50 Best Resume Tips to Land a Job in 2024

Everyone could use some good resume tips! There are many out there, but you only want to use those that work flawlessly. That’s why I’ve gathered only the ones that work perfectly each time you apply for a job.

The best resume tips from this list will help you understand how to ace your next job application. And here they are. Read on, see some great resume writing tips, and understand how to make your resume stand out amongst other documents on your recruiter’s desk!

This guide will show you:

• 50 best resume tips.
• An additional game-changer tip that has helped tons of applicants get invited for an interview.
• Resume advice on why you should carefully select your wording.

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

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Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume samples here.

Looking for something different from tips for a good resume? See our other guides:

• Best Cover Letter Tips
• Best Interview Tips
• HR Statistics
• CV vs. Resume: The Ultimate Guide
• How to Write a CV?
• Letter of Intent Sample
• Recommendation Letter Sample
• Best Job Search Sites
• What to Name a Resume
• 500+ Resume Guides

For your convenience, I’ve divided the best tips for a resume into categories and added a “star rating of importance” on a scale from one to five. So, without further ado, let’s see the best resume writing tips!

Resume Writing Tips: Formatting

1. Keep Your Resume ATS-Compliant

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Most companies use Applicant Tracking Systems, a software that handles hiring by gathering and sorting resumes. It checks whether the right set of resume keywords has been used. This means the recruiter may never look at your masterpiece unless you stick to the proper resume ATS format. To ace it, you must write a resume tailored to the job you're applying for.

2. Choose a Resume Format That Works for You 

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

What are the best formats for a resume? Well, that depends. There are three types:

• Reverse-chronological resume
• Combination resume
• Functional resume

Deciding what resume format to choose is an important first step. Most of the candidates opt for the reverse chronological. It’s the most common format that allows you to play with the layout. It's versatile and works for everything from a resume for the first job to experienced and technical resumes. 

Pro Tip: Consider a format that gets your most essential information closest to the top of your resume, where hiring managers will see it immediately. Legibility is what makes a good resume.

3. Select an Attractive and Readable Font

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

You may think resume fonts are trivial in the larger scheme of things, but the right font will do a lot for your resume. Choosing the right, readable one will make your document look professional. And that’s the impression you want to make every step of the way. 

Some good fonts for a resume include:

• Verdana
• Georgia
• Arial
• Times New Roman
• Helvetica

4. Set Your Font Size to 10–12 Points

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

While choosing a font is important, ensuring it’s the right size is paramount. Keep your resume font size between 10–12 points so a hiring manager can easily read it without squinting. It may sound like a cliche, but making a readable resume is how you get it read.

5. Make Strategic Use of Bold, Caps, and Italics

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

Be consistent with your choices. If you’ve made one of your subheadings bold—make them all bold. Try not to overuse anything. The point is to highlight all the essential information.

6. Give Your Sections Simple Subheadings

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Regardless of your resume layout, ensure your resume sections are visible and easy to find. You can do that by giving them simple subheadings:

• Resume Profile
• Experience 
• Education
• Skills

You’ll want to write simple subheadings for all sections, from your resume profile to the list of skills. That way, the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can find them. 

Remember also to include some additional sections. I will talk more about them soon.

Pro Tip: Deciding what key skills to put on your resume is one of the biggest tasks for new resume writers. Make sure that they are easy to find and skim.

7. Frame Your Resume Content Using the Correct Margin Size

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Resume margins are essential. That’s because resumes with text-crammed edges look messy and unprofessional. If you need more space, it’s okay to drop your bottom and top margins to 0.5” and your side margins to 0.75”—but not more.

8. Align Your Content to the Left to Make It Easy to Skim

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Do you know there is a specific F-shaped reading pattern that applies to digital content, such as your resume? A hiring manager will first skim your resume for relevant keywords from the job description. Aligning your text to the left makes this easier for them to do that. 

9. Balance Your Text and White Space

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

All best-looking resumes need to be clean and easy to skim. Balancing your text and white space is the same thing as adding margins. It makes your resume aesthetically pleasing and easy to read. Don't sacrifice white space to fit everything onto one page. 

10. Don't Worry About Making Your Resume One Page Long

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

You've heard it before: a resume has a perfect length. And that's one page. However, most employers expect experienced candidates to submit resumes at least two pages long.

