How to Write a Resume: The Method That Gets Interviews

Let me tell you about the resume that changed how I train hiring managers. A candidate applied for a project management role at a Fortune 500 company. His resume was one page. Nothing fancy about the design. But every single bullet point told me exactly what he accomplished and how it mattered.

"Delivered $2.3M software migration 6 weeks ahead of schedule and $180K under budget by implementing agile sprints and daily standups with offshore team."

One sentence. I knew his scope (multi-million dollar project), his skills (agile methodology, offshore coordination), and his results (ahead of schedule, under budget). I called him within an hour of receiving his application 😏

That's what a well-written resume does. It makes the recruiter's job easy. Most resumes make our job hard — we have to dig through vague descriptions hoping to find evidence of capability.

According to research from The Ladders, recruiters spend an average of 7.4 seconds on initial resume review. In that time, we're scanning for proof that you can do the job. Your writing either provides that proof or it doesn't.

This guide teaches you how to write a resume that provides proof on every line.

Most people start writing their resume by opening a blank document. That's a mistake. Start with research.

Decode What Employers Actually Want

Pull up three to five job postings for your target role. Not just any postings — positions at companies you'd actually want to work for. Read them carefully.

Highlight the requirements that appear in multiple postings. These recurring elements tell you what the market values. If every posting mentions "stakeholder management" and "data-driven decision making," those phrases need to appear in your resume 💡

Understand the Real Priorities

Job postings list requirements in rough priority order. The first three bullets in "Required Qualifications" matter more than the last three. The skills mentioned multiple times matter more than skills mentioned once.

Your resume should reflect these priorities. Don't bury your most relevant experience at the bottom of a bullet list because that's chronologically where it happened.

The format you choose affects how easily recruiters can extract information from your document.

Reverse-Chronological: The Default Choice

For 90% of candidates, reverse-chronological format is correct. List your most recent position first, then work backward. Recruiters expect this format and can scan it quickly.

This format works best when you have relevant experience in your target field and a reasonably consistent work history. For detailed format comparisons, see our resume formats guide.

When to Consider Alternatives

Functional format organizes content by skill category rather than timeline. Use this only if you're making a major career change and your job titles would confuse rather than help. Warning: some recruiters view functional resumes with suspicion, assuming you're hiding something 😬

Combination format leads with a skills summary, then presents chronological experience. This works well for senior professionals with diverse backgrounds who want to emphasize specific capabilities.

When in doubt, choose reverse-chronological.

Simple but critical. Errors here are surprisingly common and immediately disqualifying.

What to Include

• Full name (larger font, prominent position)
• City and state (no full address needed)
• Phone number (verified and working)
• Professional email address
• LinkedIn URL (customized)

What to Avoid

Don't include your street address (privacy concern, irrelevant for most hiring decisions). Don't include multiple phone numbers (creates confusion about which to call). Don't use an email address from your current employer (raises ethical questions).

Your email should be straightforward: firstname.lastname@provider.com or a close variation. If john.smith@gmail.com is taken, try johnsmith.work@gmail.com.

This 3-4 line section sits directly below your header. It's your pitch — who you are professionally and why you're worth interviewing.

The Anatomy of a Strong Summary

A good summary answers three questions:

1. What's your professional identity?
2. What's your specialty or area of strength?
3. What quantified evidence proves your value?

Weak example: "Experienced professional seeking challenging opportunity to leverage strong communication skills and grow within a dynamic organization."

This tells me nothing. Anyone could write this. It contains zero evidence of capability.

Strong example: "Operations Director with 12 years scaling e-commerce fulfillment. Reduced shipping costs by $2.1M annually while improving on-time delivery from 91% to 98.5%. Led teams of 150+ across three distribution centers."

This tells me exactly who you are, what you're good at, and proves it with specific numbers 💡

Customization for Each Application

Your summary should shift slightly for each application. If a job emphasizes "process improvement," lead with your process improvement results. If it emphasizes "team leadership," lead with your team leadership scope.

This is where resumes succeed or fail. Most candidates write job descriptions. Winners write achievement statements.

The Structure That Works

For each position, include:

• Job Title — bold, prominent
• Company Name, Location
• Dates — Month Year to Month Year (or Present)
• 3-6 bullet points — achievements, not responsibilities

How to Write Compelling Bullets

Every bullet should follow the Action-Context-Result formula:

Action: Start with a strong verb (not "responsible for") Context: What you did and at what scale Result: The measurable outcome

Before: "Managed social media accounts for the company."

After: "Rebuilt social media strategy across 4 platforms, growing engaged audience from 12K to 89K in 18 months and generating $340K in attributed revenue through organic content."

The second version tells me your scope (4 platforms), your results (7x audience growth), your timeline (18 months), and your business impact ($340K revenue). I can evaluate your capability. The first version tells me nothing 😅

Finding Numbers When You Think You Don't Have Any

Every job has measurable aspects. Consider:

• How many people you worked with or supported
• Budget amounts you influenced
• Volume of transactions, tickets, projects, or clients
• Percentage improvements (efficiency, accuracy, speed)
• Timeframes for completed initiatives
• Scale of systems you touched (users, data volume, geographic reach)

Even rough numbers beat no numbers. "Reduced processing time by approximately 30%" is far stronger than "improved processing efficiency."

