How to Write a Resume (2026): Step-by-Step Guide With Examples

To write a resume, choose a format, add your contact details, write a short summary, describe your work as achievements with numbers, list your education and skills, then tailor and proofread each version. Keep it to one or two pages in a plain, single-column layout that people and software can both read.

Below are the eight steps with copy-ready examples for each section, a full sample resume, a formats table and the resume vs CV differences. If you would rather not start from a blank page, JobsAICopilot, an AI job application bot, includes an AI resume builder that improves or generates a resume and tailors it to a job. The steps show what a good resume contains either way.

Key takeaways

• Eight steps: format, header, summary, experience, education, skills, optional sections, then tailor and proofread.
• Write experience as achievements: an action verb, what you did and a result you can count.
• Use one column, standard headings and a plain font; skip tables and text boxes, and keep key details out of the header and footer.
• In the US and UK, leave off the photo, age and marital status. Outside academia, “CV” and “resume” mean nearly the same thing.
• AI can draft and tighten your resume, but you edit every line and keep every claim true.

What are the steps to write a resume?

Write a resume in eight steps, in this order, because each step feeds the next. Before step 1, collect every job, project, course, volunteer role and certification in one long document; the University of Arizona’s Center for Career Readiness calls this a “running resume” and suggests copying from it to build each tailored version.

1. Choose a format that fits your history.
2. Write the header with contact details only.
3. Add a short summary (or objective) of two to four lines.
4. Describe your experience as results, newest job first.
5. List your education in the right place.
6. Add the skills the job actually asks for.
7. Include optional sections only if they help.
8. Tailor and proofread each version before sending.

Step 1: Which resume format should you choose?

Choose the combination (hybrid) format or a reverse-chronological one unless you have a strong reason not to. CareerOneStop, the US Department of Labor’s career site, describes three basic formats and says the combination style works well for most people.

The definitions follow CareerOneStop’s formatting guide (page updated April 2026, checked October 2026). With little paid experience, the combination format carries your projects and skills; our guide to a resume with no experience shows it in practice with six examples.

Step 2: What goes in the header of a resume?

The header holds your name, phone number, a professional email address and your city, plus a LinkedIn or portfolio link when it helps. Leave off a photo, date of birth, marital status and your full street address.

JORDAN ELLIS
Austin, TX | (555) 010-0123 | jordan.ellis@example.com | linkedin.com/in/[your-profile]

Use this US layout: a bold name, one contact line, no street address.

Jordan Ellis
Leeds | 07700 900123 | jordan.ellis@example.com | linkedin.com/in/[your-profile]

Use this UK layout: the name is the title, so do not write “CV” above it.

The National Careers Service advises leaving out your age, date of birth, whether you are married and your nationality, and Harvard’s career center adds a picture and gender to its do-not list. Rules differ elsewhere, so check local norms.

Step 3: How do you write a resume summary?

A resume summary is two to four short lines under your header that name your role, your strongest proof and what you offer the employer. The National Careers Service calls this section “a few short lines” that sum up who you are and what you hope to do.

Use this formula: role + years or credential + two proof points + what you want next. The numbers in every example here are illustrative; use your own true ones.

Customer support lead with 6 years in software help desks. Cut first-response time from 9 hours to 3 and coached a team of 8 to a 94% satisfaction score. Seeking to scale support operations at a growing software company.

Use this when you have a clear track record in the field.

Retail manager moving into HR. Hired and onboarded 30 seasonal staff, handled scheduling disputes for a 25-person team and completed an HR certificate course. Seeking an HR coordinator role at [Company].

Use this when changing careers; the AI career change helper maps transferable skills to new roles.

Recent business graduate with a 3.7 GPA and a marketing internship. Grew a student club's Instagram following by 40% in one semester. Seeking a junior marketing coordinator role at [Company].

Use this as a new graduate. For the objective version, see our resume objective examples. The free resume summary generator, a template tool, turns your details into three versions to edit. Applying through Naukri in India? Its profile also asks for a one-line resume headline; see our Naukri resume headline examples.

Career advisers disagree on how long a first look lasts: CareerOneStop says 15 to 20 seconds, the University of Illinois’ Career Center about 30. Neither cites a study, so treat both as rules of thumb and put your best proof in the top third of page one.

Step 4: How do you describe work experience on a resume?

Under each job, write three to five bullets that start with an action verb, say what you did and end with a result you can count. This section carries your proof, so spend most of your time here.

[Action verb] + [what you did, with the tool or method] + [result: a number, percent, time or amount]

Use this formula for every bullet. The University of Arizona’s version is Action + Project or Problem + Result, and the National Careers Service suggests two to three lines per role using the STAR method.

Retail: Processed 120+ transactions per shift with a drawer variance under $2 for six straight months.
Nursing: Cared for 5 to 6 patients per shift on a 30-bed telemetry unit with zero medication errors in 2025.
Software: Cut page load time 40% by lazy-loading images and caching API calls, lifting mobile conversion 6%.
Admin: Coordinated travel for 3 executives and cut booking costs 15% by consolidating vendors.

