Before you start
Collect the raw material first. For each role in the last ten years or so, note your title, employer, dates, the main things you were responsible for, and anything you can measure: volumes, money, time saved, error rates, team sizes, customers, rankings. Pull up two or three job postings you'd actually apply for. They tell you what to emphasise.
Write the experience section first and the summary last. It's much easier to summarise what you've already written.
Header and contact details
Include your full name, a phone number with country code, a professional email address, your city and country, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link if it adds something. That's it. A full street address isn't needed, and date of birth, photo, marital status and ID numbers generally shouldn't be included unless an application specifically requires them where you live.
Under your name, add a headline that names the role you want, such as “Data Analyst” or “Senior Product Designer”, in the words employers use.
Summary
Two to four sentences (roughly 40–80 words): what you do, your level of experience, one or two strongest results, and what you're looking for. Skip adjectives nobody can verify.
Hardworking, passionate and results-driven professional seeking a challenging role in a dynamic organisation where I can utilise my skills.
Data analyst with 4 years in e-commerce, building the SQL and Python reporting that merchandising teams use to plan stock. Recently automated weekly sales forecasting, cutting preparation time from two days to three hours. Looking for an analytics role with more experimentation work.
Experience
List roles in reverse-chronological order. Each one gets a title line (job title, employer, location, dates) and three to six bullets. Recent, relevant roles get more bullets; older ones get fewer, and roles from more than 10–15 years ago can often be summarised in one line or left out.
Each bullet should describe something you did and what came of it. Start with a verb, include a number where you honestly have one, and keep it under about 35 words.
Responsible for managing the company's social media accounts.
Ran Instagram and LinkedIn for a 40-person design studio, growing LinkedIn followers from 1,200 to 5,800 in a year through a weekly case-study series.
The bullet points guide goes into this in depth, including how to find numbers when you think you don't have any.
Education
Give the qualification, institution and graduation year (or expected year). Students and recent graduates can add relevant coursework, a thesis title, or a strong grade. Once you have a few years of experience, education moves below experience and shrinks to one line per qualification. Leave out school results once you have a degree, unless an employer asks.
Skills
List the hard skills relevant to the jobs you want, typically 8–20, grouped if that helps: Languages: Python, SQL · Tools: dbt, Looker, Airflow · Methods: A/B testing, forecasting. Use standard names. Don't rate yourself with bars or stars; they tell a recruiter nothing and can't be parsed. Soft skills are better shown in bullets than listed.
Optional sections
Add a section only if it strengthens your case for the target role: Projects for students, career changers and engineers; Certifications when the field values them; Languages for roles that use them; Publications for research. QuickHunt's editor suggests sections based on your experience level and target job, with a reason for each.
What to leave out
- “References available on request”: it's assumed.
- Personal pronouns (“I”, “my”) in bullets.
- Clichés such as “team player”, “go-getter” or “think outside the box”.
- Hobbies, unless they're relevant or genuinely distinctive.
- Salary history and reasons for leaving.
Length
One page is right for most people with under five years of experience; two pages is fine beyond that if the content earns it. Academic CVs are the exception and can run longer. In words, most strong resumes land between roughly 400 and 800. If you're over, cut older roles and weaker bullets before shrinking the font.
Final review
- Every claim is true and you could talk about it for two minutes in an interview.
- Dates use one format and there are no unexplained overlaps.
- Bullets start with verbs and at least a third of them contain a measurable result.
- The headline and summary match the kind of role you're applying for.
- It's been read aloud once, and checked by someone else if possible.
- The exported PDF passes the copy-and-paste test.
When you're ready, the resume builder gives you section-by-section coaching as you write, and the ATS checker runs these checks automatically.