17 Resume Tips To Write a Resume That Gets Results

1. Choose the best format for your experience

The chronological format is the best choice for most professionals. It's the most common and, therefore, the most recognizable. Listing your experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent job first, makes it easy for hiring managers to follow your career growth and progression.

If you have employment gaps or are changing careers, a skills-based or hybrid option can help by focusing on your qualifications first instead of your job history. But whichever format you choose, keep your resume layout simple, professional, and easy to read.

2. Include the right sections

Your resume structure should make it easy for hiring managers to find the information they need quickly. According to resume best practices, each section plays a role in telling your career story and proving your qualifications.

Required sections:

• Header: Your name, professional email, phone number, location, and LinkedIn profile URL.
• Target Title: The title of the job you're applying for.
• Resume Summary: A concise snapshot of your expertise and impact.
• Work Experience: Your relevant job history (with dates!), highlighting key achievements.
• Education: Your degrees and any required or relevant coursework if you're a recent grad.
• Certifications: Active certifications relevant to your position and the role.
• Skills: All the relevant skills that match the job.

Optional Sections:

• Publications
• Projects
• Award and Scholarships
• Volunteer Work

A well-structured resume isn’t just about including the right sections—it’s about prioritizing what matters most to the job. Keep essential details upfront and cut anything that doesn’t add value.

3. Keep your resume skimmable

Recruiters and hiring managers make split-second decisions about resumes. If key details don’t stand out, they might get overlooked. A well-structured, clean design makes it easier for them to absorb the most important information at a glance.

Most professionals should keep their resumes between 1-3 pages, depending on experience level. And while that isn't a hard and fast rule, here's a quick checklist for keeping your document skimmable.

📌 Resume myth: Your resume has to be one page

One of the biggest resume misconceptions is that your resume can’t be longer than one page. This simply isn't true; a two-page resume is completely acceptable, and some more senior roles even require three pages.

A resume over one page doesn't make the content any more or less skimmable. The key is making sure that content is clear, readable, and relevant.

4. Use a template

No matter which resume format you choose, a template makes the process faster and more consistent. It ensures professional formatting, keeps everything aligned, and saves you from time-consuming manual adjustments.

A well-structured resume template also helps with readability, making sure key sections are clearly defined and easy to skim. Instead of struggling with margins, spacing, and fonts, use a pre-formatted template to keep your resume polished and professional.

5. Start with a master document

Instead of scrambling to remember past achievements every time you apply for a job, create a master resume that keeps everything in one place. Just because you should change your resume for every job doesn't mean you need to start from scratch. This document stores your full work history, skills, projects, and metrics so you can quickly pull relevant details for each application.

A master resume helps you track career growth, simplify updates, and keep valuable experience from getting lost. It also comes in handy for salary negotiations and performance reviews, giving you a clear record of your progress.

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6. Quantify achievements

Numbers make your impact clear. Hiring managers don’t just need to see what you did in your general job duties—they need to see the measurable results.

Metrics, percentages, and data help prove your contributions and set you apart from other candidates. Here's an example to show the impact of quantified bullet points:

• Without metrics: Wrote code for a new product feature.
• With metrics: Developed and deployed a new API feature, reducing data retrieval time by 40% and improving system efficiency.

If you can’t quantify your work with hard numbers, focus on scale, frequency, or outcomes—anything that shows efficiency, improvement, or business impact. Even estimates framed honestly can add weight to your experience.

7. Use strong action verbs

Action verbs bring your resume achievements to life by showing what you did, not just what your job was. The right words create a sense of impact and ownership, making it clear how you contributed to business goals.

Instead of vague descriptions, use verbs that highlight leadership, problem-solving, and measurable success like this:

• Managed → Led
• Responsible for → Oversaw
• Worked on → Streamlined
• Helped with → Developed

8. Prioritize relevant skills

Hiring managers don’t just want to see a list of skills—they want proof you can apply them. Instead of saying you’re a “team player,” show it through an achievement that highlights collaboration or leadership.

Hard skills (technical expertise, software proficiency, industry-specific knowledge, foreign language) should take priority, but soft skills (those transferable skills) still matter—as long as they’re backed up with real examples.

When asked about how skills can be prioritized, Reverse Recruiter and Hiring Expert Madelyn Machado put it this way:

"Skills are very important for the resume. Not only should they be listed at the bottom so they're easy for recruiters to find, but you should also showcase them in your experience," Machado continues.

"You want to stick with technical skills first—think software and tools you have experience with to be successful in your role. Then, prioritize keywords regularly used in your role, like KPIs or data analysis. Lastly, focus on soft skills like cross-functional collaboration or stakeholder management.

