Ready to create or update your resume?
Learn resume tips to meet current hiring practices and get positioned to land job interviews.
For step-by-step guidance on how to write each part of your resume, check out the Resume Writing Guide.
If you’re updating a resume, these are the basic guidelines to meet employers’ expectations.
Show that you meet the minimum qualifications.
This is your top priority. Typically, a person will scan your resume for 15-20 seconds, so make sure it’s easy for them to find your qualifications quickly (near the top) and that you use terms that match their job posting. This means either you customize your resume for each job, or you’ve ensured that you have the right essential keywords for the job title your resume targets.
Follow a standard format.
Keep the resume to 1-2 pages. Formatting should be clean and intended to make the resume very easy to read; include white space. See format and formatting for details. The typical order for information on a resume is:
- Contact info
- Optional sections to place next:
- A Professional Summary or Highlights of Qualifications section may be used to highlight relevant experience, accomplishments from volunteer or community work, academic work, or other, esp if it would not otherwise appear on your resume.
- If Technical Skills are key to your job, include a section for them here. If you’ve had frequent job changes, significant employment gaps, or held several contract jobs, start with a Skills section, listing the 3-4 major skills for your targeted job title, and under each, include your significant related experience.
- Education and Training. Place Education near the top if it’s an essential requirement for the job or you’re a new grad, otherwise place this after Work History.
- Work History. Start with your current or most recent job and work backwards in order by date. Include relevant jobs from the previous 10-15 years.
Use simple, current language.
Avoid jargon unless it’s integral to the job.
Always have your resume reviewed by others.
Ask them to check grammar, spelling, punctuation, and how well your resume addresses the requirements of the job description.
Contact your local American Job Center for professional resume feedback.
How to use AI skillfully
AI can provide different ways to write your accomplishment statements, suggest skills to include, and even compare your current resume to a job posting to see how closely they match. There's one major caveat to using AI for resume development: it's essential to edit the draft it produces before you share it. Experts recommend that you first draft your resume in your own "voice" then prompt AI to suggest alternatives or improvements so the final product sounds like you.
Find free AI tools
If you're new to using AI, common tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot offer a free basic version that will create resumes. Find them by searching for "AI tools" or "free AI resume tools" and reading the descriptions. For some functions, you will need to paste in documents such as your current resume or a job posting.
Try these prompts:
- Please read my current resume and rewrite it to make it stand out to hiring managers.Please read this job description from my current (or past) job and create a resume.
- Please ask me questions to help strengthen the resume.Please ask me questions to help create a resume for a job in (my occupation).
- Please compare my resume to this job posting and make suggestions for targeting my resume to this position.
- Please ask me questions about my experience to help strengthen the resume.
Make sure your finished resume meets these criteria:
- Uses language you’d be likely to use. Formal or unnatural language is a red flag.
- Includes only true information about you. AI can generate great-sounding descriptions that exaggerate your experience or falsify your information.
- Is unique. If your resume looks generic or reads too similarly to other candidates’ resumes, it could be rejected.
Your resume should focus on a specific job title and use essential keywords that show how you meet the minimum qualifications for the role.
How can you identify the right keywords for your resume?
- Scan Job Finder for postings with your targeted job title. Experts recommend scanning 10-15 postings to identify the most frequently mentioned requirements, such as type and years of work experience, technical skills, soft skills, personal qualities, training, credentials, or other. Create a list of those core qualifications for your job title.
- Include your skills and qualities from the list. Work the keyword qualifications that you possess into your resume where they fit in - usually in your work experience descriptions, skills, or summary sections. Use the exact terms in your resume. Any variation from what’s written in the job posting may fail to be recognized as a qualification. The keywords are the most important part of the resume to get an interview, so be sure they are easy to find.
Send your resume to apply for relevant openings soon after jobs are posted, following the posting’s instructions to the letter.
- Apply to many positions. Increase your odds in the current job market, with fewer openings currently available.
- Apply soon after jobs are posted. Aim to respond quickly to job postings, since employers may process the first 50-100 applications they receive, and if they find enough good candidates, the rest may not be evaluated.
- Send only the documents requested. Stick to the instructions in the job posting and use the requested format. If no format is specified, use Word, PDF, or plain-text files. Avoid scanning resumes and sending them as an image; these will not be recognized.
- Check for accuracy. Most employers accept resumes via their online job application system or by email. When you send your resume, or before you hit the "submit" button for a job application, check the preview screen to make sure it’s accurate.
Using multiple job search strategies will increase your success. Keep in mind that networking is still the best way to get your resume directly into the hands of hiring managers.
Companies use ATS software to receive job applications, sort them in the order received, and track candidates’ status in the application process. Because applicant tracking systems have become so common in U.S. hiring practices, all resume guidance on CareerOneStop reflects ATS system use.
An ATS can be set to filter out resumes that lack certain essential criteria, such as software skills, an education credential, or years of management experience. It can be programmed to send out automated rejection notices and schedule interviews. Some ATS software has the capability to rank resumes, but, that is rarely used.
Once resumes have been processed by an ATS, a recruiter, HR professional, or hiring manager will evaluate your resume, looking for the minimum qualifications for the job. So although an ATS may misread a resume, or reject it due to formatting issues, you can expect that-if you meet the requirements-human readers will see your resume.