What to Put on a Resume: Sections to Include for the Best Resume

In 5 minutes you'll learn what to put on a resume, but first think about this—

You have years of skills, goals, work history, and education.

You’ve only got an 8x11” piece of paper in front of you (or maybe 210×297 mm).

How can you squeeze all that into such a limited space?

Which resume sections are a must? Which to leave off? Where do you put what?

Well, the first thing to put is your mind at ease.

In this resume guide, you’ll learn:

• What should be on a resume, where to add it, and what not to include.
• How to structure a resume by using the best resume components.
• Other things to include in a resume and with your resume.
• How to write a resume for a job correctly using just the right resume sections.

1. What to Include in a Resume? A Brief Resume Outline

As you get ready to tackle how you’re going to write that resume, here’s a quick and easy resume outline of what to put in a resume:

1. Contact Information

1. Name & Professional Title
2. Mailing Address*
3. Email Address & Phone Number
4. Social Profiles*
5. Personal Website or Portfolio

2. Heading Statement

1. Resume Objective*
2. Resume Summary*

3. Work Experience

1. Responsibilities
2. Achievements
3. Resume Keywords

4. Education

5. Skills

1. Hard Skills
2. Soft Skills
3. Resume Keywords

6. Additional Sections

1. Volunteer Work*
2. Languages*
3. Certifications & Awards*
4. Hobbies & Interests*
5. More* (See Chapter 7)

Not so bad, right?

(The asterisks mean those sections aren’t obligatory.)

In a second we’ll go into detail on each of these resume sections, resume types, and critical elements. Read on!

Expert Hint: The key to resume sections and their order is importance and relevance. Naturally, the HR manager reads from the top down, so if you have little experience but impressive education, put that up top!

2. Add Relevant Contact Information

I know, I know. You learned how to write your name and address back in preschool.

But, before you skip right past this part of a resume, there’re a few important things to know to get your resume contact info right.

Here are which contact details to put in a resume header:

1. Name—your first and last name, along with any professional acronyms you have (e.g., PMP, MBA, PhD).
2. Professional Title—an optional branding statement, resume title, or job title, either one you’re seeking, your current one, or your previous role.
3. Mailing Address—adding your address on a resume is usually not recommended. Add it only if they’re looking for local hires.
4. Phone Number—use your cell phone number, not your house phone. Check your voicemail message to make sure it sounds professional.
5. Email Address—use a professional email address (john.doe@gmail.com) rather than your childhood handle.
6. LinkedIn URL—super recommended. As the foremost social network for professionals, it’s really necessary to have a LinkedIn profile. Don’t have one? Start one!
7. Social Media URLs—don’t just add Facebook or Twitter profile links. Use relevant ones to your sought-after position, like Dribbble or Behance for designers.
8. Website—a link to your website might be helpful, especially if you have an online portfolio—a great way to add more to your resume without filling the page!

Don’t include personal information like your gender, birthday or marital status in your contact section.

Forget about adding a photograph, too, if you are looking for a job in the US or the UK.

Expert Hint: If you’re adding social media profile links, clean them up! Remove unprofessional content from Facebook, and fix up that LinkedIn profile. Knowing how to make a resume work includes a lot of off-resume parts!

3. Include a Winning Resume Summary or Objective

Below your contact info comes your heading statement.

That prominent placement means the HR manager’s eyes see it first.

(Which means it’s one of the most important sections of a resume.)

Here’s what should be included in a resume profile area:

Resume Summary Statement—a short statement providing a summary of your work experience and relevant qualifications.

Resume Objective Statement—a concise paragraph, tailored to the position, stating your career goals and how you want to achieve them at this employer. Also called a resume career objective.

Pick one or the other, as you don’t use both resume headings.

Good resume heading introductions should be around 2-4 sentences in length—a neat, 3- or 4-line paragraph.

Use an objective statement when you either have a little or no experience resume related to the job you’re applying for, or when you’re targeting a very specific position. Otherwise, choose the resume professional summary.

Expert Hint: How long should a resume be? Job resumes should be one page for most candidates. Two pages is okay, but just make sure everything on your resume is adding value. Don’t go back more than 10 years in your work history, except when applying for senior positions.

4. Write the Perfect Job Description Section

The employment history area is the centerpiece of a resume.

It goes just below the resume introductory statement.

However, if you have little to no employment history (no experience resume, college resume, student resume, etc.), this will go under the education section, which we’ll get to shortly.

Here’s what to include in a resume work experience section:

1. Official Job Title—your professional title goes first on each entry, to make it easiest for managers to see your progress. Make it bold so it stands out against the rest of the entry. Start with your most recent job title, and go back reverse-chronologically from there.
2. Company and Location—next, add the company name, city, and state. As this is supporting text, make this italicized.
3. Dates of Employment—in the following line, add the span of time worked. Add both month-year to month-year, or you can say “–Present” if you’re still working there.
4. Duties & Responsibilities—add key responsibilities you handled at that place of work. Make sure they are relevant to the position to which you are applying.
5. Resume Achievements—this is where many go wrong. Employers know the basic tasks of a barista, say. But, they don’t know how well you did them. Adding an accomplishments section with numbers helps you to quantify and prove what you state.

That’s what to include on a resume experience entry.

Repeat it for the following entries, but don’t go back more than 10-15 years—they’re not looking for a Walter Isaacson-length biography!

Begin each job description entry with powerful words and action verbs.

