Career guide
How to Write a Resume: Step by Step, With Examples
To write a resume, pick a format (reverse-chronological suits most people), add your contact details and a short summary, then list each job newest first with three to six bullets that show what you did and what changed because of it. Finish with skills and education, tailor the top third to the posting, and keep it to one or two pages.
Key takeaways
- A resume is a one- or two-page summary of your work that answers one question for the reader: can this person do the job in the posting?
- The reverse-chronological format, with the newest job first, suits most people and is the easiest for both recruiters and applicant tracking systems to read.
- The strongest resume bullets follow action, scope and result: what you did, how big it was and what changed because of it.
- Tailoring a resume means rewriting the summary and the first bullet under each recent job around the posting's top two or three priorities.
- Applicant tracking systems read plain layouts best, so use standard section headings, real text instead of images and a .docx or PDF file.
Download all 2 templates (Word) Opens in Google Docs too.
A resume is a short, scannable case for one claim: you can do the job in the posting. Everything on the page should help a busy reader believe that, and anything that doesn’t can go. If you haven’t written one in years, or ever, start with the steps below and a rough draft. Rough drafts are how every good resume starts.
How do you write a resume, step by step?
You write a resume by deciding what job it’s for, choosing a layout, then filling in sections from the top down and editing hard. Here’s the order that saves the most time:
- Pick the target. Find two or three postings for the job you want and note what they repeat. That’s your brief.
- Choose a format. Reverse-chronological for most people; hybrid if you’re changing careers (more below).
- Add your header. Name, city and state, phone, email, LinkedIn URL, and a portfolio link if your work is visual or written.
- List your jobs, newest first. Company, title, dates (month and year), and city or “Remote”.
- Write three to six bullets per recent job. Lead with results. Older jobs get one or two lines.
- Write the summary last. Two or three lines, once you can see your strongest material.
- Add skills and education. Tools, channels and methods the postings name; degree and certifications.
- Tailor the top third to each posting you apply for.
- Edit for length and proof it. Cut anything that doesn’t support the target, then read it out loud.
Writing the summary last feels backwards, but it’s the fastest way to a good one: by then you know which results to put in it.
What sections should a resume have?
A resume needs a header, experience, skills and education; a summary is optional but useful for anyone past entry level. Use these standard names so both people and software find each section.
| Section | What goes in it | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Name, city, phone, email, LinkedIn, portfolio | Everyone |
| Summary | Two or three lines: who you are, your scope, one result | Everyone past a first job; career changers most of all |
| Experience | Jobs newest first, bullets with results | Everyone |
| Skills | Tools, platforms, channels, methods | Everyone, grouped by type |
| Education | Degree, school, year (optional after ten years) | Everyone |
| Certifications | Google, Meta, HubSpot and similar | If the postings ask for them |
| Projects or volunteer work | Real work outside a job | Students, career changers, people with gaps |
Leave out a photo, date of birth, marital status and a full street address in the US. References go on a separate sheet; our guide to references on a resume covers when and how.
Which resume format should you use?
Use the reverse-chronological format unless you have a strong reason not to: it lists your jobs newest first and is the layout recruiters and applicant tracking systems expect. The hybrid (or combination) format adds a skills-based summary section at the top and suits career changers. The purely functional format, which hides dates and groups everything by skill, tends to raise more questions than it answers.
| Format | How it’s laid out | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Reverse-chronological | Experience newest first, then skills and education | Most people, including anyone with steady experience in the field |
| Hybrid (combination) | A short “selected results” or skills section first, then experience newest first | Career changers, people returning after a gap, freelancers |
| Functional | Skills groups with little or no job history | Rarely the right choice; recruiters often read it as hiding something |
The visual design matters less than the format. A clean single-column layout with one readable font, clear headings and consistent dates beats a heavily designed template, especially when the file goes through a tracking system first.
How do you write resume bullet points?
Write each bullet as action, scope and result: what you did, how big it was and what changed because of it. A bullet that only names a duty ("Responsible for social media") tells the reader your job title again. A bullet with a result tells them what you’d do for them.
[Action verb] [what you did] for [scope: audience, budget, channel, team], [result: the number that moved, by how much, in what time].
