Learning how to write a resume comes down to one idea: show a specific employer, quickly, that you can do the job they are hiring for. Everything on the page should serve that. This guide walks you through what a resume should include, how to write each section, how to describe experience and promotions, and how to keep it up to date. There is a complete example at the end.
If you're rebuilding your resume after a layoff, our guide on what to do when you get laid off covers the first steps, and how to explain being laid off in an interview covers what to say once the resume lands you a call.
What is the purpose of a resume?
A resume's purpose is to get you an interview. It is a short, targeted summary of the experience, skills and results that make you a good fit for one kind of role. It is not a full record of your working life, so you can leave things out.
What should a resume include?
Every resume needs a contact header, a summary, work experience, skills and education. Add optional sections only if they help for the job.
| Section | Required? | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Contact header | Yes | Lets the employer reach you and check your LinkedIn |
| Summary | Strongly recommended | Tells the reader who you are and what you want in a few lines |
| Work experience | Yes | Your evidence: roles, dates and results |
| Skills | Yes | Hard skills and tools that match the job advert |
| Education | Yes | Qualifications, institution and year |
| Certifications | Optional | Only if they matter for the role |
| Projects, volunteering | Optional | Useful for graduates, career changers and people returning after a gap |
| References | No | Say "references available on request" if you want to; don't list contact details |
The UK's National Careers Service suggests the same core sections, and advises leaving out age, date of birth, marital status and nationality, and not putting referees' contact details on the CV (National Careers Service).
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Practise on job simulations of the real work in your target role, see exactly where you lost marks, and share a skills profile alongside your resume. Free to start, no card.
How do you write a resume, step by step?
Follow these steps in order. The first two are where most people skip ahead and lose time later.
- Choose one target role. "Marketing" is too broad. "Content marketing manager at a B2B software company" is a resume you can write.
- Collect three or four job adverts for that role. Highlight the skills, tools and duties that repeat. These are what your resume has to prove.
- List your evidence. For each past job, write down what you did, what changed because of it, and any number you can honestly stand behind.
- Pick a format. Most people should use reverse-chronological. See our guide to resume format if you are changing careers or have a gap.
- Write the experience section first. It is the hardest and the most important part. The summary is easier once it's done.
- Write the skills section from the repeated skills in your adverts, keeping only the ones you actually have.
- Write the summary last. Two to four lines.
- Add education and any optional sections.
- Cut it to length. One page early in your career, two pages for most experienced people.
- Proofread it, then ask someone else to read it. Read it aloud once; you'll catch the clumsy sentences.
How should a resume look?
A resume should look plain and easy to scan: one column, a standard font, clear headings, consistent dates and plenty of white space. Recruiters read it top to bottom looking for titles, employers, dates and results, so make those easy to find. Our resume format guide covers layout, headings and design in detail, and our guide to an ATS-friendly resume covers how to keep it readable by software.
How do you write a resume summary?
Write two to four lines covering your role and level, your main strength or specialism, one piece of evidence, and the job you want.
Example (illustrative): "Customer service team leader with five years in telecoms support. Coached a team of eight to lift first-contact resolution and ran the switch to a new ticketing tool. Looking for a customer success role in software."
Avoid lines that could describe anyone, such as "Hard-working, motivated team player". If you're changing careers, name your target role in the summary so the reader doesn't have to guess.
How do you write job experience on a resume?
For each role, give the title, employer, location and dates, then three to six bullet points that lead with results.
A useful pattern for each bullet: action verb + what you did + result. The National Careers Service suggests using the STAR method (situation, task, action, result) and keeping each role to a few lines.
| Weak bullet | Stronger bullet |
|---|---|
| Responsible for social media | Grew the company's LinkedIn page by posting three times a week and testing post formats with the sales team |
| Handled customer complaints | Resolved escalated complaints for a 40-store region and rewrote the refund script that cut repeat calls |
| Worked on the data team | Built the weekly sales dashboard in Power BI that the leadership team used for forecasting |
| Helped with onboarding | Created a two-week onboarding plan for new hires, now used across three teams |
The examples are illustrative. Use numbers only when they are true and you could explain them in an interview. If you don't have numbers, describe the scope (team size, number of clients, budget) or the change you made.
Give the most space to your most recent and most relevant jobs. Roles from more than ten or fifteen years ago can shrink to one line each, or go under a short "Earlier experience" heading.
How do you show a promotion on a resume?
List the employer once, then stack each job title under it with its own dates, newest first. This makes the promotion obvious at a glance.
