What to put on a resume comes down to five sections, in this order for most people: a contact header (name, city and state, email, phone, LinkedIn), an optional two or three line summary, your work experience with results, your education, and your skills. Projects, certifications, volunteer work and awards go in optional sections when they support the job. On a US resume, some things stay off entirely: a photo, your date of birth or age, marital status, religion and your full street address. Below is each section with what goes in and what does not, an annotated one-page sample, and a table for the order to use at your career stage.
The sections, in the order a recruiter reads them
The order matters because the first look is short. The most cited study is TheLadders' 2012 eye-tracking test of 30 recruiters, which found they spent about 6 seconds on an initial "fit/no fit" decision and almost 80% of their review time on a handful of items: name, current and previous titles and companies, dates, and education. It is a small study by a company that sold resume rewriting, so treat the 6 seconds as a rough idea, not a law. The useful part holds up: titles, employers, dates and schools are what a reader hunts for first, so make them easy to find.
| Section | What goes in | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Contact header | Name, city and state, email, phone, LinkedIn or portfolio link | Everyone |
| Summary or objective | 2 to 4 lines on what you do and what you bring to this role | Experienced candidates and career changers; optional for others |
| Experience | Title, employer, city and state, dates, and bullets with results | Everyone with any work history, including internships |
| Education | Degree, school, location, graduation year; GPA and honors if strong and recent | Everyone; goes first for students and new grads |
| Skills | Tools, technical skills and languages, grouped | Everyone |
| Optional sections | Projects, certifications, volunteer work, awards, publications | When they support the job you are applying for |
A one-page sample, annotated
This sample is written for this post. The person, school, employers and every number in it are invented. For ten more by career stage and role, see our resume examples.
TAYLOR NGUYEN
Austin, TX | taylor.nguyen@example.com | (555) 010-0187
linkedin.com/in/taylornguyen-dev | github.com/taylornguyen-dev
SUMMARY
Computer science graduate with two software internships building internal
tools in Python and TypeScript. Shipped a scheduling service now used by
three support teams. Looking for a backend or full stack role.
EXPERIENCE
Software Engineering Intern, Brightline Freight, Austin, TX Jun 2025 to Aug 2025
- Built a Python service that assigns support tickets by skill and shift,
cutting average time to first response from 9 hours to 3
- Wrote 40 integration tests for the ticket API and added them to CI
- Presented the design to 12 engineers and support leads at the summer demo
Software Engineering Intern, Midstate University IT, Austin, TX Jan 2024 to May 2025
- Rebuilt the lab booking page in TypeScript and React; bookings by phone
fell from about 60 a week to 10
- Fixed 25 accessibility issues flagged in an internal audit
EDUCATION
BS, Computer Science, Midstate University, Austin, TX May 2026
GPA 3.7 | Dean's List, 4 semesters
PROJECTS
Shared Rides (Python, PostgreSQL): carpool matching app for 300 students
SKILLS
Languages: Python, TypeScript, SQL, Java
Frameworks and tools: React, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Docker, GitHub Actions
Why each part is there:
| Part | Choice made | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Header | City and state, no street address; short LinkedIn and GitHub links | Enough to contact and place the candidate; links are readable when printed |
| Summary | Three lines, one result, the target role | Tells the reader which job this resume is for before they read the details |
| Experience before education | Two internships with results | The internships are stronger evidence than coursework |
| Bullets | Action, what was built, what changed, with a number | Results are what separate this candidate from others with the same title |
| Education | Degree, school, date, GPA because it is 3.5 or above | GPA is useful for a recent graduate and can drop off later |
| One project | Only the one with real users | A project earns space when it shows something the jobs do not |
| Skills last | Grouped into two lines | Easy to scan; every item appears somewhere above or could be discussed in an interview |
Contact header: what to include and what to leave off
CareerOneStop's resume guide lists the contact items as your name (or the name you prefer to be called), city and state, a personal email address, a phone number, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link. It says there is no need for your full street address.
Include:
- Name, largest text on the page. A professional designation can follow it if it supports the job (for example, a certification the posting asks for).
- City and state. Useful for hybrid and on-site roles. If you are relocating, "Relocating to Denver, CO" is clearer than your current city alone.
- Email and phone. A personal email, not your current employer's, and one that reads as professional.
