How to Write a Resume That Gets Interviews

Your resume is your first impression and often decides whether you get an interview. This guide covers what to include, how to write each section, how to format it, and the mistakes to avoid. It works for first jobs, career moves and promotions alike. For layouts and samples, browse the resume examples and resume templates.

Resume Basics: What You Need to Know

Three principles apply to every section: tailor, quantify and focus on achievements.

• Tailor every resume. Generic resumes rarely work. Match keywords from the posting, emphasize the most relevant experience and adjust the professional summary for each job.
• Quantify where you honestly can. Percentages, amounts, team sizes and timeframes show concrete impact. If you do not have an exact number, describe scope instead.
• Focus on achievements. Do not just list responsibilities. Show what you accomplished, what problem you solved and what value you brought.

Essential Resume Sections

Every resume needs five sections: contact information, a professional summary, work experience, education and skills. The examples below use made-up people and numbers purely to illustrate format.

Contact Information

Put your name in a larger font at the top, followed by phone, a professional email, city and state, and a customized LinkedIn URL.

• Use a professional email such as firstname.lastname@email.com.
• Give your city and state only. A full street address wastes space and raises privacy concerns.
• Add a portfolio or GitHub link only if it is relevant to your field, and check that it works.

Weak: John | john123@hotmail.com | 555-1234 | 123 Main St, Apt 4B, Springfield, IL 62701

Strong: John Smith, Chicago, IL | (555) 123-4567 | john.smith@email.com | linkedin.com/in/johnsmith

Professional Summary

A professional summary is a 3-4 sentence overview of your career at the top of the resume. Lead with your title and years of experience, add one or two achievements and the skills that matter for the role, and tailor it to each application.

Write it last, once you know what the rest of the resume emphasizes. Avoid first-person pronouns and generic phrases like "hard worker" or "team player". For more, see our guide to writing a resume summary.

Weak: Hardworking professional seeking opportunities to grow my career. I am a team player with great communication skills and attention to detail.

Strong: Senior Marketing Manager with 8 years of experience driving digital growth for SaaS companies. Led data-driven campaigns that increased qualified lead volume and lowered acquisition cost. Skilled in marketing automation, SEO and cross-functional leadership.

Work Experience

List jobs in reverse chronological order with company, job title, dates (month and year) and location, then 4-6 bullet points per recent role. Start each bullet with a strong action verb and describe the result, not just the duty.

A simple formula is the CAR method: Challenge, Action, Result. Leave off irrelevant jobs from many years ago, keep date formats consistent and explain employment gaps briefly.

Weak: Responsible for managing social media accounts.

Strong: Grew the company's social media following from 12K to 47K in six months by building a data-driven content calendar.

Strong: Led a cross-functional team of five to launch an email campaign that generated measurable new revenue.

Education

List your degree, school, location and graduation date, most recent first. Recent graduates put education above work experience; once you have a few years of experience, move it below.

• Include GPA only if it is strong and you graduated recently.
• Add relevant coursework or honors when they support the target role.
• Leave off high school if you have a college degree.

Skills Section

Group skills into clear categories such as Technical, Tools and Languages, and put the most relevant ones first. Be specific: "Python (NumPy, Pandas)" says more than "Python". Only list skills you can discuss confidently in an interview, and match the wording of the job description where it is truthful.

Put soft skills like communication or leadership into your experience bullets, where you can prove them, rather than in a skills list. Aim for a focused list rather than 15 or more loosely related items.

Weak: Microsoft Office, Communication, Team Player, Problem Solving, Detail-Oriented

Strong: Technical Skills: Python (Pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn), SQL, Tableau. Tools: Git, Jira, Salesforce, Google Analytics. Languages: English (native), Spanish (professional working proficiency).

Optional Resume Sections

Add an optional section only when it strengthens your case for the specific role.

Formatting & Design Guidelines

Clean, consistent formatting makes a resume easy to read for both people and software.

• Length: one page if you are a recent graduate or have under about five years of experience; two pages for longer careers. Longer documents are normally only for academic CVs. Avoid a page and a half: trim to one or expand to two.
• Font: a standard, readable font such as Arial, Calibri, Georgia, Garamond or Helvetica, at 10-12 pt for body text and slightly larger for your name and headings. See our guide to the best fonts for a resume.
• Margins and spacing: roughly 0.5-1 inch margins, single line spacing and consistent space between sections.
• Hierarchy: bold for company names and section headers, italics for job titles or degrees, and at most one accent color.

ATS Optimization: Pass the Robots

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software employers use to collect and sort applications, and a resume parses best when it is simple and uses standard headings. These habits help.

• Use standard section headers such as Work Experience, Education and Skills, not "My Story".
• Avoid tables, text boxes and information in headers or footers, which some systems read poorly.
• Use standard fonts and simple bullets instead of icons or custom symbols.
• Mirror keywords from the posting where they honestly describe you, without stuffing.
• Spell out acronyms once, for example "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)".
• Never hide keywords in white text. It is deceptive and easy to detect.
• Send the file type the employer asks for. PDF and DOCX are both widely accepted.

For a deeper walkthrough, read our ATS guide, or run your resume through the ATS check.

Common Resume Mistakes to Avoid

The most damaging mistakes are errors, generic content and duty lists.

• Typos and grammar errors. Read aloud, use a spell checker and have two or three people proofread.
• One generic resume for every job. Customize the summary, skills and key achievements for each application.
• Irrelevant information. Every line should show why you are qualified for this role.
• Responsibilities instead of achievements. Start with an action verb, add numbers and show results.
• An unprofessional email address. Use a name-based address.
• A photo, age or marital status. In many countries, including the United States, this information is not expected and can invite bias.
• Inconsistent formatting. Use the same date format, bullet style and verb tense throughout.
• Lying or exaggerating. Frame the truth positively, but never fabricate. Claims are easy to check.

Final Resume Checklist

Review these items before you submit.

Before you send

• Contact information is current and professional
• No spelling or grammar errors (proofread several times)
• Every bullet starts with an action verb
• Achievements include numbers or clear scope where possible
• The resume is one or two full pages, not one and a half
• Formatting is consistent throughout
• Saved as PDF or DOCX with a professional file name
• Tailored to the specific job posting
• Run through an ATS checker
• Someone else has reviewed it
• LinkedIn profile matches the resume
• Photo, age and marital status are not included

Ready to Create Your Resume?

Use Woberry's resume builder to turn this guide into a finished document with professional templates and PDF export. If you want a different building experience, our sister product, ResumeFast, offers an AI resume builder too.