Where you have no hard number, use scale (how many, how often), speed or a clear outcome, and never invent a figure. Harvard’s career center publishes a long action-verb list, and its top-five mistakes include passive language and results that are not shown.

For a gap, add one line such as “Career break (caregiving), 2023-2024” plus any course or volunteering you did; the graduate careers site Prospects advises stating the reason briefly with dates and listing the skills you gained.

Step 5: What should the education section include?

List your degree or qualification, the school, its location and your graduation date (or expected date), newest first. Put education above experience if you are a new graduate or the job requires a specific degree; otherwise place it below your work history, as CareerOneStop advises.

EDUCATION
B.S., Business Administration | State University, Austin, TX | May 2026
GPA 3.7 | Dean's List, 4 semesters | Coursework: Operations Management, Business Analytics

Use this when you are a student or new graduate.

EDUCATION
B.A., Communications | State University | 2014
Certificate, [Certification name] | [Issuing body] | 2024

Use this once you have years of experience: dates, no GPA, certifications beside the degree.

Drop high school once you have a degree or college credits, and keep it only if it is your highest qualification.

Step 6: Which skills should you put on a resume?

Include a short, targeted list of the skills the job posting asks for and you can prove: tools, methods, languages and certifications first, soft skills only when your bullets back them up. CareerOneStop suggests scanning 10 to 15 postings for your target title and using the exact terms.

SKILLS
Tools: Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP), SQL, Power BI, Smartsheet
Methods: Process mapping, vendor negotiation, inventory forecasting

Use this grouped layout for most office and technical roles.

SKILLS
Registered Nurse (RN) | BLS and ACLS certified | Epic charting | Telemetry | IV therapy

Use this compact line for healthcare: write both the abbreviation and the full title, because you do not know which form an employer’s search uses.

To find the right words, read the posting, then browse O*NET OnLine, the US Department of Labor’s occupation database covering 900+ occupations, which also lists “hot technologies” that employers often name in postings. Our guide to ATS keywords shows how to extract and place them. Never stuff keywords: CareerOneStop notes that extra keywords in a white font will not trick an applicant tracking system.

Step 7: What optional sections should you add?

Add certifications, projects, volunteering, languages or publications only when they support the job you want.

CERTIFICATIONS
Data Analytics Certificate | [Provider] | 2025
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt | [Issuing body] | 2024

Use this when a credential is named in the posting.

PROJECTS
Inventory dashboard (Power BI): built a live stock report for a 12-store retailer; cut stock-outs 18% in one quarter.

Use this when your paid experience is thin or you are changing fields.

Hobbies rarely decide an offer. Prospects suggests keeping an interest only if it is relevant or gives you something to discuss, and our guide to interests to put on a resume shows which ones work.

Step 8: How do you tailor and proofread a resume?

Tailor your resume by matching your summary, skills and top bullets to the wording of each posting, then proofread for spelling, dates and contact details.

1. Read the posting and highlight the must-haves you can prove. Our guide to tailoring your resume to a job description goes deeper.
2. Mirror the job title and key terms honestly, in the summary, skills and bullets.
3. Reorder bullets so the most relevant ones sit first under each role.
4. Run the free ATS resume checker, a rule-based tool that reads English-language resumes, and fix what it flags.
5. Proofread twice: read it aloud, check every date and phone digit, and ask another person to read it. CareerOneStop recommends review by others.
6. Save it with a clear file name, such as Jordan-Ellis-Operations-Coordinator.

Posting asks for: vendor management, SAP, process improvement
Generic bullet:   Handled orders and worked with suppliers.
Tailored bullet:  Managed 4 carrier relationships and entered 2,000+ monthly orders in SAP after redesigning the intake process.

Use this before-and-after pattern, and only where the tailored wording is true.

How long should a resume be, and should it have a photo?

One page is the norm for students and early-career candidates, one to two pages suits experienced applicants, and a UK CV usually runs up to two sides of A4. In the US and UK, leave the photo off.

Keep the font plain. For a US resume, CareerOneStop suggests Calibri, Arial, Georgia, Garamond or Times New Roman in 10 to 12 point with 1-inch margins; for a UK CV, the National Careers Service suggests Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri in size 11 or bigger. The University of Illinois advises against a headshot unless the job ad asks for one or the industry expects it, and Prospects says no photo unless you are applying for acting or modeling work.

For the file type, follow the posting. If it gives no instruction, CareerOneStop says to use Word, PDF or plain text, recommends a PDF to preserve formatting and warns against sending a scanned image. Our guide to the ATS resume format covers PDF versus Word in detail, and the free ATS resume templates give you a clean single-column start.

Resume example: what does a complete resume look like?

A complete resume example uses a combination format: a summary, a short skills block and dated experience written as results. The names and numbers here are fictional; replace them with your own facts.

