How to write a resume, step by step: a guide for US job seekers

Before you write: what a US resume is

In the United States a resume is a one- or two-page marketing document, not a career history. It leaves out your photo, date of birth, marital status and nationality, which employers are not allowed to consider. It is written for two readers in sequence: the applicant tracking system (ATS) that most employers use to parse and rank applications, and the recruiter who reads the top of that ranked list for a few seconds each.

Everything below follows from those two readers. The format has to parse; the words have to match the job; the first screen has to make the case fast.

Step 1: Choose a format that parses

Use reverse-chronological order (most recent role first), a single column, standard section headings and a plain font such as Calibri, Arial or Georgia at 10.5 to 12 pt. No tables, text boxes, sidebars, icons or headers and footers holding content. Export to a text-based PDF unless the application asks for a Word file.

This is boring by design. Two-column templates look modern and parse badly, which means the ATS reads your job titles next to the wrong dates. The full rules are in the ATS-friendly resume format guide.

Step 2: Header and contact details

Your name in the largest type on the page, then on one line: city and state, phone number, a professional email address, and your LinkedIn URL. Add a portfolio or GitHub link if the field uses one. No street address; no photo. Put all of this in the body of the document, not the page header, so the parser reads it.

Step 3: Write the summary last, but put it first

Three lines under the header: who you are in the words of the job you want, your strongest relevant capability, and one measured result. Write it after the rest of the resume exists, because it summarises the rest. Skip the objective statement unless you are changing careers or have no experience; the resume objective examples guide covers those cases.

• Example: "Customer success manager with 6 years in B2B SaaS, managing portfolios up to $3M ARR. Cut logo churn from 11% to 6% in 12 months by introducing quarterly business reviews. Salesforce and HubSpot certified."

Step 4: Work experience, the section that decides

For each role: job title, employer, city and state, and dates (month and year). Then three to five bullets for recent roles, one or two for older ones. Each bullet starts with an action verb, says what you did and ends with a result, with a number wherever one exists. Lead with the bullets most relevant to the jobs you are targeting.

Go back ten to fifteen years. Earlier roles can be a single line each or left off. Detailed guidance and examples are in the work experience guide.

• Weak: "Responsible for social media."
• Strong: "Grew Instagram following from 4k to 31k in 14 months and lifted paid-social ROAS from 1.8 to 3.2 by moving spend to short-form video."

Step 5: Skills section

Ten to fifteen hard skills, tools and certifications, grouped by type, with the ones the target jobs ask for first and spelled the way job postings spell them. Soft skills belong inside bullets where results prove them, not in the list. See the skills guide for examples by field.

Step 6: Education, and the optional sections

Degree, major, school and graduation year, most recent first. Add GPA only if it is 3.5 or higher and you graduated within the last three years. Then, only if they add evidence for the target role: certifications, projects, publications, volunteer work, languages. Leave off hobbies, references and "references available on request".

Step 7: Length

One page for under ten years of experience; two pages for more, or for technical and academic fields where the detail matters. Never a page and a quarter. The one-page vs two-page guide has the full decision.

Step 8: Tailor it for each job

The resume you have just written is a master version. For each application, adjust the headline, summary, skills order and the top bullets to use the posting's own wording for the requirements you meet. This is what moves you up the ATS ranking, and it takes twenty minutes by hand or a couple with an AI resume tailor. The tailoring guide walks through it.

Step 9: Check it

1. Copy-paste the PDF into a plain text editor: the text should come out in order with headings intact.
2. Run it through a free ATS resume checker with a real job posting: aim for 80 or above with every must-have keyword matched.
3. Read it aloud once. Cut anything you would not say to an interviewer.
4. Check dates, titles and numbers against reality; everything on the page will be asked about.
5. Name the file FirstName-LastName-Resume.pdf.