11. Consider Using a Professionally Designed Template

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Resume templates can save you a lot of time and effort. They stand out more than a resume created in Google Docs or MS Word. Plus, they make formatting easier. Pick a modern resume template, and you’re ready to go. 

Contact Information Resume Tips

12. Use a Professional Email Address

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Out of all the resume-building tips listed, this may seem too obvious. But it’s worth mentioning because using an unprofessional email address will get you rejected 76% of the time. Choose a professional email provider like Gmail or Outlook to create a professional address. And always use your name. 

13. Make Sure Your Contact Information Is Up-To-Date

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

After you change your email address, double-check that the rest of the contact information on your resume is accurate. You don’t want to miss an interview because you put the wrong phone number on your resume.

Consider omitting your current address on your resume if you’re applying for a job out of state or country. That way, a hiring manager won’t think you’re confused about the location of the job.

Pro tip: Exclude information like your birthdate or marital status. You don’t have to answer questions about religion, race, or gender on an application. US employers can’t consider these aspects when assessing you.

14. Include URLs to Social Media Profiles, Personal Websites, and Your Blog

Importance: ✸ ✸

If you have a professional website or blog, include the URL in your contact section. Add any relevant social media handles as well. Most professionals will include an X (previously known as Twitter) handle and a LinkedIn URL on their resumes. Creative professionals could also consider adding relevant links to Instagram, YouTube, or Pinterest profiles.

Take an extra few minutes to make sure your URLs are live and hyperlink them in the text so they are accessible.

15. Try to Find the Personal Email Address of the Hiring Manager

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

Getting your resume attached to a personalized email and sending it to your hiring manager can speed up the entire process.

Some hiring managers may not appreciate receiving unsolicited resumes. At the same time, if you know how to email a resume to an employer properly, you know you aren’t sending it unannounced. Solution? Establish contact via a referral or LinkedIn before sending your resume. 

Want to get your foot in the door, but there are no open positions? Try this guide: How to Send a Cold-Call Cover Letter

Resume Tips: Summary and Objective

16. Make Good Use of the Top Third of Your Resume

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

You want your best skills, experience, and achievements to appear in your resume's top third. When a recruiter scans your resume, they will focus on that area of the document. If they don’t find what they’re looking for in a few seconds of scanning, they will reject your resume as irrelevant. That’s why it’s important to know how to start a resume.

17. Include a Resume Summary or Objective

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

So, how do you get your best information in the top third of your resume? Include a resume summary or a resume objective. 

It’s three sentences about who you are, where you’re going, and why you’ll bring value to the company. When considering how to write a resume summary or how to write a resume objective, focus on what they want, not on what you want.

Plus, always write your summary or objective last, crafting them from what’s already in your document. That makes it a lot easier!

Work Experience and Skills Resume Tips

18. Only Add Jobs You’ve Had in the Past 10–15 Years

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

You don’t need to list every job you’ve ever had in your resume work experience section. Make sure you go back on your resume no more than 10 or 15 years. 

19. Remember All Your Jobs, Eliminate Those That Don't Matter

Importance:✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Yes, it makes sense not to go back in time too much as you list your work experience, but it also makes sense to keep things within context. After all, the best resume to get you hired is a resume with relevant experience. 

20. Read The Job Description And Find Keywords 

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

50 % of candidates fail to meet the basic qualifications for the job. That's partly because they don't read the job offer carefully enough. Don’t fail to meet the qualifications your employer is looking for. Read the job ad. Then reread it even more carefully. That job description is your best friend for improving your resume. 

And this is how you can use it to do just that:

• Read the job description. Make sure you’re qualified. 
• Mine it for keywords. 
• Put it through a cloud generator. 
• Target your resume. 

Seeing a job title that sounds right and sending your resume immediately is the wrong thing to do. Reading a job description is as close as reading the recruiter’s mind.

21. Run Your Job Description and Resume Through a Cloud Generator

Importance: ✸ ✸

Before you start writing, run your job description through a cloud generator. It’s a tool that highlights popular words and phrases from the text. That leads to deeper analyses. It’s a quick way to check that you’ve tailored your resume to meet the hiring manager's needs.