Also, add any internships you may have had here to your job experience section, but only if they’re relevant or if you lack work experience.

Expert Hint: Use 4 or 5 bullet points to support each work experience entry. Also, keep the job ad handy as you write your employment history section so you can tailor the contents to what they’re looking for.

5. Add a Relevant Education Section

The education resume section will usually go just after (below) your work history resume section.

However, if you are a recent graduate, writing an academic CV, or a professional returning to school, bump this section up to just under your resume intro.

Here’s what to include in a resume education section:

1. Degree type—such as associate, bachelor’s, master’s, etc.
2. Degree major—for example, engineering, computer science, or robotics.
3. School name —the name of your school followed by the city and state.
4. Extras—you want to stand out? Add relevant items as subsections, such as:

• Relevant coursework
• Projects & accomplishments
• Awards and honors
• Clubs and organizations

If you’ve completed a degree, don’t add your high school diploma. However, if you haven’t, or if you are still in progress, be sure to mention it.

Also, dates may be left off, especially if your years at the institution were 10 years or more in the past.

Expert Hint: GPA is unnecessary on a successful resume. If you’re thinking of adding GPA on resumes, make sure it’s 4.0 or very close to that, or else this will backfire.

6. Write the Best Skills Section on Your Resume

Finally, the skills resume section, the last of the must-include areas.

Add 5-7 relevant resume skills, along with a level of proficiency for each.

Here are the best types of skills to put on resumes:

• Technical skills—these are hard skills related to your job and industry, such as web development, statistical modeling, information technology skills.
• Communication skills—these are soft skills, including verbal, non-verbal, and written communication.
• Professional skills—these are abilities and skills on resumes which show refinement and sophistication, e.g., decision making, problem solving, conflict resolution.
• Management skills—not only your ability to lead others, but also how well you manage yourself (your projects, time, etc.) and your executive competence.
• Critical thinking skills—nowadays, if a company wants a robot, they can get a robot. Most of the time, though, they want people who can think for themselves, and critically.

Use work skills and resume qualifications they’re looking for on the job ad to make your own job skills list. Make them as close to the wording from the job ad as possible for the best resume keywords.

Expert Hint: Your arsenal of job-related abilities and skills to put on a resume is called your skill set. Just make sure to only put relevant skills on your resume rather than just a list of skills you know. Everybody and their goldfish adds they’re “proficient in Microsoft Office.”

7. Add Oomph with Extra Resume Sections

All those parts of a resume we’ve discussed up until now are the standards.

That means everyone will have them.

If you want to distinguish yourself from the rest, it’s good practice to add some extra resume sections.

Here are the extra resume sections to consider:

• Volunteer Work—you didn’t get paid for this work, and that’s very commendable. But, this free work may also be great experience to add to your resume!
• Languages—always include them on your resume if your level is intermediate and higher.
• Certificates & Licenses—any training you’ve received, including licensing or certifications earned as a result, makes HR managers’ pulses quicken.
• Awards & Honors—a chef with a Michelin star would easily find another gig in food preparation. Likewise, add any awards and honors you’ve received to make your case.
• Conferences—lectured at some industry conference? This speaks volumes about how you are an expert in this topic. Employers love experts!
• Hobbies and Interests Resume Section—a hobbies and interests section on a resume seems irrelevant, at first. But adding your likes, passions, and pastime activities is a great way to show the human side of yourself, as well as a subtle nod to exhibiting skills you have.
• Memberships—excellent way to show you mean business, as long as it’s relevant and a reputable organization. Are you a writer? Your membership in the Authors Guild is ideal, in this case.

Expert Hint: Don’t add the resume references section! You can add a reference page along with your resume, but only if you must.

8. Format Your Resume Properly and Write a Cover Letter

Here are some other essential items to consider when writing a resume:

• Section Headings—for each of these resume sections, use distinct formatting on the section heading to separate it from the rest of the text. Make it 2–4pts larger and bold.
• Resume Templates—a professional resume shouldn’t look as if it was styled in the 1980s. Choose a modern and professional resume template to be taken seriously for a present-day job.
• Resume Format —reverse-chronological, functional, combination, or technical? Formatting a resume right ensures that the most relevant and important information is just where it needs to be for the hiring manager to find it.
• Resume Fonts—the legibility of your resume is crucial if you want the HR manager to read it and the ATS to be able to scan it.
• Cover Letter—half of all employers won’t accept a resume without a cover letter. And that other half? Most of them still prefer it. So don’t forget to include a resume cover letter.
• Resume Email—you’ve learned how to write a great resume, but sending it correctly makes sure it gets delivered, opened, and read.
• Portfolio—if you have projects, photography, or other work to show requiring a separate entity, by all means, include it! All you have to do is add a link in your contact info for personal projects.

Expert Hint: “Build your resume first to be scanned, then to be read." says Dan Clay, the author of How to Write the Perfect Resume. So, make sure your section headings pop out on your resume!

Key Points

Ways that you can tailor your resume include:

• Using core components: contact info, work experience, education, and skills sections.
• Choosing either a resume summary or objective in the header area.
• Adding some extra resume sections to make your resume stand out: volunteer work, certificates, languages, memberships.
• Formatting your resume correctly and making it eye-friendly.

Got any questions on what to put on a resume? Not sure which of the additional resume sections to add? Let’s have a convo about it in the comments below, and, as always, thanks for reading!