Resume Format | How To, Templates & Examples

A resume is a formal document that summarizes your work experience, education history, and skills. Resume format refers to how this information is structured and displayed in your resume.

Resume format is important because it directly impacts how hiring managers or recruiters interpret your qualifications. This goes for both the structure of your resume’s contents and the design you use for the document.

There are different resume formats to choose from: chronological, functional, and combination. The best format for you depends on how much work experience you have, the industry and job you’re applying to, and what you want to highlight about your profile.

Resume sections

It’s important to understand the different building blocks of a resume before learning how to arrange them in different resume formats. Generally speaking, resumes contain five key sections.

Contact information

Your name and contact information make it easy for hiring managers or recruiters to get in touch with you. When writing this section:

• Put your name in bold and/or a larger font size.
• Include a LinkedIn profile, website, or portfolio link when relevant.
• Do not include your street address unless specifically requested.

Professional summary

This summary gives a snapshot overview of your professional profile. Highlight key achievements and skills related to the job you’re applying for. If you’re applying to a field you’ve already worked in, you can also mention your years of experience.

Entry-level applicants or career changers could also mention an objective, outlining their goals and how they align with the position.

When writing your professional summary or objective:

• Write 2–4 lines.
• Use impactful, simple language, and avoid first-person and passive voice.

Work experience

In work experience, include each job you’ve held that is relevant to the position you’re applying for. Each job entry should include the title, employer, place, and dates held. Then, include 3–7 bullet points that outline your main achievements in the role.

Keep these tips in mind when crafting your work experience section:

• List work experience in reverse chronological order, with the newest first.
• Don’t use subject pronouns; rather, start each bullet point with action verbs for a resume (e.g., “Coordinated team schedules and meetings”).
• Maintain parallelism to make your resume easier to read (e.g., “Developed, conducted, and analyzed” instead of “Developed while conducting and analyzing”).
• Focus on quantifiable results whenever you can (e.g., “Consistently scored 5/5 on customer satisfaction survey” is stronger than “Provided great customer service”).

Skills

Include skills that are relevant to the position you’re applying for. There are two sets of skills for a resume: hard and soft.

Hard skills are specific, often technical skills learned through study or hands-on experience (e.g., “SalesForce,” “HTML,” or “advanced Arabic”). Soft skills are personal attributes and interpersonal abilities (e.g., “cultural sensitivity,” “attention to detail,” “adaptability”).

When drafting your skills section:

• Use bullet points or an inline list with skills separated by vertical lines ( | ).
• Include a mix of hard and soft skills relevant to the role.

Education history

Include any degrees you’ve acquired, with the degree, institution name, and dates. Some tips for building a good education section are:

• Don’t include your high school diploma unless it’s directly relevant.
• You can choose to highlight relevant details, like a college minor, thesis or project, GPA, or honors.
• You can remove your college graduation date if you graduated more than five years ago, unless it’s requested.

Optional resume sections

Some resume sections are optional, and you should only include them when directly relevant to your application:

• Certifications and licenses
• Volunteer experience
• Professional memberships
• Awards and honors
• Extracurricular activities

For example, if you’re a lawyer, you may want to include a section about licenses. Or, if you’re just starting your career or attending a career fair, you may want to include relevant extracurriculars (e.g., you’re applying to an art museum and were active in your college’s art history society).

Simple resume format

In most cases, using a simple resume format is fine. Follow the basic structure outlined above and use a clean, minimalist design. Ideally, resume length is 1–2 pages, depending on your experience.

Below is a resume example for Adriana, who’s applying for an associate director of admissions job at her alma mater, Bay State University, which is located in a multicultural area.

Although this example is fictional, it can give you an idea of how to apply a good resume format.

Three types of resume format

Not all resumes are structured the same. There are three types of resume formats:

• Chronological
• Functional
• Combination

The chronological format–which emphasizes work history in reverse chronological order–is the most common resume format. But a functional or combination format may be a better choice for you depending on your context.

Chronological resume format

In chronological resume format, focus on your work experience. Chronological format is the same as simple resume format, so you can follow the outline and tips mentioned above.

Functional resume format

Functional resume format focuses on your skills instead of work experience. It’s a good option if you are changing careers or have career gaps you don’t want to highlight.

Some tips for writing a functional resume are:

• Include your contact information and summary/objective as you would in a chronological resume.
• Divide skills into subgroups and elaborate on how you’ve applied them successfully.
• Either don’t include your employment history or include a shortened version without bullet points.

This functional resume template and the example below can help you get started writing yur functional resume.