Which words are the most prominent? Use them while writing your resume. And when you finish writing, send your resume through the cloud generator. If the exact words appear this time, you’ve done a good job. Well done!

22. Add Achievements To Your Experience Section

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Every employee has duties and responsibilities. Only the top ones have achievements. 

Illustrating a skill or responsibility with a measurable achievement puts you five steps ahead of candidates with the same skill set. That’s because you show what it looks like when you put your skills to work.

When adding achievements to your resume, use the PAR formula, which stands for “Problem-Action-Result.”: 

• In situation (Problem), 
• I did (Action), 
• which resulted in (Result)

23. Supply Numbers and Details Wherever Possible

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Adding numbers and details to emphasize skills is one of the best resume tips you can follow. Anytime you can illustrate an achievement or skill with numbers or details—do it. 

Numbers draw the eye of the recruiter, and details give them a tangible sense of what it looks like when you use a skill. Whatever it's that you’ve achieved, try to make it quantifiable.

24. Insert Action Verbs Wherever Possible

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Take a glance at your resume. How many times have you used the phrase “responsible for?” Using resume action verbs and avoiding buzzwords is one of the best resume tips. Remember, not all verbs are action verbs. Try to avoid weak verbs like “managed” or “communicated.”

Instead, use “orchestrated” and “persuaded.”

25. Add a Link to Your Portfolio

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

The essence of this piece of advice greatly varies from industry to industry, but if you have a creative profession, it does make a lot of sense. 

But don’t try to squeeze everything into your resume—an image in your portfolio would be worth a thousand words. Use your resume to focus on your education and professional training, art residences or conferences you’ve attended, awards, etc.

26. Draw Attention to Your Promotions 

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Make sure you’ve mentioned any promotions on your resume you’ve received along the way. 

Don’t list the company's name more than once in the case of internal promotions, but make it readable and understandable.

27. Reinforce Your Professional Titles by Showing Career Progression

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Telling the story of your career progression is better than listing job titles that don’t seem connected. Make each past role reinforce your place in the next one.

28. Write Explanations for Large Gaps in Your Career History

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Address significant gaps in your career history by writing brief explanations next to the periods where the gaps occur. Gaps can happen for all sorts of reasons. A brief explanation will reassure recruiters that it was unintentional or beneficial for you, such as a layoff, a break to have a child, or going back to school. 

29. Tailor Skills to the Job Description

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Tailoring your resume is definitely top of the list regarding resume tips. 

Identify the required skills in the job offer, then add them throughout your resume. Don’t list them only in your skills section, but use them in your resume profile or work experience. It sounds like a lot of work, but these keywords are what you should put on your resume above all else—that’s what hiring managers will be looking for. 

30. Forget the Placeholders

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Don’t waste space with generic duty descriptions—the recruiter knows what the profession involves. Don’t create a random skills section just for the sake of it being there. If you claim you’re great at “leadership,” other sections of your resume should support it, and the skill should be relevant to the job.

31. Get Rid of Nonsensical Jargon

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

The person interviewing you may not be familiar with the technical jargon that goes with your territory. Especially if you're in a jargon-heavy industry such as engineering, law, or medicine, try to use layman’s terms or simplified equivalents wherever possible.

32. Cut the Fluff in Your Experience Section

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

If you end up with a resume that’s a bit longer than you expected, delete some bullet points in your experience section. Focus on those achievements that are the most impressive and relevant for this very opening. Limit yourself to around six resume bullet points.

Resume Tips for Candidates With No Experience

33. Offset With Passion What You Lack in Experience

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

A strong resume is a resume that meets the company's needs. So, to write a good resume with no experience:

1. Go carefully through the job description, and see how your previous experience overlaps with the demands.
2. Research the company vigorously, learn about its projects and values—and use that knowledge.
3. Mention your relevant transferable skills.

34. Consider Putting Your Education Section First 

Importance: ✸✸✸

If you’re a professional with tons of experience, your experience should come first. But let’s say you’re a student, and your educational background is your strongest selling point. In that case, consider putting your education section first. 

35. Describe Your Coursework

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

This is one of the best resume tips for students. Adding a relevant coursework description is a good start if you learn how to make a student resume. 

