while pushing your work history to the side.

A well-balanced fusion of the chronological and functional styles is the combination format, sometimes known as a hybrid. The most difficult to write because it comprises an extensive experience part that is appropriate for senior positions and a description of your skills.

How can a resume be created in Word?

To simplify the process, consider using a pre-made Word resume template. However, if you have ample time and text formatting skills, starting from scratch in Word is an option. Ensure a clear layout, readable typeface, and minimal graphic elements to avoid overwhelming ATS. Organize the primary and secondary sections of your resume consistently. Save the final version as a Word or PDF file, following the recruiter’s guidelines.

For a standout resume in 2023, you must go the extra mile. Use a contemporary resume template and include vital sections: a summary or objective, qualifications, employment history, education, and skills. Highlight your most significant achievements in each section, proving your impact and ability to deliver results to potential employers.