A good rule of thumb is to keep your resume to one page if you have less than 5-10 years of relevant experience or two pages if you have more than 10 years of experience.

Use a simple machine readable font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial). In 2019, pretty much all companies use automated systems like an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to parse your resume. A generic intersystem font will ensure your resume is parsed correctly. Use a font size between 10-12. You can analyze the readability of your resume with Score My Resume .

Go simple - remember, the content is the most important part of your resume. It's important that your resume templates are optimized for ATS. 500+ resumes from top performers were reviewed to create Resume Worded's builder - each one used a simple template like that one.

Be consistent in your use of bold, italics, underlines, date formats, font sizes and bullets.

Photo : You are not being judged on how you look. Some companies even auto reject resumes with a photo. References (or 'References available upon request'): This just wastes a line. Employers will ask you directly if they ever need to contact your references. Personal information like religion, marital status, ethnicity, age, gender

Summary : It wastes space and doesn’t give a recruiter any additional information. Objective : The company already knows what you’re looking for because you applied for a specific position. Having an objective section may even exclude you from other similar positions that might be interesting to you.

Name, Personal Information, Education, Work Experience, Leadership / Extra-curricular Activities, Additional Info (Skills, Languages, Interests) If you're an Experienced Hire, structure your resume like this: Name, Personal Information, Work Experience, Projects/Activities (Optional), Education, Additional Info (Skills, Languages, Interests)

If you're in college or a recent graduate, structure your resume like this:

If your school uses a different scale (e.g. out of 10), convert it to the standard 4.0 scale. If you choose to list your in-major GPA instead of your cumulative GPA, specify that it's your in-major GPA. Similarly, only include any standardised test scores (e.g. SAT, GMAT) if your score is in the top 20th percentile.

Include your GPA if it's above 3.0 out of 4

Include all colleges/institutions you've attended, along with your major, minor and graduation year

Use Action Verbs Start each bullet point with an Action-oriented word (e.g. Developed, managed, etc) in past tense. Here is a free list of powerful action words to use on your resume.

Use reverse chronological order for your jobs

Your current or most recent job should appear first.

Ensure each line is accomplishment oriented, not responsibilities oriented

Read each line on your resume again. Make sure you are not just listing your responsibilities. Instead, ensure each bullet point focuses on your accomplishments and the impact you had; action words and quantified results help you do this. This is your resume, not a job description.



Can you tell why this is a poor example of a resume line?:

Responsible for the coordinated management of multiple related projects directed toward strategic business and other organizational objectives



It’s simply not specific and does not demonstrate enough impact or core skills. It fits more into a job description than a resume.



To learn how to write more effective lines, read this article.

Within each job, organize your bullets by importance and relevance

Your first bullet point should either describe your most impactful experience at the company, or the experience that is most relevant to the job you are applying to.

Include your company name, positions held, plus a short description where necessary

If your company name may be unknown to your target employer, use a short line to describe it. Here's a typical example.

Include keywords to get past resume screening software and ATS

Large companies often rely on applicant tracking systems (ATS) to help filter resumes, before they even get into a recruiter's hands. These systems work by scanning resumes for keywords, numbers and key phrases, sending only the most qualified ones through for human review. To ensure you get past these automated systems, include verb phrases and skills written in the job description on your own resume. Don't go overboard, though. It's really easy for a recruiter to tell when you've simply filled your resume with keywords that aren't effective in the context of your resume. Here are some examples of some industry keywords (not a complete list).