An optimized resume is the bridge between you and your dream job! But, you know what? Over 75% of resumes fail to pass the initial screening. You might have tried some fancy templates from the internet, but it still didn’t work.
The question is, how to write a resume that turns the head of your recruiter and helps you land a job? Well, this guide will show you how to create an irresistible, error-free resume that effectively highlights your strengths and passes the ATS.
Keep reading if you want some unbeatable resume writing tips to make your resume stand out.
How to Create a Professional Resume?
A professional resume should have the following sections.
- Contact Info & Branding: Your full name, phone number, email address, and LinkedIn profile URL.
- Professional Summary or Objective: A summary of your career highlights, experience, and the value you are about to bring.
- Detailed Experience: A list of your achievements and experiences.
- Education and Certifications: A brief description of your degrees and relevant professional certifications.
- Skills: Both your hard and soft skills.
These are essential for a well-crafted ATS-friendly resume that will also capture the attention of the human recruiter.
Step 1: Find Keywords and Gather Your Information
Identify the keywords from the job description. How to do it? Well, find the most essential words in the context of the job responsibilities.
For example:
- Web Developer role? Find words like NextJS, React, database design, etc.
- Managerial role? Find words related to project management, administration, and other relevant fields.
Then comes your core competencies. For this part, you need to find out:
- Achievement Focused Skills: How did you leave a positive impact with your skills?
- Quantified Achievements: What is the number or amount of change you have brought?
Once you have organized these items, let's proceed to the correct resume format and structure.
Step 2: Select the Right Template
Regardless of the company or position, always opt for a clean and minimal template. Focus on your competencies and experience, rather than on fancy design or colorful presentations. The characteristics of a good template are:
- Clear headings for each section
- Single font used throughout the template
- Ample white space between sections
With a clean layout, it is easier for the ATS to scan your resume and the recruiter to read it.
Step 3: Write the Contact Info Section
This section serves as your introduction to the recruiter. Make sure you include the following:
- Full Name: Use a clean, minimal, sans-serif font
- Specific Job Title: Include the job title you're applying for, or your most recent position. You can also use your most recent title here.
- Phone Number: An active phone number that is always reachable.
- Email Address: Not some weird shit, a professional email address. For example, yourname@email.com
- LinkedIn Profile URL: If necessary, shorten the URL to improve readability.
- Portfolio: Add the link to your professional portfolio if needed.
Here is an example of how you can write the contact info section in your resume.
Step 4: Write the Professional Summary
Place the professional summary directly below your contact information. This section should contain 2-4 sentences. In this section, you should include the following information.
For experienced candidates, the professional summary should be like this:
- Career Highlights: Your most important achievements in your previous roles that are also relevant to the position you are applying for.
- Years of Experience: The total number of years you have been working in a similar position.
- Key Skills: The essential skills for the position you want to join.
Here is an example of a professional summary for the position of data scientist:
A resume for fresh graduates should have a slightly different summary section. Focus on your motivation for joining the new position and describe what you will bring to the table.
Step 5: Write Your Experience
Knowing how to write a winning resume is primarily about organizing your work history effectively.
The most common practice is to do it in a reverse-chronological order. It means your latest experience will come first.
PAR Method:
- Problem: What was the challenge you faced in the previous role?
- Action: What did you do to overcome this challenge?
- Result: What impact did your action bring?
STAR Method:
- Situation: What was the situation or scenario when you took the role?
- Task: What were your tasks in that role?
- Action: What did you do to fulfill your task assignments?
- Result: What changes did happen because of your actions?
When writing the experience section, keep the following points in mind.
- Start every bullet point with a powerful action verb. For example, increased, negotiated, launched, developed, etc.
- Quantify all your actions using numbers, percentages, and dollar signs.
For the experience section, you can use the following resume examples for 2025.
- Increased quarterly sales growth by 15% in the North America region by implementing a new lead qualification framework, and contributed $250,000 in recurring revenue.
- Developed a data analytics program that made the workflow 20% more efficient, saving $100,000 annually on the team budget.
Here is how you should write your experience in reverse-chronological order.
What if you don’t have the necessary experience? Here is how to get your dream job without experience.
Step 6: Write Your Education and Skills
Education: List your degrees in reverse-chronological order. Also, include relevant professional certifications. Keep this section short.
Skills:
For the skills section, you should categorize your skills for better ATS indexing.
- Hard Skills: These are the technical skills you possess—for example, Python, Java, Google Analytics, SQL, Salesforce, etc.
- Soft Skills: These encompass your interpersonal skills, including verbal and non-verbal communication, conflict resolution, and negotiation.
Step 7: Add Optional Sections & Volunteer Experience
Use reverse-chronological order, just like you did for the work experience section.
Step 8: Optimize Your Resume
Now you know how to create a resume for a job, but it is still a work in progress. Here are some resume writing tips to make sure it passes the ATS scan and reaches the recruiter.
- Keep the resume clean. Use a professional, standard font, like Arial or Calibri.
- Don’t use fancy templates or columns. They might break the text down, and the ATS won’t be able to scan the text correctly.
- Reverse-chronological order is the industry standard for your experience section. All ATS software follows this order.
- If you have less than 10 years of experience, keep your resume to one page.
Maintaining all these things may be tricky, especially if you are making a resume for the first time. Checking your resume with an AI Resume Optimizer Tool will give you essential insights into how your resume can be better.
Use the following ATS-friendly resume tips to increase the chance of passing ATS scans.
- Use Exact Keywords: Mention the keywords exactly as in the job description.
- Standard Headings: Avoid creative headings. Use simple and familiar terms like 'Work Experience,' 'Skills,' or 'Education.'
- Avoid Graphics: No background colors, unusual fonts, tables, or graphics. Just keep it simple.
Supporting Documents
While submitting your resume, you might also need to add a cover letter and a reference list. The cover letter is the perfect place to explain why you are the best fit for this role.
Focus on your core skills and competencies, along with the value you will bring to the position based on what you wrote in your resume.
Expert Tips for Writing a Professional Resume
Review the dos and don'ts below to ensure your resume is error-free.
Do’s:
- The font size and spacing should be uniform throughout the resume.
- Align the sections and bullet points correctly.
- Proofread the resume yourself to eliminate typos or formatting errors.
Don’ts:
- Don't include any information in the resume that isn't directly relevant to the job.
- Avoid making the resume too long (over two pages, even for experienced professionals).
- Please don't send your resume without optimizing it with a good AI resume optimizer tool.
Final Notes and Key Reminders
Your career never stops, and neither should your resume. Update it every six months or after any significant achievement. Write your resume with exact keywords from the job description for the target role. Show your achievements as measurable. Follow ATS-friendly resume tips.
