How to write a resume, step by step

On average a recruiter spends a few seconds on the first pass of a resume. In that time they don't read — they scan. They look for three things: what you are (your headline), where you've worked and doing what (your latest roles) and whether you match the job (keywords and results).

So a good resume isn't the one that says the most, but the one that makes those three answers obvious. Everything else is secondary.

Except in very specific cases, this order is the clearest for any industry:

1. 1Contact details: name, professional headline, phone, email and city. No full address, ID number or date of birth needed.
2. 2Professional summary: 2–4 lines on who you are, what you're good at and what you're looking for.
3. 3Experience: from most recent to oldest.
4. 4Education: degree, school and years. If you've just graduated, it goes before experience.
5. 5Skills and languages: specific and with a level.
6. 6Optional: certifications, projects, volunteering or links (portfolio, LinkedIn, GitHub).

It's the section that matters most and the one most often written badly. The typical mistake is listing duties, which describe the job but not you. What sets you apart are results: what changed thanks to your work.

A simple formula for each line: action verb + what you did + result or scale.

Not everything needs a number, but it does need scale: how many people, how many customers, what budget, how often. Two to four lines per role is enough; one for older jobs.

“Proactive, dynamic team player” appears on thousands of resumes and tells no one anything. The skills that add value are specific and verifiable: software, tools, techniques, certifications, languages with a level.

• “Advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP)” beats “good Excel”.
• “Spanish C1 (DELE)” beats “fluent Spanish”.
• Soft skills are proven in your experience, not in a list.

Sending the same resume to every job is the fastest way to hear nothing back. You don't need to rewrite it each time: just adjust the headline, the summary and the order of your bullets so what the job asks for comes first, in the ad's own words.

• Typos: proofread twice and ask someone else to read it.
• An unprofessional email address (use firstname.lastname@...).
• Inconsistent dates or unexplained gaps: if you took a break, one line is enough.
• Busy designs an ATS can't read: tables, text inside images, icons instead of words.
• Lying or exaggerating: anything you write can come up in the interview.

Always send your resume as a PDF unless Word is requested: it looks the same on every device. Name the file after yourself (“Resume-Laura-Garcia.pdf”), not “resume final FINAL 3.pdf”.

About photos: in the US, UK and Canada, leave the photo out — employers avoid them to prevent bias. In parts of Europe it's common but still optional.