Your education section is still your strongest asset. Listing or describing courses can show recruiters you have skills related to the job. 

Coursework descriptions can also benefit professionals who are making a career change resume. It shows you’ve got relevant knowledge beyond your past work experience.

36. Don't Overlook Non-Traditional Work

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Get creative, think strategically, and never underestimate your background. Have some volunteer work experience? Great, mention it. Worked at your parents’ store part-time? Still works! Helped a friend with their Instagram? That can turn into an excellent case to say. 

Creating a resume with our builder is incredibly simple. Follow our step-by-step guide and use content from Certified Professional Resume Writers to have a resume ready in minutes.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and our resume checker will tell you exactly how to make it better.

Education Resume Tips

37. Use Reverse-Chronological Order

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Put your highest, most recent degree first in your education section, and work your way back. That way, you’ll easily show the progress you’ve made.

38. Incorporate Continuing Education and Online Learning

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

Going remote opened a whole new world of opportunity, especially in continuing your education and acquiring new skills. Coursera even issues certificates, as do other platforms, so make sure to mention any extra qualifications you’ve received (especially if there is a professional gap.)

Extra Sections Resume Tips

39. Create Additional Sections

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Adding extra information to your resume may add value to your application, making it stand out and grab attention. Think of whatever matters for your industry, but keep it relevant. 

Additional sections ideas for your resume: 

• Certifications
• Memberships
• Licenses 
• Awards
• Volunteering
• Languages

40. Consider Adding a Hobbies and Interests Section to Your Resume

Importance: ✸ ✸ 

If you have space, a list of hobbies and interests can be a great addition to your resume. That’s because companies emphasize work culture, which makes finding a candidate with a fitting personality increasingly important. Just be sure to research your company. Choosing hobbies and interests that match the company’s culture is a good strategy. 

Finishing Touches

41. Proofread Your Resume

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Good resume spelling is essential, as it shows a valuable skill: attention to detail. Microsoft Word or Google Docs detect spelling errors, but tools like Grammarly can catch grammar mistakes and typos. 

And while apps are great for catching mistakes, nothing beats having a friend or mentor patiently read through your resume. They can also give you feedback about your tone and how you’re selling yourself.

42. Trim Any Unnecessary Fat From Your Resume

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

Have problems keeping the length of your resume in check? 

• Make sure every word you’ve used is necessary. 
• Trim your resume summary or your skills section without killing the value. 
• Kill any extra sections that aren’t mandatory.
• Use one-page resume templates.

43. Lose the Phrase “References Available Upon Request”

Importance: ✸

It's no longer necessary to place “references available upon request” at the bottom of your resume, as hiring managers know they can request your list of references. Adding it only takes up valuable space that you could use for something else.

44. Consider Saving a Copy of Your Resume as a PDF

Importance: ✸ ✸

The benefit of saving your resume as a PDF is that the formatting won't change when opened on any device or operating system. Use this format always unless the job ad asks for a different one.

45. Name Your Resume File Properly

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Your resume could end up in an inbox with hundreds of other resumes. And if they’re all named “resume,” then the chance of your resume standing out is slim to none. So a pro piece of resume advice for you: It's important to name your resume files correctly. The Name + JobTitle + Resume or Job Title + Name + Resume works every time.

46. Match Your Cover Letter to Your Resume

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Do cover letters matter? Yes, they do. You should always write a cover letter and always match its content to your resume. That’s how you tell the recruiter a cohesive story.

If something you feel needs an explanation, write about it in your cover letter.

47. Clean Up Your Online Presence

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ 

When learning how to create a resume, you may forget that hiring managers also search for you online. Be sure to optimize your LinkedIn profile to resonate with your resume.

Ensure you’ve cleaned up “public” information on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Change your Facebook privacy settings to “Friends” to keep future posts from becoming public.

Do a quick sweep to ensure nothing else unsavory is lurking on the Internet. Enter your name into Google and see what turns up in the results. You can ask Google to remove sensitive content from the web.

48. Write a Follow-Up 

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Instead of waiting for a phone call, track your email to know when a hiring manager opens it.

You can use a free tool like Mixmax to see if a hiring manager has read your resume. That gives you a better idea of when to send follow-up or thank-you emails.

