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Get my free resume reviewKey takeaways
- To write a resume, build five core parts in order: contact header, professional summary, work experience, skills, and education.
- Use the reverse-chronological format in one clean column with standard headings, so recruiters and ATS software can both read it.
- Open every bullet with an action verb, end it with a result, and tailor the wording to each job posting.
- Test the finished resume with our free ATS resume checker before you apply.
How to write a resume comes down to a clear structure and a focused message: show the employer you can do the job, using their words and your proof. A strong resume is easy to scan, honest, and tailored to one role.
This guide walks through every section, from the contact header to the final ATS check, with examples you can adapt. Each part links to a deeper guide, so you can go further wherever you need to.
Start with a blank page and write your resume in five moves
Write a resume by setting up your header, writing a short summary, turning each job into achievement bullets, adding skills and education, then formatting and testing the result. Follow these five steps in order.
Set up a clean contact header
List your name, phone number, professional email, city and state, and LinkedIn URL. Skip your street address, photo, and birth date. Put the details in the page body, not the document header, where some ATS cannot read them.
Do: “[Your Name] | Denver, CO | 555-0100 | name@email.com” · Not: “partyking99@email.com” plus your full home address
Write a short professional summary
Add two to four lines under your header that name your role, your strongest skills, and one proof point. Copy a proven pattern from our resume summary examples, or compare options in resume objective vs summary.
Do: “Customer service specialist with 5 years in retail, skilled in conflict resolution, who raised satisfaction scores to 94%” · Not: “Hard-working professional seeking a challenging position”
Turn each job into achievement bullets
List jobs newest first with title, employer, location, and dates. Write three to six bullets per role that open with an action verb and end with a result. Our guides to resume bullet points and action verbs for resume show how.
Do: “Reduced order errors 18% by redesigning the packing checklist” · Not: “Responsible for packing orders”
Add skills and education
Add a skills section with eight to twelve hard and soft skills taken from the job posting. Then list your degree, school, and graduation year, plus certifications. Recent graduates can put education first. Browse skills to put on a resume for lists by industry.
Do: “Skills: Salesforce, Excel pivot tables, scheduling, conflict resolution” · Not: “Skills: hard worker, team player, fast learner”
Format, proofread, and test for ATS
Use one column, a standard font, and consistent date formats. Save a text-based PDF unless the posting asks for Word. Proofread out loud, then run the resume and the job description through our free ATS resume checker.
Do: “Save as FirstName-LastName-Resume.pdf” · Not: “Resume_final_v7_REAL.pdf”
Your draft is done, so how do you fit it to each job?
Tailor your resume by matching your real experience to the requirements in the job posting, then mirroring the posting’s wording wherever it is true. Keep one master resume, and reword a copy for each application.
Tailoring does not mean starting over. Change the summary, move the bullets that matter most to the top of each job, and adjust the skills list to fit each posting.
“Your resume is not your life story. It is a short, targeted argument that you can solve this employer’s problem, and every line should earn its place.”
ResumeCroc resume team
Which sections actually earn a place on the page?
A resume should include five core parts: a contact header, a professional summary, work experience, skills, and education. Add optional sections, such as certifications or projects, only when they help the job you want.
| Section | What goes in it | Deeper guide |
|---|---|---|
| Contact header | Name, phone, professional email, city and state, LinkedIn URL | Step 1 above |
| Professional summary | Two to four lines: who you are, your top skills, and one proof point | Resume summary examples |
| Work experience | Title, employer, dates, and three to six achievement bullets per role | Resume bullet points and action verbs |
| Skills | Eight to twelve hard and soft skills that match the posting | Skills to put on a resume |
| Education | Degree, school, and graduation year, plus relevant certifications | Step 4 above |
Optional sections can help when they are relevant: certifications and licenses, projects, volunteer work, languages, and awards. If a section does not support the job you want, leave it out.
Which layout wins: chronological, combination, or functional?
Use the reverse-chronological format unless you have a specific reason not to. It lists your newest job first, and it is the layout recruiters and ATS software read most easily.
| Format | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Reverse-chronological | Most job seekers with a steady work history | Gaps are visible, so explain employment gaps briefly and honestly |
| Combination (hybrid) | Career changers and skill-heavy roles | It can run long, so keep the skills block tight |
| Functional (skills-based) | Rarely recommended | It can look like it hides your timeline, and some ATS parse it poorly |
Whatever you choose, keep one column, a readable 10 to 12 point font, and standard headings such as Experience and Education. Text boxes and graphics can scramble the text an ATS reads.
