How to write a resume, step by step

A resume has one job: to get you an interview for a particular role. It is not a record of everything you have done, and the people reading it are skimming. In the eye-tracking study Ladders ran in 2018, recruiters spent an average of 7.4 seconds on the first pass over each resume. The ones that held attention had simple layouts, clearly marked section headings and bold job titles above bulleted accomplishments. Every step below serves that first pass.

The eight steps at a glance

Step	What you write	Typical length	Read more
1. Read the advert	A list of the skills and duties it names	Notes only	This page
2. Header	Name, target title, one contact line	3 lines	This page
3. Summary	Who you are, your strongest proof, what you want next	40–70 words	Summary examples by field
4. Experience	Each role, newest first, with results	2–5 bullets per role	Writing bullet points
5. Education	Degree, institution, year	1–3 lines each	A resume with no experience
6. Skills	The tools and methods the advert asks for	1–4 lines	This page
7. Layout and length	A template that suits your field	1–2 pages	Templates by profession, How long a resume should be
8. Final checks	Proofread, export, name the file	10 minutes	CV vs resume by country, Resume photos

Step 1: start from the job advert, not from your history

Copy the advert into a document and underline every skill, tool, qualification and duty it mentions. Those words decide what goes in, what goes first and what can go. A warehouse supervisor applying for an operations analyst post has the same history either way; the analyst version leads with the forecasting spreadsheet, not the forklift licence.

Recruiters search their applicant system for the advert’s own terms, so use its wording where it is true of you. If the posting says “stakeholder management”, write that rather than a synonym.

Step 2: the header holds your name, target title and one contact line

Your name goes first, in the largest type on the page. Under it, the title of the job you want, phrased the way the employer phrases it. Then a single line with your email address, phone number, city and one profile or portfolio link.

Leave out your full street address, date of birth and marital status. A city is enough for a recruiter to judge the commute, and the rest invites bias without helping your case. Put all of it in the body of the page rather than in the document’s header area, for the reasons covered in what makes a resume ATS-friendly.

Step 3: a summary of two or three sentences

The summary sits directly under the header, where a skimming reader looks first. It says what you do, how long you have done it, the single result you are proudest of, and what you are looking for. Write it last, once the rest of the page tells you what your strongest proof is. There are fourteen worked examples, from nursing to career changes, in resume summary examples by field.

Step 4: experience, newest first, written as results

List each role in reverse chronological order. For each one, the job title and dates go on one line, the employer and location on the next, then two to five bullets.

Each bullet starts with a verb in the past tense (present tense for your current job) and ends with what changed because of you. “Answered customer emails” describes the job anyone in the seat would do. “Cleared a 400-message backlog in two weeks and kept replies under 24 hours” describes you. The method, with before-and-after rewrites, is in resume bullet points that get interviews.

Go back about ten to fifteen years in detail. Earlier roles can shrink to a title, employer and year, or go entirely if they add nothing for this application.

Step 5: education goes first only when it is your strongest card

Students, recent graduates and career changers with a new qualification put education above experience. Everyone else puts it below. Give the degree or qualification, the institution, and the year you finished; add a grade or honours only if it is strong and recent. School results can go once you have a degree.

If you have little or no paid work yet, projects, volunteering and coursework do the work experience would do. How to write a resume with no experience covers that layout.

Step 6: skills that the advert names

List hard skills a recruiter can verify: software, languages with your level, licences, methods. Group them if there are many (“Design: Figma, Illustrator, prototyping”). Soft skills such as “team player” carry little weight as a list; show them in a bullet instead, where they come with evidence.

Step 7: choose a layout that suits your field and your length

Fields hired through large applicant systems, such as healthcare, finance and government, are safest with a one-column layout. Portfolio fields such as design can carry a sidebar, as long as you have a one-column copy for job portals. Resume templates by profession gives the reasoning field by field.

On length: one page is a habit, not a rule. Two pages suit most people with several years of experience, and academic CVs run longer. The evidence is in how long a resume should be.

Step 8: proofread, export and name the file

Read the whole page aloud once; you will hear the typo your eyes skipped. Check that every date range runs forwards and every job has a start date. Then export a PDF, and keep a Word copy for portals that ask for one. Name the file with your name, such as Ada-Lindqvist-resume.pdf, so it is findable in a recruiter’s downloads folder.

Before you send it abroad, check the local conventions: whether the employer expects a “CV” or a “resume”, and whether a photo is expected or discouraged.

Writing it in the resume builder

The free resume builder follows the same order. The labels below are the ones on screen.

1. On the Template tab, choose your field under What do you do? The builder suggests three templates with a reason for each, and orders the sections the way recruiters in that field expect.
2. On the Content tab, fill in your details section by section. Under each job, Example bullets for your field can be added in one click; replace their figures with your own.
3. On the Design tab, change the colour, fonts, spacing or page size (A4 or US Letter). If the resume runs one page over, a Fit on button tightens size, spacing and margins a step at a time.
4. The Check tab lists suggestions with their reasons, such as a job with no start date or a summary over 80 words. It is a list, not a score.
5. Press Download PDF or Download Word. Both are free, with no account and no watermark.

What the builder does not do

It does not write your resume for you or tailor it to an advert; steps 1 and 4 are yours. It does not rate your chances, because no tracking system publishes a scoring formula to rate against. Everything you type stays in your browser, so clearing your browser data clears the resume too: use Export JSON to keep a copy you can open again later.