Example (illustrative):
Northfield Retail, Manchester
- Operations Manager, 2024 to 2026: led a team of 12 across two sites and owned the monthly KPI review
- Operations Analyst, 2022 to 2024: built the capacity model later adopted across the region
You can add "Promoted to..." in the first bullet of the newer role if the layout makes it less obvious. Put most of your bullet points under the most recent title.
What skills should you put on a resume?
Put hard skills and tools that appear in the job advert and that you could demonstrate if asked: software, methods, languages, certifications. Group them if the list is long, for example "Data: SQL, Excel, Power BI" and "Process: Lean, process mapping".
Soft skills like communication or leadership are better shown in your experience bullets than listed. If you're unsure which skills employers in your field want, our guide to skills to learn and the role guides on our career pages can help.
How do you write the education section?
List the qualification, institution and year. If you are a recent graduate, put education above experience and add relevant modules, projects or a dissertation title. If you have years of experience, keep education to one or two lines at the bottom. You don't need to list grades unless the employer asks or they are a strength for an early-career role.
How do you tailor a resume to each job?
Keep one master resume with everything in it, then make a tailored copy for each application. The National Careers Service recommends tailoring to each job by matching the skills the advert asks for.
For each application, change:
- the target title and summary, so they name this role
- the order of your skills, putting the advert's priorities first
- the first two bullet points in your most recent role
- the words you use, so they match the advert where they truthfully describe your work
This takes ten to fifteen minutes per application once your master copy exists, and it beats sending the same file to fifty jobs. Our job search strategy guide explains how to balance fewer, better applications against volume.
How do you update a resume?
Set a reminder every three to six months, even when you're happy in your job, and add new results while you still remember the details. When you update:
- Add your latest role or promotion and its results.
- Remove skills and tools you no longer use or that are out of date.
- Shorten older roles to make room.
- Refresh your summary for the role you want next.
- Update LinkedIn to match the same titles and dates.
How do you make a resume in Google Docs?
Open Google Docs, pick a simple resume template from the template gallery or start blank, and use heading styles for each section. Avoid templates built on tables or two columns. When you're done, download it as a PDF and open the PDF to check the layout before sending. The UK government also offers a free CV builder at jobs.service.gov.uk/cv.
Resume example
This complete example is illustrative. Copy the structure and replace every detail with your own.
Amara Okafor · Data Analyst · Birmingham, UK · phone · email · linkedin.com/in/amaraokafor
Summary: Data analyst with three years in retail banking operations. Built the complaints dashboard used by the regional operations team and automated monthly reporting in SQL and Python. Looking for an analyst role in fintech.
Experience
Data Analyst, Midland Building Society, Birmingham, 2023 to 2026
- Built a complaints dashboard in Power BI that the regional team used to spot repeat issues each week
- Automated the monthly operations report in SQL and Python, freeing a day a month for the team
- Partnered with the fraud team to define and test three new alert rules
Operations Assistant, Midland Building Society, 2022 to 2023
- Reconciled daily payment exceptions and documented the process for new starters
Skills: SQL, Python (pandas), Excel, Power BI, data cleaning, stakeholder reporting
Education: BSc Economics, University of Nottingham, 2022
What are the most common resume mistakes?
- Writing duties instead of results
- Sending one generic resume to every job
- Leaving dates or job titles hard to find
- Spelling and grammar errors, including in the company name
- Listing every tool you've ever opened
- An unexplained gap. A single honest line is enough; our employment gap guide has examples
FAQs
How long should a resume be?
One page for early-career roles and two pages for most experienced people. Senior, academic and some medical or government roles can run longer.
What is the difference between a resume and a CV?
In the US and Canada, a resume is the short document for most jobs and a CV is a long academic record. In the UK, Ireland, India and much of Europe, "CV" is the everyday word for what Americans call a resume.
Should I put my address on my resume?
Your city and region or country is enough. A full street address isn't needed.
Can I write a resume with no experience?
Yes. Lead with education, then projects, volunteering, part-time work and skills. Practical evidence, such as a portfolio or a scored practice test, helps fill the gap.
Should I include references on my resume?
No. Have two or three referees ready and share their details when an employer asks.
What next
A good resume tells an employer you can do the job. If you want evidence to back it up, you can practise on job simulations of the real work in your target role on Cohesyve, see where you lost marks, and share a skills profile with your applications. Then pair your resume with a tailored letter using our guide on how to write a cover letter.
Sources
- National Careers Service (UK): CV sections