49. Update Your Resume Regularly

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

Your resume must be tailored to each position and always to the point. To do it right, keep it updated every once in a while.

Have you been promoted, received new responsibilities, or undergone new training? Add those things to your resume regularly, and your future self will be forever grateful. And when the perfect opportunity comes along, you'll be ready to submit that impressive resume immediately, beating the competition by miles.

Avoid mistakes when writing a resume! Read more: Resume Dos and Don'ts

50. Consult a Professional

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ 

A Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) is a thing! If you’re struggling or the stakes are too high, ask for help making a resume. This isn’t a requirement and such services may be expensive. If you’re not ready to splurge, there’s a great alternative. We’re coming up to the promised bonus!

*The* Game-Changing Bonus Resume Hint: Use Our Builder

We’ve just covered the most important and impactful tips for improving your resume… I understand it’s a lot to process! 

So here’s a resume advice to make your life easier: pick a template from our builder and fill it out in no more than 10 minutes. Thanks to our template wizard, you’ll get sample pre-written entries tailored to your profession, saving you hours of work.

Follow this tip and browse our resume templates for a strong resume that stands out.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Key Takeaway

You can define a resume as a simple list of features. But it should be a list of benefits you'd provide the employer. 

It can be easy to forget small details when figuring out how to write an ideal resume. But if you follow these resume tips and tricks, you can rest assured that you’re on the right track. Good luck with writing your resume. You got this!

Always take the time to check your resume. Can you think of any more quick resume-writing tips and suggestions I forgot? What are some little-known resume tips or pointers you can share? Let me know your resume advice in the comments.

About Zety’s Editorial Process

This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

Sources

• N. Babich, F-Shaped Pattern for Reading Content
• Dr. J. Sullivan, Why You Can’t Get A Job … Recruiting Explained By the Numbers
• B. Kaado, A Positive Company Culture Is a Top Priority for Job Seekers
• Personal Content and Product Policies, and Removal Requirements

Frequently Asked Questions about Resume Tips

What are the top 5 tips for a resume?

1. Tailor your resume to the job description. Read and then reread the job ad to find the resume keywords for qualifications and qualities your employer is looking for and match those keywords in all resume sections.
2. Write achievement statements. Impress your recruiter with an outstanding collection of your professional accomplishments that go into every resume part.
3. Quantify. Add numbers to your accomplishments to prove you make a difference.
4. Start your statements with resume action verbs. “Supervised” is way better than “responsible for.”
5. Use a professional resume template. You can pick one of the 18+ resume templates the Zety resume builder has to offer.

What are the things a resume should include?

Resumes should include:

1. Contact information in the resume heading
2. Career summary or objective in two to three sentences
3. Work experience section with achievement statements
4. Highest degree you completed
5. List of skills matching the job description

With the Zety resume creator, you won’t need to bring up such questions. The builder ensures the information your recruiter looks for is simply there.

What are the things you should not put on your resume?

There are things your recruiter doesn’t want to see on your resume, and they are:

• Photo
• Unnecessary personal information like age, date of birth, or marital status
• Unprofessional email address
• Improper social media accounts
• Lies about your experience and qualifications
• Responsibilities instead of achievements
• Buzzwords
• Irrelevant information not tailored to the job description
• Grammatical errors and spelling mistakes

How to make your resume stand out?

To make your resume stand out from the competition, you must:

1. Take care of the visual aspect of your resume. A dash of color can do an excellent job. 
2. Tailor your job application to the job ad to get rid of any irrelevant experience and information.
3. Put the most important information up top. If you’re a junior jobseeker, your education section should go first, not your experience, to highlight your academic successes.
4. Forget about responsibilities. Write about your accomplishments using power words and action verbs.
5. Add quantifiers to your accomplishment statements to draw recruiters’ attention.
6. Make it your resume fit on one page. (Ideally.)

What are the 3 F's of resume writing?

Function

The goal of your resume is to get you an interview, depending on where you apply. This might be getting a regular job or going into college, winning a scholarship, or recruiting for an internship.

Form

Given your resume needs to serve a purpose, you must know how to make a resume. If you cross your recruiter not applying the basic rules of resume formatting, you can say goodbye to the interview.

e(F)fectiveness

An effective resume fulfills its purpose, follows the right format, and contains only relevant information.