The top of your resume should include the following information:
The work experience section is the heart of your resume. Differentiate this section with a clear, to-the-point heading, such as “Work Experience,” “Professional Experience,” or “Employment History.” This will help guide recruiters through your resume as well as ensure it is accurately parsed by applicant tracking systems (ATS).
Under the main heading, list each job in reverse-chronological order. Each job should have its own subheading that includes the following information:
If you’re a few years into your career, your resume’s education section can be minimized at the bottom of your resume. Unless you’re applying in a career that puts extra emphasis on education (like academia, law, or medicine), most job seekers can get away with providing only the following information on their resume:
98 percent of Fortune 500 companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to sort, filter, and search applicants. Some ATS, like Taleo, can automatically rank your resume’s content against the job description, allowing recruiters to focus only on the “best” applicants. Recruiters also search their applicant pool for important resume keywords, like “customer service,” “accounts receivable,” or “Adobe Photoshop.”
Hard skills should be worked in throughout your resume. Including a skills section on your resume isn’t a requirement, but it can help you have a natural place to list skills that are important to the job for which you’re applying. A dedicated skills section also makes your resume more skimmable for recruiters trying to quickly identify whether you meet their requirements.
Some resume formats allow room for a number of optional sections. Only use an awards or honors section on your resume if it makes sense for the job for which you’re applying. Relevant honors will increase your credibility while irrelevant awards might only distract from your best qualifications. For example, list that you earned Employee of the Month or received the highest customer satisfaction rating in your department, but maybe not that you are a go kart racing champion in your spare time.
The work you do as an active volunteer can add to your qualifications and skill set as much as any paid experience. Again, the operative word is “relevant.” Highlight volunteer work on your resume that utilizes skills that are also applicable to the job for which you’re applying. Be careful listing volunteer organizations or affiliations that could be polarizing, such as political or religious entities.