Three marketing examples, from task to result:
| Duty only | With scope and result |
|---|---|
| Managed the company’s Instagram account | Grew Instagram from [number] to [number] followers in [time] with a weekly short-form video series |
| Ran email campaigns | Rebuilt the welcome series for [number] new subscribers a month, lifting first-purchase rate from [X]% to [Y]% |
| Worked with the agency on paid search | Managed a $[budget] paid search budget with our agency, cutting cost per lead by [X]% over two quarters |
Use the frame to get a draft down, then make each line sound like you explaining the work to a colleague. The detail only you would mention, like the test that surprised you or the channel you talked your boss into, is often the line a hiring manager asks about.
No numbers? Small and approximate numbers count, and so does scope ("for a list of 40,000”, “across four markets"). Our marketing resume guide has bullet examples for every level.
What does a resume look like? A marketing example
A finished resume for a mid-level marketer looks like the outline below: one page, results in the top bullets, skills grouped so a recruiter can scan them.
[Your Name] [City, State] · [email] · [phone] · linkedin.com/in/[you] · [portfolio link] SUMMARY [Type] marketer with [number] years in [channels] for [kind of company]. Known for [one strength], most recently [one result with a number]. EXPERIENCE [Title], [Company] · [City or Remote] · [Month Year] to Present - [Biggest result: action, scope, result] - [Second result, ideally a different skill] - [Something you built or led] - [A cross-team project with an outcome] [Title], [Company] · [City] · [Month Year] to [Month Year] - [Result] - [Result] - [Result] SKILLS Channels: [e.g. paid social, email, SEO] Tools: [e.g. GA4, HubSpot, Meta Ads Manager, Canva] Methods: [e.g. A/B testing, audience research, campaign planning] EDUCATION [Degree], [School], [Year]
For role-specific versions, see our pages on the marketing manager resume, the entry-level marketing resume and resume summary examples.
How do you tailor a resume to a job posting?
You tailor a resume by finding the posting’s top two or three priorities and making them obvious in the summary and in the first bullet under each recent job. You don’t need a new resume for every application; you need a strong master version and ten minutes of edits per role.
- Highlight what the posting repeats and what it lists first.
- Rewrite your summary so it names those priorities in the posting’s own words, where they’re true.
- Reorder bullets so the most relevant result sits at the top of each job.
- Check the skills section covers the tools and channels the posting names that you’ve really used.
A quick way to check your coverage is our free resume keyword scanner, which compares a posting with your resume in your browser. Recon goes a step further: it tailors your resume to a specific posting line by line and leaves a [placeholder] wherever a stronger line needs a fact only you know, rather than inventing one.
How do applicant tracking systems read a resume?
An applicant tracking system (ATS) stores applications and lets recruiters search and filter them, so your resume needs to be easy for software to read as well as people. Plain structure does most of the work:
- Standard headings: “Experience”, “Skills”, “Education”. Creative headings can confuse the parser.
- Real text: no skills shown only as icons, charts or images, and nothing important in headers or footers.
- One column is the safest layout. Tables and text boxes sometimes scramble.
- The posting’s words for things you’ve done: “paid social” if the posting says “paid social”.
- The file type the posting asks for. Otherwise a .docx or a text-based PDF.
Systems and settings differ by employer, so no outside tool can tell you exactly how one company’s system ranks you. Clear structure and honest keyword matches are what you control. Our marketing resume keywords page lists the terms by role.
How long should a resume be?
A resume should be one page for most people with under about ten years of experience and two pages for senior people whose extra page is full of relevant results. Length follows content: our full guide on how long a resume should be covers each career stage and what to cut.
FAQ
How do I write a resume with no experience?
Lead with education, then projects, internships, volunteer work, freelance jobs and anything you’ve built, such as a social account you grew or a newsletter you started. Write those as bullets with results, the same as a job. Our entry-level marketing resume page shows how.
Should a resume have an objective or a summary?
A summary is usually stronger, because it tells the reader what you bring rather than what you want. An objective can still work for students and career changers if it names the role and what you offer. See our resume objective examples for when each fits.
What’s the best resume format in 2026?
Reverse-chronological is still the safest choice for most people, in a clean single-column layout. The hybrid format is the main alternative, for career changers and people returning after a break.
Should I use a resume template?
A simple template is fine and saves time. Pick one with a single column, standard headings and no graphics carrying important information, then make sure your content, not the design, is what stands out.
What file format should I send my resume in?
Send the format the posting asks for. If it doesn’t say, a .docx or a text-based PDF both work; name the file with your name and the role, for example “FirstName-LastName-Marketing-Manager.pdf”.