A resume is a concise summary of your experience, education and skills, written for one specific job. It works when a recruiter or an applicant tracking system (ATS) can see within seconds that your background matches the posting. This guide covers what to gather, how to structure the document, how to word your bullets, how to format it so software can read it, and how to check it before you send it. It is written with remote and work-from-anywhere applicants in mind, since they often apply to employers in several countries.
TL;DR
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Gather your dates, employers, references and a list of recent achievements before you write a word.
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Use a one-column layout with standard headings: contact information, education, experience and skills.
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Start each bullet with an action verb and show the result, not the routine duty.
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Rewrite the resume for each posting, using the employer’s own terminology naturally.
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Export to PDF unless the application asks for another format, and have someone else proofread it.
Gather your material first
Most weak resumes are written from memory. Collect the facts before you draft. Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment suggests having employment dates, employer addresses, current references and a working list of recent achievements on hand, and tailoring the result to the specific job.
UC Berkeley’s HR office adds performance reviews, education, training or licenses, and community work to that list. New York State’s Department of Labor names contact information, an objective, career highlights, work experience and skills as the basic content.
Berkeley also frames the exercise usefully: the point is to work out who you are, how you can solve the employer’s problems, and what evidence shows you have solved similar ones. Keep that question in mind through every later step.
Choose the right sections and order
The core of almost every resume is the same: contact information, education, experience and skills. Ohio State’s career office recommends listing entries within education and experience in reverse chronological order, with optional sections such as academic projects, awards, publications or volunteer work added when relevant.
Decide what goes first
Put your strongest qualifications at the top. New York State’s career guide says education belongs near the top when it is your strongest selling point and nearer the bottom when your work experience is stronger. A recent graduate leads with education. Someone with ten years in customer support leads with experience.
Add optional sections selectively
Los Angeles County’s resume guide lists optional sections including activities, awards, certifications and licenses, military service, presentations, professional affiliations, publications, a qualifications summary and skills. Its advice is to select only what is relevant to your background and target job. If a section does not help you win this particular interview, cut it.
Handle gaps and freelance work honestly
Harvard’s career center recommends avoiding unexplained gaps, so a short line explaining a career break or a period of travel is better than silence. Freelance, self-employed, part-time and internship work all belong on the page when relevant, according to Ohio State. For location-independent professionals, this is often where the best evidence sits.
Write bullets that show results
The experience section decides most outcomes. Ohio State advises beginning each bullet with a strong action verb, using present tense for current work and past tense for completed work, and describing accomplishments, skills developed and results rather than daily duties.
Berkeley suggests describing the outcome and your impact: what you led, created, implemented, improved or influenced. Compare these two versions of the same job:
| Weak | Stronger |
|---|---|
| Responsible for answering customer emails | Resolved customer email requests for a support team across several time zones, keeping response times within the team’s targets |
| Helped with the company newsletter | Wrote and sent the weekly newsletter, and tracked open rates to adjust subject lines |
| Managed social media accounts | Planned and published a content calendar for three accounts and reported monthly results to the founder |
Use real numbers only when you have them. If you cannot measure a result, describe the scope instead: how many people, projects, countries or tools were involved. Princeton’s career center also recommends bullet points instead of paragraphs and avoiding pronouns.
For applicants targeting distributed teams, add evidence that you can work independently. Our guide on how to stand out for a remote job explains how to add remote-proof bullets, and our remote resume guide goes deeper on the remote-specific details.
Tailor the resume to each posting
A single generic resume rarely performs well. Berkeley advises reviewing the target posting, identifying the skills and experience requested, and using the employer’s terminology when describing matching qualifications. New York State’s Department of Labor treats tailoring as essential: address the employer’s specific needs, state your value through results, and keep the document quick to read.
Understand what the ATS does
Many employers screen applications with an ATS. The University of Otago in New Zealand explains that this software searches for job titles, qualifications, skills, former employers and universities, so you should study the job description and reflect its vocabulary. The same guide cautions against keyword stuffing: use keywords naturally, because a person will eventually read the document.
A practical tailoring routine
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Copy the posting into a blank document and highlight the repeated skills, tools and responsibilities.
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Match each highlighted item to a true example from your history.
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Move the best matches higher on the page and reword bullets to use the posting’s terms.
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Delete lines that do not support this application.
If you are applying to employers in different countries, tailoring also means checking local conventions. This article follows US resume norms. Some countries use a longer CV, and a few expect personal details that US employers prefer you leave out. Check the employer’s own careers page when in doubt.
Format for people and software
Design should never get in the way of content. UC Santa Barbara Career Services recommends a clean one-column layout, 0.5 to 1.0 inch margins, a professional 10 to 12 point font, left alignment and simple bullets. It advises avoiding multiple columns, text boxes, graphics and nontraditional symbols, and exporting to PDF unless the ATS specifies another format.
The University of Maine’s guide agrees: use common section headings and avoid text boxes, columns, headers, footers, uncommon fonts and graphics. Bold, italics, underlining and simple bullets are typically compatible. Otago recommends recognized headings such as Education, Experience and Referees, and spelling out acronyms, perhaps giving both the full term and the abbreviation.
How long should it be?
For most applicants, one page is the default. Yale’s Office of Career Strategy offers ATS-compatible templates and notes that some careers may appropriately require a longer resume. A senior professional with a long record can reasonably use two pages, as long as every line earns its place.
Use templates with care
Attractive templates can be hard to edit when you tailor each application. UC Santa Barbara recommends recreating a preferred design in a blank document so you keep control. The same applies to AI writing tools: treat their output as a draft, and delete any claim, number or skill you cannot defend in an interview.
Proofread before you send
Colorado’s labor department recommends having another person review your resume for grammar, presentation and overall effectiveness. Fresh eyes catch inconsistent dates, mixed tenses and typos that you no longer see.
Harvard’s career center adds three checks: entries in reverse chronological order, no unexplained gaps, and formatting that survives conversion to PDF. Open the final PDF on a different device before you upload it. Then run through our remote job application checklist so nothing else is missed before you apply.
Put your resume to work
A finished resume only helps if it reaches real employers. Nomad Careers lists manually verified work-from-anywhere jobs, so you can tailor your resume to genuine openings instead of spam. Browsing and applying is free, and Nomad Pro is available as a monthly plan at $9.99 per month or an annual plan at $69.99 per year if you want more tools. If your work is visual or project-based, a remote portfolio can back up the resume.
FAQ
What is the difference between a resume and a CV?
In the United States, a resume is a short, targeted summary, usually one or two pages, tailored to each job. A CV is typically longer and more complete, and is more common in academic and some international contexts. If an employer asks for a CV, check what format they expect.
Should I use a resume template?
Yes, if it is simple. Choose a one-column design with standard headings and no graphics or text boxes, since these can cause problems for ATS software. If a template is hard to edit, rebuild the look in a blank document.
Should I submit a PDF or a Word file?
UC Santa Barbara recommends PDF unless the application system specifies another format. Always follow the employer’s instructions, and check that the PDF keeps its formatting after export.
How many keywords should I include?
Use the terms from the job posting where they truthfully describe your experience, and use them naturally in your bullets. Repeating words for their own sake does not help, and a human reader will still judge the document.