- LinkedIn. Use a custom URL. LinkedIn's help page says a custom URL can be 3 to 100 characters, cannot contain spaces, symbols or the word LinkedIn, and can be changed up to five times within six months. Write it without "https://www." so it fits on one line. CareerOneStop suggests including the link only if your profile is complete and maintained.
- Portfolio or GitHub, if it shows work related to the job.
Leave off: your full street address, a photo, date of birth, a second phone number, and a header labelled "Resume". Put the contact details in the body of the page, not in the document's header area; our post on ATS friendly resume format explains why some parsers miss text placed there. On fonts, our best font for a resume test found the choice barely changed what parsers extract.
Summary, objective or neither
A summary is two to four lines at the top that say what you do and why you fit the job. CareerOneStop suggests 3 to 4 sentences or 3 to 5 bullet points, using keywords from the job posting, and advises skipping the summary if you have three years of experience or less or your history already shows a clear progression.
For new graduates with little work experience, CareerOneStop's special tips page suggests an objective instead: 1 to 3 sentences on your degree, key skills and the kind of role you want, tailored to the job. Our resume objective examples give samples by situation.
| Your situation | Use |
|---|---|
| 4 or more years of experience | Summary |
| Changing careers | Summary that explains how your experience carries over |
| New grad with internships | Short summary, or neither |
| New grad, no relevant experience | Objective, or neither |
| History is one clear line of promotions in the same field | Neither is needed |
The sample above uses a short summary because the candidate has two relevant internships and wants to name the target role. For lines you can adapt, see our resume summary examples, each written for a specific posting.
Experience: bullets that show results
For each job, list your title, the employer, the city and state, and the dates. CareerOneStop's work experience page recommends about 5 to 8 bullets a job, each one or two lines long, written with keywords from the posting, and says to focus on the past 12 to 15 years if your history is long. Our post on how far back a resume should go covers the exceptions.
The difference between a weak bullet and a strong one is almost always the result. Sample bullets, written for this post:
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| Responsible for customer support tickets | Answered 40 support tickets a day and kept a 95% satisfaction score for six months |
| Worked on the company website | Rebuilt the pricing page in React, cutting load time from 4 seconds to 1.5 |
| Helped with social media | Planned and posted 3 Instagram posts a week; followers grew from 2,000 to 5,500 in a year |
A strong bullet answers CareerOneStop's question: what happened as a result of you doing this? If you do not have a number, describe the change in plain words ("the team stopped tracking orders in a spreadsheet").
Internships, part-time jobs, research assistant roles and substantial freelance work all count as experience. Give unrelated jobs a single line so the dates have no gap. A promotion at one employer has its own formats; see how to show a promotion on a resume.
Education, including degrees from outside the US
List your most recent education first. CareerOneStop's education page suggests the degree or credential, the school (with city and state if they are not in the name) and the year you completed it, if that was fewer than 15 years ago. If you are still enrolled, give the expected date, such as "Expected May 2027".
Where it goes. CareerOneStop says to place education after work experience if you have relevant experience since school, and before it if you are a new graduate or have recent relevant training.
What to add. Recent graduates can include a GPA (CareerOneStop says usually if 3.5 or higher), honors, scholarships, or 2 to 3 relevant courses, a thesis or a research project. Drop high school once you have education beyond it. Our guide to listing education on a resume covers degrees in progress, unfinished degrees and coursework.
Degrees from outside the US. Write the degree as it was awarded, with the school's name and country, for example "Bachelor of Technology, Computer Engineering, (school name), Pune, India". Do not translate it into a US degree on your own. The US Department of Education says plainly that when you are seeking work, "the competent authority for recognizing previous education and qualifications is the employer," that evaluations are done "by private, non-governmental entities for a fee," and that some employers "recommend or require" a specific evaluation service. So:
- If you already have a credential evaluation, you may add the equivalence in parentheses, worded the way the report words it.
- If you do not, list the degree as awarded and wait to see whether the employer asks for an evaluation, and from which service, before paying for one.
- If you also hold a US degree, list it first; it is usually the one the reader recognizes fastest.
Skills
The skills section is a short, grouped list of tools, technical skills, languages and certifications that the job uses. Group by type (languages, tools, platforms) so a reader can scan it in a few seconds, and put the skills the posting names first.