9. Tailor your content for every job application

A strong resume isn’t one-size-fits-all. Resume customization shows employers you’re a great fit for a job, increases your chances of being found in Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and helps highlight the experience that matters most.

The trick? Match your resume to the job description with relevant experience.

1. Align resume keywords and phrasing with the language used in the job posting.
2. Incorporate relevant skills and experience naturally throughout your sections.
3. Remove anything that doesn’t apply—irrelevant experience only takes up space.

Tailoring your resume doesn’t mean rewriting it from scratch—it means adjusting key details so hiring managers instantly see how your background aligns with their needs.

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10. Use keywords

Recruiters don’t manually sift through every application—they search the ATS using specific terms from the job description. If your resume doesn’t include the right keywords, it might never get seen.

Resume tips for optimizing with keywords:

• Use the exact wording from the job posting (e.g., “Project Management” vs. “Managing Projects”).
• Naturally incorporate key skills throughout your work experience and skills sections.
• Avoid keyword stuffing—your resume still needs to read well to a human.

When in doubt, compare your resume to the job description. If a recruiter searched for key terms in the ATS, would your resume show up?

11. Exclude graphics and images

In the U.S., headshots don’t belong on resumes. Employers focus on qualifications, not appearance, and including a photo can even introduce bias concerns.

Beyond headshots, avoid unnecessary resume images, graphics, colors, or tables—they can confuse the ATS and make your resume harder to scan. Stick to a clean, text-based format so your experience is easily readable by both software and hiring managers.

12. Use a PDF

Your resume’s formatting should look the same no matter who opens it. A PDF ensures your layout, fonts, and spacing stay intact, while Word documents can shift depending on the software or device used to view them.

Most applicant portals and hiring managers expect PDFs because they’re easy to read and universally compatible.

But like every rule, there are some exceptions: If a job posting specifically asks for a Word document (.docx), follow the instructions. Some older ATS systems may parse Word files more easily, but unless otherwise stated, PDF is the safest choice for maintaining a professional appearance.

13. Avoid heavily-designed formatting

Resumes should be easy to read, both for humans and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Overly designed layouts with decorative fonts, layers of graphic design, or complex tables can make your resume difficult to parse, meaning key details might not be recognized by hiring software. Here's an example of the difference.

This doesn’t mean your resume has to be plain. A touch of simple formatting—like bolded section headers or a professional accent color—can help with readability. But the focus should always be on clarity, consistency, and scannability.

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Resume tips for common mistakes

Even a strong resume can be overlooked if it contains avoidable mistakes. These tips will help you sidestep common resume dos and don'ts that could cost you interviews and keep your application polished and professional.

14. Using an unprofessional email address

Your email address might seem like a small detail, but hiring managers notice it. A casual or outdated email can make you look unprofessional and leave a bad first impression before they even read your resume.

Why this actually matters:

• Your email should reflect professionalism and credibility—not what you did in college on weekends.
• Hiring managers expect a modern email provider.
• If your name is common, try a variation like firstname.middleinitial.lastname@email.com or firstname.lastname.jobtitle@email.com.

15. Including buzzwords & resume clichés

Your resume should show, not tell—but buzzwords like "hardworking," "detail-oriented," and "team player" don’t show anything. Instead of listing generic traits, use action-driven examples that prove your abilities.

Instead of: Passionate leader
Try: Led a team of 5, launched a new workflow, and increased efficiency by 20%.

Instead of: Excellent communicator
Try: Presented quarterly reports to executives, securing approval for a $500K budget increase.

Some resume writing tips to fix this?

• Focus on results. What changed because of your work? Did you improve something, increase efficiency, or drive growth?
• Use action verbs. Stronger words like spearheaded, optimized, managed, increased, and developed make a bigger impact.
• Be specific. Instead of saying you’re a “strong collaborator,” mention a project where teamwork led to measurable success.

16. Excluding dates

Leaving dates off your resume—whether for work experience, education, or certifications—can raise red flags for hiring managers. It may look like you’re hiding employment gaps or that your qualifications aren’t current.

Work experience should always include start and end years and months so recruiters can see your career timeline clearly. Certifications should also include dates, especially if they require renewal.

For education, if a degree is required for the job, listing the graduation year ensures you meet qualifications.

17. Not adding a cover letter

While a cover letter isn’t part of your resume, it is part of a strong application package. If a company requests one, it’s not optional—hiring managers expect to see it. Skipping it could mean missing out on an opportunity, even if your resume is strong.

Even when a cover letter isn’t required, including one can help set you apart by providing more context about your experience, showing enthusiasm for the role, and giving you space to highlight key qualifications that may not fit on your resume.

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