With only seconds of attention to win, structure matters more than style. A recruiter should find your title, your proof, and your skills at a glance.
What a strong entry looks like next to a weak one
A strong entry pairs a clear job title with bullets that show what you did and what changed because of it. The table below shows the same resume sections written weakly and strongly.
| Section | Weak version | Strong version |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Hard-working person looking for a good opportunity | Operations coordinator with 6 years in logistics, skilled in route planning and vendor management, who cut delivery delays by 15% |
| Experience bullet | Responsible for shipping and receiving | Streamlined shipping and receiving across 3 warehouses, cutting order errors by 18% |
| Skills | Good with computers, people person | Excel (pivot tables), SAP, inventory forecasting, vendor negotiation |
| Education | College | B.S., Supply Chain Management, State University, 2019 |
To see these sections working together, open our 60+ resume samples and find one for your field.
Put your editing hours where recruiters look for proof
Spend most of your editing time on your work experience bullets, because that is where a recruiter looks for proof you can do the job. Your summary and skills come next.
Where the time goes across the five steps (illustrative)
Experience bullets take the longest, with the summary next. These are rough planning times, not measured data.
Illustrative planning guide from the ResumeCroc resume team, not a measured statistic.
Will the software read it? Make the file ATS-friendly
Make a resume ATS-friendly by using one column, standard section headings, a common font, and keywords copied from the posting. Avoid tables, text boxes, and graphics that can scramble your text.
- Standard headings. Use Summary, Experience, Skills, and Education so the software files each section correctly.
- Exact keywords. Match job titles, tools, and certifications to the posting wherever they are true.
- Spelled-out acronyms. Write Search Engine Optimization (SEO) once, so both forms are searchable.
- Plain file. Choose a text-based PDF or Word file, never a scanned image.
For the full playbook, read our guide to how to write an ATS-friendly resume, then check your score free.
One page or two? Decide how much to keep
One page works for most early-career applicants, and two pages are fine when you have a long history of relevant results. Whatever the length, put your strongest content on the first page.
Our guide to how long a resume should be covers what to cut and how far back to go. Two related questions come up often: how to handle employment gaps on a resume, and whether to list references on a resume.
The slip-ups that cost applicants interviews
The most common resume mistakes are typos, vague bullets, a one-size-fits-all resume, cluttered formatting, and an unprofessional email address. Each one is easy to fix before you apply.
- Typos and inconsistencies. Proofread twice, and keep dates, fonts, and punctuation consistent.
- Duties instead of results. Replace “responsible for” with an action verb and a measurable outcome.
- One resume for every job. Tailor your summary and skills to each posting.
Find the full list in our guide to resume mistakes to avoid. Writing about yourself is hard to do objectively, so if you would rather hand it off, our resume writing service pairs you with a writer who builds an ATS-ready resume from your real experience.
Is your resume ready to pass the ATS?
Paste your resume and a job description into our free checker for an instant ATS score, the keywords you are missing, and prioritized fixes, all in your browser, nothing uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to write a resume?
Plan on a few hours for a solid first draft if you gather your job history, dates, and achievements first. Tailoring that master resume to each new posting is much quicker, because you only adjust the summary, skills, and top bullets.
What resume format should I use?
Use reverse-chronological for most jobs, because it is the easiest for recruiters and ATS software to read. Choose a combination format if you are changing careers or your skills matter more than your job titles. Avoid purely functional formats.
Do I need a summary on my resume?
A short summary is optional but helpful, because it gives the reader your value in two to four lines before they scan the rest. Students and career changers can use a short objective instead. See resume objective vs summary to choose.
Should my resume be one page or two?
One page suits most early-career applicants, and two pages are fine with a long history of relevant results. Cut anything that does not support the job you want. Our guide on how long a resume should be gives examples by career stage.
How do I make my resume ATS-friendly?
Use one column, standard headings, a common font, and keywords from the job posting, with no tables or text boxes. Then test the file with our free ATS resume checker to see your match score and the keywords you are missing.
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