How Many Bullets Per Role?

• Current/most recent role: 5-6 bullets
• Previous role: 4-5 bullets
• Older roles: 2-3 bullets
• Very old roles: Can be reduced to title, company, dates only

The older the role, the less detail needed. Nobody needs to know every project from 2015.

This section serves two purposes: ATS keyword matching and quick human scanning.

Organizing Your Skills

Group related skills together rather than presenting a random list:

Technical: SQL, Python, Tableau, Salesforce, Google Analytics Methodologies: Agile, Scrum, Six Sigma, Design Thinking Languages: Spanish (fluent), French (conversational)

What to Include

Only include skills you could discuss confidently in an interview. Being listed doesn't mean you need to be an expert, but you should be able to answer questions about how you've used each skill.

Use exact phrases from job postings when you genuinely have those skills. If they say "project management" and you have project management experience, use their words, not "managed projects."

For more guidance, see our resume skills guide.

For most professionals, education goes after experience. For recent graduates, it may go higher.

What to Include

• Degree type and major
• Institution name
• Graduation year (optional if 15+ years ago)

Include GPA only if impressive (3.5+) and you graduated within 5 years. Include honors, relevant coursework, or thesis topics if they strengthen your application for this specific role 💡

Certifications and Professional Development

List relevant certifications with their full names and dates. Place these either with education or in their own section, depending on how prominent you want them.

Before a human sees your resume, software scans it. Over 90% of large employers use Applicant Tracking Systems to filter applications.

What Works

• Single-column layouts
• Standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills)
• Simple fonts (Arial, Calibri, Garamond)
• Standard bullet points
• PDF format with selectable text

What Breaks

• Tables and multi-column layouts
• Graphics, icons, and images
• Creative section titles ("My Journey" instead of "Experience")
• Headers and footers containing important information
• Non-standard fonts

The Simple Test

Copy your entire resume and paste it into a plain text editor (Notepad, TextEdit). If the content appears in order and makes sense, you're fine. If it's jumbled or missing sections, fix your formatting.

For more on formatting, check our resume font guide 😉

A generic resume sent to 50 jobs will underperform a tailored resume sent to 20 jobs. Every time.

The 15-Minute Customization Method

Step 1: Read the job posting. Identify 5 key requirements.

Step 2: Adjust your summary to directly address 2-3 of those requirements.

Step 3: Check that your skills section contains their exact terminology.

Step 4: Reorder your experience bullets so the most relevant achievements appear first.

Step 5: Remove or minimize any bullet that doesn't support this specific application.

Step 6: Rename your file: FirstName_LastName_CompanyName.pdf

This process takes 15-20 minutes per application. That investment dramatically improves your interview rate.

Keyword Strategy

Use the employer's exact language when you genuinely have those qualifications. If they ask for "cross-functional collaboration" and you have that experience, use their phrase — don't substitute "working with different teams."

This isn't gaming the system. It's speaking the same professional vocabulary as your target employer 🚀

After reviewing thousands of applications, these errors cause the most damage:

Writing Mistakes

Dense paragraphs: Recruiters skim. Long paragraphs get skipped. Use bullets, keep them to 1-2 lines.

Vague language: "Helped with various initiatives" tells me nothing. Be specific about what you did and what resulted.

Inconsistent tense: Current role uses present tense. Past roles use past tense. Mixing tenses looks sloppy.

Strategic Mistakes

No numbers: Achievement claims without metrics aren't credible. Find ways to quantify everything.

Irrelevant details: That summer job from 2010 doesn't belong on your resume if you're a senior professional.

Generic file names: "Resume_final_v3.docx" suggests disorganization. Use professional naming.

For a comprehensive error check, use our resume checklist.

Before submitting any application, verify these elements:

Content Check

• Does every bullet have a measurable result?
• Is your most relevant experience prominent?
• Does your summary address the specific role?

Formatting Check

• Is everything consistently formatted?
• Are dates in the same format throughout?
• Does it pass the plain text test?

Accuracy Check

• Have you verified all dates and numbers?
• Can you defend every claim in an interview?
• Did someone else proofread it?

Delivery Check

• Is the file named professionally?
• Is it saved as PDF (unless otherwise requested)?
• Is the file size under 1MB?

Writing a resume isn't about listing what you did at each job. It's about proving what you're capable of doing for the next employer.

The essentials:

1. Research first — understand what employers want before writing
2. Lead with impact — every bullet should demonstrate results
3. Quantify everything — numbers make claims credible
4. Match their language — use exact phrases from job postings
5. Tailor for each role — 15 minutes of customization changes outcomes
6. Test before sending — ATS check, proofread, outside review

The candidates who write well don't necessarily have better qualifications. They're better at communicating their qualifications clearly and convincingly.

CVTOWORK provides templates that handle formatting so you can focus on content. The structure is built in — you bring the achievements.

Now look at your current resume. Does every line prove something about your capability? If not, you know what to do 🚀