One rule matters more than the rest: list only skills you can discuss in an interview. A skill on the page is an invitation to be asked about it. Our resume skills section guide covers how many to list, where to put them and how to order them by the posting.
Soft skills ("team player", "detail oriented") are better shown in experience bullets than listed here. A bullet that says you presented to 12 engineers shows communication; a skills line that says "communication" shows nothing.
Optional sections: projects, certifications, volunteer work, awards
CareerOneStop's optional sections page lists memberships, publications, volunteering, awards and similar sections, and its test is relevance to the job goal: a strong finish in an ultramarathon does not belong on the page unless the job needs physical fitness. Name each section after what is in it.
| Section | Include when | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Projects | You are a student, new grad or career changer, and the project shows a skill the job needs | Name, tools in parentheses, one line on what it does and for whom |
| Certifications and licenses | The posting asks for them or they are standard in the field | Name, issuer, year; CareerOneStop suggests a separate section if they are important to the job |
| Volunteer work | It shows relevant skills or fills a gap | Same format as a job |
| Awards and honors | They are competitive and recent | One line each |
| Publications or talks | You are in research, academia or a field where they count | Standard citation, most recent first |
| Languages | The job uses them or they set you apart | Language and level (native, fluent, professional) |
For a licensed field, our nursing resume samples show a full license block.
What to leave off a US resume
Some of these are common on CVs in other countries. On a US resume they cost space or invite bias, and in some cases employers are told not to ask for them.
| Leave off | Why | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Photo | The EEOC says employers "should not ask for a photograph of an applicant" before an offer | EEOC |
| Date of birth or age | The EEOC says race, sex, national origin, age and religion are irrelevant to whether a person is qualified | EEOC |
| Marital status, children, religion | Not related to qualifications, and the EEOC advises employers to avoid questions that reveal protected traits | EEOC |
| Full street address | City and state are enough | CareerOneStop |
| High school, once you have a degree | It takes space and says little | CareerOneStop |
| Explanations of employment gaps | Not needed on the resume; a cover letter or interview is the place | CareerOneStop |
| Salary history or expectations | The application form or recruiter will ask if they need it | Common practice |
| "References available upon request" | Employers assume it; the line uses space (when to list references) | Common practice |
| A self-rated skill bar or "ATS score" | Neither tells a reader anything verifiable | Common practice |
Work authorization and visa details are usually asked directly on the application form, so the resume does not need them. Answer the form honestly.
Order by career stage: a decision table
The sections stay the same. What changes is the order and what gets the most space. If this is your first job, see how to make a resume for your first job.
| Stage | Order | Length | What to lead with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student (internship search) | Header, education, experience, projects, skills | One page | Degree, expected date, relevant courses or projects |
| New grad | Header, short summary or objective, experience if relevant (else education first), projects, skills | One page | Internships and projects with results |
| Experienced (3+ years) | Header, summary, experience, skills, education, certifications | One or two pages | Recent roles, with the most bullets on the last two jobs |
| Career changer | Header, summary that bridges the two fields, relevant experience or projects, skills, education, other experience | One page if possible | Transferable results, plus any training in the new field |
| International (degree or experience outside the US) | Same order as your stage, with US conventions: no photo, no birth date | Same as your stage | Degree as awarded with country; US degree first if you have one |
On length, the evidence is thin and vendor run. In a 2026 Resume Genius poll, 43% of hiring managers said they will not read a resume over two pages. A 2018 ResumeGo exercise found recruiters 2.3 times as likely to prefer two-page resumes, but it was a simulated exercise, not real hiring decisions. A safe reading: never more than two pages, and one page unless the extra page holds relevant, recent work. Our one page resume guide covers what to cut.
Where ApplyEze fits
ApplyEze builds a resume for each posting it applies to, and a cover letter when the form asks for one. It brings the posting's named skills and tools onto your skills line, even when your own record does not list them. There is no step to remove one before a live run, so use a dry run to see what it writes, and be ready to discuss anything on the page. A certification the posting asks for is not added unless you hold it. Your employers, job titles, dates, schools, degrees and certifications come from your own record, and code rejects a rewrite that adds a figure, employer, school or credential your record does not hold. It also does not sell an "ATS score", because no ATS exposes one.