How to Make a Good Resume: Sections, Format and Strong Content

A good resume does three things well. It is easy to scan, it is organized in a format that suits your career history, and its content shows what you achieved rather than just what you were assigned. Get those fundamentals right and every later step, from tailoring to a specific job to passing applicant tracking systems, becomes easier.

This guide covers those fundamentals: the sections every resume needs, how to choose the right format, how to write strong content, and how to lay it all out. Once your resume is in good shape, our guide to building the perfect resume explains how to tailor and polish it for each job.

The Sections Every Good Resume Needs

Most resumes in the US follow the same core structure. Recruiters expect it, and applicant tracking systems (ATS) are built to parse it, so there is little to gain from reinventing it.

• Contact information: full name, phone number, a professional email address, city and state, and a LinkedIn profile or portfolio link if you have one. You do not need your full street address.
• Professional summary: two to four sentences that say who you are professionally, what you are good at and what kind of role you want. For students with little experience, a short objective can work instead.
• Work experience: your jobs in reverse chronological order, each with title, employer, location, dates and three to six bullet points.
• Skills: the technical and soft skills that matter for the jobs you want, grouped if the list is long (for example, Tools, Languages, Certifications).
• Education: degrees, schools and graduation years. Recent graduates can add relevant coursework, GPA if strong, and honors.
• Optional sections: certifications and licenses, projects, volunteer work, awards, publications or languages. Include them only when they strengthen your case.

Choosing the Right Resume Format

The format decides how your experience is organized, and the right choice depends on your career history. There are three main options.

Chronological

The chronological format lists your work history from most recent to oldest, with skills and education as supporting sections. It is the format most employers expect and the easiest for ATS software to read. Choose it if you have a steady work history in the field you are applying to. For most people, this is the right answer.

Functional

The functional format groups your experience by skill area (for example, Project Management or Customer Relations) and plays down dates and employers. It is sometimes suggested for career changers or people with employment gaps. Be cautious with it: many recruiters find it hard to tell where and when you used each skill, and some read it as a sign that something is being hidden. ATS software can also struggle to connect skills to jobs when there is no clear work history.

Combination (hybrid)

The combination format opens with a strong skills or qualifications section and follows it with a normal reverse chronological work history. It gives career changers and people with varied backgrounds a way to lead with transferable skills while still showing a clear timeline. If you are unsure between functional and chronological, a hybrid is usually the safer choice.

For experienced professionals with long careers, our guide to resume format for experienced professionals covers how far back to go and how to handle many roles.

Crafting Strong Resume Content

Format gets your resume read. Content is what makes it good.

Lead with achievements, not duties

A duty describes the job. An achievement describes what you did with it. Compare:

• Responsible for customer support tickets.
• Resolved an average of 40 support tickets a day and wrote the help articles that became the team's standard replies.

A simple pattern helps: action verb, what you did, and the result or scope. If you do not have a number, describe the outcome in words, such as who used your work, what it replaced, or what problem it solved. Only use numbers you can back up.

Start bullets with strong action verbs

Verbs like led, built, reduced, launched, negotiated, trained and redesigned make your role clear. Avoid starting bullets with "responsible for" or "helped with", and vary your verbs so the page does not repeat itself.

Write a summary that says something specific

"Hard-working team player seeking a challenging role" could describe anyone. A good summary names your field and level, your main strengths and one or two notable achievements. Keep it short and cut adjectives you cannot prove.

Keep your skills section honest and relevant

List skills you can discuss in an interview, and put the ones most relevant to your target roles first. Include the tools, software and certifications that job postings in your field ask for, using their standard names.

Cut what does not help

Older roles can shrink to a single line or disappear. Remove outdated technology, unrelated hobbies and anything that takes space without supporting the job you want. On a US resume, leave out photos, date of birth, marital status and salary history.

Layout and Design Basics

A good resume looks clean, not decorated.

• Length: one page for students and early-career candidates, up to two pages for most experienced professionals.
• Fonts: one or two readable fonts at a comfortable size for body text, with slightly larger section headings.
• Consistency: the same date format, bullet style and spacing everywhere.
• White space: reasonable margins and space between sections so the page is easy to scan.
• Standard headings: use plain labels like Experience, Education and Skills so both people and software can find each section.
• Single column: multi-column layouts, tables, text boxes and graphics can confuse ATS parsing. A simple single-column layout with real text is the safest choice.
• File type: send PDF or DOCX, whichever the employer asks for.

If you would rather not build a layout from scratch, our resume templates are single-column, ATS-friendly designs that export matching PDF and DOCX files.

Common Mistakes That Keep a Resume From Being Good

• Listing duties instead of achievements. This is the most common weakness and the easiest to fix.
• Vague language and buzzwords such as "results-driven" or "synergy" with nothing to back them up.
• Typos and inconsistent formatting, which suggest carelessness even when your experience is strong.
• Too much information, such as every job you have ever had or paragraphs where bullets would do.
• An unprofessional email address or outdated contact details.
• One resume for every job. A good base resume still needs adjusting for each application. See our guide to building the perfect resume for how to do that.

Final Checks Before You Use It

Before your resume goes anywhere, proofread it carefully, ideally once out loud. Check that dates line up, tenses are consistent (present for your current job, past for earlier ones) and every link works. Ask someone in your field to read it and tell you what stands out and what is unclear. Then save a clean master copy you can adapt for each application.

Pair It With a Cover Letter

Many employers still read cover letters, and a good one gives context your resume cannot, such as why you want the role or how your experience transfers to a new field. Keep it short, specific to the job and consistent with your resume. Our cover letter page explains how HireCurve drafts letters from your own experience.

How HireCurve Helps

Once you have a good resume, HireCurve helps you adapt it to each job without starting over. Upload your resume once and HireCurve builds a profile of your facts, each with the source quote it came from. Paste a job description and it tailors your resume to that job using only your own experience, with every line citing its source. It does not invent experience, skills, metrics or outcomes.

Each application includes a tailored resume, a cover letter and interview prep. The ATS scoring view shows which of the job's keywords and requirements your resume covers, with the evidence behind each match. The free plan includes two applications a month. See how it works or sign up free.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a resume good?

A good resume is easy to scan, uses a format that fits your history, and shows achievements with specific results rather than a list of duties. It is also accurate, error-free and focused on the kind of job you want.

Which resume format is best?

For most people, the reverse chronological format. A combination (hybrid) format works well for career changers or people with varied experience. Use a purely functional format with caution, because many recruiters and ATS tools handle it poorly.

What is the difference between a good resume and a great resume?

A good resume has the fundamentals in place. A great one adds strong, specific achievements and is tailored to the job you are applying for, so the most relevant evidence comes first.

How do I create a good resume with no experience?

Use a chronological or hybrid format and lead with education, projects, internships, volunteer work and part-time jobs. Describe what you did and learned in each, the same way you would describe paid work. Our entry-level resume guide covers this in more detail.

Should a good resume be one page?

One page is best if you are a student or early in your career. Two pages is fine for most experienced professionals, as long as everything on the page is relevant.