Combination resume format

Combination resume format (also called “hybrid format”) is a combination of the chronological and functional formats. It leads with a strong skills section, and then goes on to detail your work experience.

This format is particularly beneficial for individuals making career shifts or those whose skills are more relevant to their target job than their actual work history.

How to format a resume

When formatting your resume—regardless of which resume format you choose—follow these tips:

• Stick to one page: Your resume should be concise. If you have a long career or highly specialized skills relevant to the application, aim for two pages.
• Adjust margins: Keep margins at 1.0, 0.75, or 0.5 depending on the space you need. Do not reduce them further than 0.5, as this may not be readable by an ATS.
• Left-align your text: This will make your resume easy to read.
• Use clear headers for each section: This helps recruiters scan your document.
• Leave space between sections: Leave a gap between sections so your resume doesn’t feel crowded.
• Avoid graphics: Design elements may prohibit an ATS from reading your resume.
• Choose a professional font: It should be readable and clean. Some examples are Times New Roman, Arial, Cambria, Helvetica, Trebuchet MS, and Lato.
• Use standard font size: Fonts on resumes should be 10–12 points.
• Use formatting consistently: You can use bold, italics, and underlines, but use them consistently. For example, if you bold one job title, bold all of them.

Special resume formats

In some cases, you may have to adapt your resume format to the requirements of a specific industry or context.

Academic resume template

An academic resume emphasizes educational achievements over work experience. It’s ideal for people applying to graduate school, research roles, fellowships, and grants. This format is sometimes called entry level resume format, as it also serves for students and entry-level candidates who lack prior professional experience.

When writing an academic resume:

• Put your education first.
• Add applicable sections related to education, like research, publications, and awards.
• Build your Skills section from skills you’ve acquired through your studies.

Experienced resume format

Experienced resume format is for people who have many years of experience, have held senior-level roles, and/or whose career trajectory is strong and relevant to the job they’re applying to.

On an experienced resume:

• You can write more than one page.
• You should focus heavily on relevant work experience.
• You can include a Core Competencies section, which shows off your overall top-level skill sets.

Federal resume template format

Federal resume format—used to apply for jobs with the federal government—may require some additional information that’s not usually included in standard resumes.

On a federal resume:

• Do not limit yourself to one page; federal resumes are usually 2–5 pages.
• Include your citizenship status, any special hiring authority (veteran or person with disability), any government experience, and any security clearance.
• Include your street address.
• Include the job announcement number at the top of the resume.
• Instead of a Professional Summary, write a Qualifications Summary.
• Follow this order: Personal Info, Qualifications Summary, Education, Work Experience, and Skills. Follow these with Volunteer Work, Awards, Professional Affiliations, and Certifications, when relevant.
• Use a 12 point font, which is the standard in this sector.
• Include references.
• Understand that “KSAs” mean “knowledge, skills, and abilities.”

Frequently asked questions about resume format

Should your cover letter match your resume?

Your cover letter should match your resume format stylistically, but their content should not match.

Fonts, colors, and any design elements should match in both documents. Likewise, if you write a CV, your cover letter and CV should match in terms of style.

On the other hand, they should have complementary—not matching—content. Your resume outlines your qualifications and experience. The purpose of a cover letter is to showcase your personality and tailor your application to the specific job.

Both your cover letter and resume must be free of grammar and spelling errors, so run a QuillBot grammar check before sending.

What are some skills for a customer service resume?

Some customer service skills for a resume include soft skills such as:

• Patience
• Cultural sensitivity
• Adaptability
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Active listening

Where you include skills depends on which resume format you choose.

Why not run your resume through QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker before you send it off?

What are some communication skills for a resume?

Some communication skills for a resume include presentation skills, writing skills (e.g., academic writing, research papers), conflict resolution skills, and negotiation skills.

Skills usually come after your work experience in standard resume format.

If writing skills are important for your career, QuillBot’s free Paraphraser can help you to polish your portfolio of example texts.

What are some beginner skills for a resume?

Some beginner skills for a resume include the kind of skills you develop through education, extracurricular activities, and hobbies, such as:

• Social media content creation
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Self-discipline
• Presentation skills
• Critical thinking

Resume format for entry-level positions suggests placing your skills below or next to your education and work experience.

QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker will help you to produce an error-free resume.

What are some computer skills for a resume?

Computer skills for a resume include proficiency in productivity suites such as Google Workspace (Docs, Calendar, etc.) and Microsoft 365 (Word, Outlook, etc.).

Follow standard resume format and include your skills alongside your experience and education.

If you’re writing a resume, don’t forget to check it for typos with a grammar tool such as QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker.