How To Write a One-Page Resume: Your Go-To Guide (+ Template)

1. Start with your contact information

Place this at the top of the page. At a minimum, include:

• First and last name
• Professional email address (e.g., “emme.alvarez@email.com”)
• Phone number, including area code
• City and state (no need for a full address)
• LinkedIn profile URL (customized with your name, like “linkedin.com/in/emme-alvarez,” if possible)

You can also add:

• Pronouns (if you’re comfortable sharing)
• X (formerly Twitter) profile URL (only if you use it professionally)

✍️ Tailoring tip: Check if the job description asks for additional links, such as to your personal website, portfolio, or GitHub profile. If so, include those links here.

🚫 Don’t: Include your birthdate, marital status, or a headshot. These aren’t necessary and can introduce bias.

2. Add a target job title

This is exactly what it sounds like: the title of the job you’re targeting. Including it on your resume helps recruiters instantly see what role you’re after and can help your resume show up faster in applicant tracking system (ATS) searches.

✍️ Tailoring tip: Use the exact job title from the job ad if your experience supports it. For example, if the job is listed as “Head Recruiter,” use that, not “Senior Recruiting Manager.” 

🚫 Don’t: List your current job title if it doesn’t fully reflect the job you want. For instance, “Customer Support Associate” won’t help if you’re applying for “Client Success Coordinator.”

3. Create a professional summary

A professional summary gives recruiters and hiring managers a quick overview of your experience and, more importantly, what you can do for them.

Keep it to 3–4 sentences and include:

• Your current or most recent job title or area of focus
• Years of relevant experience
• Notable industries or companies
• 1–2 key achievements, including measurable results (like percentages or dollar amounts)

✍️ Tailoring tip: Scan the job description for repeated words, phrases, and concepts. Does the company seem focused on innovation, sustainability, technology, etc.? What skills, tools, and responsibilities appear multiple times? Incorporate those into your professional summary. 

🚫 Don’t: Mention experience or skills that don’t relate to this job. It’s tempting to sprinkle those in for extra impact, but doing so actually has the opposite effect, weakening your professional summary.

Example:

Senior lead marketer with 7+ years of experience leading high-impact campaigns in the SaaS and eCommerce spaces. Proven ability to increase lead generation by 40% through data-driven content strategies. Skilled in campaign execution, performance analytics, and stakeholder communication.

4. Detail your work experience

Your Work Experience section is the heart of your resume and needs to be concise, especially in a one-page format. Aim for 3–4 roles at most, and focus on achievements, not just tasks, to demonstrate your impact.

Each entry should include:

• Company name
• Position(s) held
• Location (or “Remote”)
• Start date
• End date (use “present” for your current role)
• One-sentence description of the company (optional but helpful if the company isn’t well-known)
• 3–5 bullet points focused on your achievements

✍️ Tailoring tip: Include roles and achievements that best match the job description, and list your most relevant bullet points first. For example, for a role requiring “client-facing experience” and “sales growth,” lead with, “Managed a portfolio of 15+ clients and increased annual revenue by 30% through upselling and relationship-building.”

You can do this manually by reviewing job posts line-by-line, or save time with Teal’s Job Description Match tool, which suggests bullet points aligned to specific job descriptions.

🚫 Don’t: Go too far back into your work history. Only include roles you’ve had within the last 10–15 years, unless they’re highly relevant.

Examples:

• Redesigned onboarding with a 6-person team, increasing 90-day retention by 40% in 4 months
• Led regulatory audit uncovering 12 risks, helping client avoid $1.1M+ in penalties
• Launched referral program that increased applicants by 20%, cut time-to-hire by 25%, and saved $60K 

5. List your education

For each entry, include:

• Degree or diploma
• School and location
• Graduation date (optional)

✍️ Tailoring tip: Include only education details that align with your desired role. For instance, if you’re applying for a marketing position, highlight your business degree and relevant marketing coursework, but skip unrelated studies, such as an associate’s degree in marine biology.

🚫 Don’t: List incomplete qualifications without marking them as “in progress.”

Example:

Bachelor of Science, Business Administration
Pennsylvania College of Technology – Williamsport, PA
Date of completion: May 2021

6. Add your certifications

If the role calls for specific qualifications (and you have them), include a Certifications section.

All you need is the certification name and the organization that issued it. You can add the date of completion, but this isn’t required.

✍️ Tailoring tip: Use the same wording from the job description if it matches your certification. For example, if it mentions “CPR certification,” list yours as “CPR Certification – American Red Cross” rather than just “First Aid Training.”

🚫 Don’t: List expired certifications, even if they’re relevant. These take up limited space but add no value. 

Example:

Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) – Google
Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) – Scrum Alliance

7. Spotlight your skills

Create a Key Skills section that lists 8–10 skills aligned with the role. 

✍️ Tailoring tip: Pull keywords directly from the job posting, and list the skills you actually have. (This helps your resume stand out in ATS tools, which often scan for words and phrases used in job descriptions.) For example, if it mentions “data analysis” and “SQL,” include those exact terms if they reflect your experience.

🚫 Don’t: Include soft skills that describe how you work and collaborate, like “team player.” Instead, focus on hard skills: your technical knowledge and measurable abilities. 

Examples:

• Project Management
• Budget Analysis and Forecasting
• Inventory Planning
• Market Analysis
• Agile and Scrum Methodologies
• Risk Mitigation 

8. Include awards, publications, and other extras

If you have extra space and the content is relevant, you can add one or more of these sections to your one-page resume:

• Awards and Scholarships
• Projects
• Volunteering and Leadership
• Publications

✍️ Tailoring tip: Only add details that reinforce why you’re the best person for the specific job you’re after. Applying to a non-profit? Add your volunteer work. Seeking an academic role? Include your recent publications. Need to demonstrate your expertise and impact? Mention your awards. 

🚫 Don’t: Add these sections without context. For projects, don’t just list titles—briefly explain what you did and what the outcome was. For awards, mention what the award was for, not just the name. Make sure each entry provides a clear, concise picture of what you accomplished and why it’s important.

💡 Pro tip: These eight steps are powerful, but doing them by hand for every job application can slow you down. Teal’s Resume Builder speeds this up with tools that help you format, tailor, and refine your resume—all in one place.

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