JORDAN ELLIS
Austin, TX | (555) 010-0123 | jordan.ellis@example.com | linkedin.com/in/[your-profile]

SUMMARY
Operations coordinator with 6 years in logistics and vendor management. Cut order-processing time by 30% and kept shipping errors under 1% across 2,000+ monthly orders. Seeking an operations analyst role at [Company].

SKILLS
Tools: Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP), SAP, Power BI, Smartsheet
Methods: Process mapping, vendor negotiation, inventory forecasting
Certification: Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (2024)

EXPERIENCE
Operations Coordinator | Northwind Logistics | Austin, TX | June 2022 - Present
- Cut order-processing time by 30% by redesigning the intake checklist for a 6-person team.
- Kept shipping errors under 1% across 2,000+ monthly orders with a two-step pick check.
- Negotiated new freight terms with 4 carriers, saving $38,000 a year.
- Trained 9 new hires on SAP order entry; all reached full speed within 3 weeks.

Logistics Assistant | Harbor Supply Co. | Round Rock, TX | August 2020 - May 2022
- Reconciled 150+ shipment records a week in Excel with zero audit findings.
- Built a Power BI dashboard that cut weekly reporting from 5 hours to 1.

EDUCATION
B.S., Supply Chain Management | State University | 2020

Resume vs CV: what is the difference?

In the US and Canada, a resume is a short, targeted summary of your qualifications, while a CV is a full academic record. In the UK and many European countries, CV is simply the everyday word for the job-application document Americans call a resume.

According to UC Davis’ Career Center, “CV” is used for all job-application documents in many European countries, and in the US and Canada the two words are sometimes used interchangeably. If an employer’s request is unclear, ask which one they mean.

How do you write a CV in the UK?

A UK CV uses the same building blocks as a US resume, kept to two sides of A4. The National Careers Service lists the core sections as contact details, an introduction, education history, work history and references.

1. Contact details: name, phone, email and a LinkedIn link if you have one.
2. Personal profile: a few short lines under your contact details.
3. Work history: newest first, with the employer, job title, dates and two to three lines on what you did.
4. Education: qualifications, the school or university and dates; place it straight after your profile if you are early in your career.
5. Skills and interests: only the ones that fit the job.
6. References: say “available on request” rather than listing someone else’s details.

Personal profile
Reliable customer service assistant with two years in busy retail and a Level 3 diploma in Business. Confident handling cash, stock and complaints, and keen to move into an administrative role at [Company].

Use this as the opening of a UK CV for an early-career role.

What are the most common resume mistakes and red flags?

Harvard’s career center names five top mistakes: spelling and grammar errors, missing email and phone details, passive language instead of action words, a layout that is hard to skim and bullets that show no results. An unexplained gap or messy dates also make a reader stop and wonder.

If your resume is sent widely and brings few replies, read why you are not getting interviews.

Resume checklist before you send it

Run through these ten checks before every application.

• One column, standard headings, plain font in 10 to 12 point.
• Name, phone, professional email and city in the page body.
• A summary of two to four lines aimed at this job.
• Every bullet starts with an action verb and shows a result where you have one.
• Most recent role first, with consistent dates.
• Skills match the posting and you can prove each one.
• No photo, age or marital status (US and UK).
• One or two pages, saved as the format the employer asked for.
• Spelling, dates and phone digits checked, and another person has read it.
• A matching cover letter is ready: start from our cover letter examples and check how long a cover letter should be.

Can AI write your resume for you?

AI can draft, tighten and tailor a resume, but it works best as an editor after you write the first version. Harvard’s career center says generative AI should not be the primary author because its output will likely be generic, and CareerOneStop advises drafting in your own voice first, editing everything the AI produces, keeping every claim true and making sure the result is unique.

Here is my resume and a job posting. List the five requirements the posting stresses, tell me which of my bullets prove each one, and suggest rewrites that use only facts already in my resume. Do not add skills, numbers or employers I have not given you.

Use this prompt in any general AI assistant, then check every line. Our ChatGPT resume guide has more prompts and the limits to watch, and the best AI resume builders comparison covers dedicated tools. If you would rather pay a professional, our comparison of resume writing services vs AI covers what writers charge and when one is worth it.

Build your resume with JobsAICopilot

JobsAICopilot’s AI Resume Creator, included in every plan, checks your resume, rewrites weak sections and tailors it to a specific job in ATS-friendly language. You can improve the resume you have or generate a new one, and the finished CV can be downloaded in the app. It is not a human writer and it works from the facts you give it, so read every line before you use it.

It is part of an AI job application bot: you upload your CV once and set filters for titles, locations, remote work, salary and companies to skip. JobsAICopilot then searches 600,000+ company career pages every day, tailors each application (the cover letter, and on Elite the CV as well) and applies automatically on official company career pages. Premium sends up to 20 applications a day, Elite up to 50, and Review Mode lets you approve each one before it is sent. Plans start from $33.69/month for Premium; Elite is $44.96/month. There is no free trial, and you can cancel anytime (prices as of October 2026).

Ready to put the eight steps to work? Try the AI resume builder, compare plans on the pricing page, or browse more guides in Applying for Jobs.