Writing a resume feels harder than it should be. You know your experience — you just don't know how to put it on paper in a way that lands interviews. This guide cuts through the noise.
The one thing most resumes get wrong
Most resumes are written for the wrong audience. Job seekers write for themselves — listing everything they've done, in the order they did it. Recruiters read for fit — scanning for signals that you can do this specific job.
The fix is simple: write for the role, not for your ego.
Start with the job description
Before you type a single word, read the job description carefully. Highlight:
- The skills they mention more than once
- The outcomes they care about (growth, efficiency, scale, reliability)
- The exact words they use for tools and technologies
These are your keywords. They need to appear in your resume — not stuffed awkwardly, but naturally woven into your experience.
Why this matters: Many companies run resumes through an ATS (applicant tracking system) before a human ever sees them. If your resume doesn't contain the right keywords, it gets filtered out automatically.
Structure: what to include and in what order
A strong resume follows a predictable structure. Don't get creative here — recruiters spend 6–10 seconds on a first scan. Make it easy for them.
Contact information
Name, email, LinkedIn URL, GitHub (if relevant), city and state. That's it. No photo, no address, no date of birth.
Summary (optional but useful)
Two to three sentences that answer: who are you, what do you do well, and what are you looking for? Write this last — it's easier once the rest is done.
Work experience
This is the most important section. For each role, include:
- Company name, your title, start and end date, location
- 3–5 bullet points describing what you did and what it resulted in
The bullet point formula that works:
[Action verb] + [what you did] + [measurable result]
For example:
- Reduced API response time by 40% by migrating from synchronous to async processing
- Led a team of 4 engineers to ship a payments integration used by 12,000 merchants
Education
Degree, school, graduation year. If you graduated within the last 3 years, include GPA if it's above 3.5.
Skills
A clean list of tools, languages, and technologies. Don't rate yourself — skip the progress bars and star ratings. They're meaningless and waste space.
Formatting rules that matter
- One page for under 10 years of experience. Two pages maximum for senior roles.
- 10–11pt body text. 12pt feels like a school essay.
- Consistent margins. 0.5–0.75 inches on all sides.
- No tables or columns if you're submitting to an ATS — they often break parsing.
- PDF format — always. Word documents reformat on different machines.
The biggest mistake: vague bullets
Vague bullets are resume killers. Compare:
| Weak | Strong | |---|---| | Worked on the backend | Built REST APIs in Go serving 2M requests/day | | Improved performance | Cut page load time from 4.2s to 1.1s | | Managed a team | Managed a team of 5, delivered project 2 weeks ahead of schedule |
If you can't add a number, add specifics: the technology, the scale, the scope.
Final checklist before you send
- [ ] Tailored to the specific job description
- [ ] No spelling or grammar errors
- [ ] All dates are consistent
- [ ] Links work (LinkedIn, GitHub, portfolio)
- [ ] Exported as PDF
- [ ] One page (or two if genuinely needed)
Writing a good resume is a skill, and like any skill, it gets easier with practice. Start with one role, get the bullets right, and build from there.