Structure, format and strong bullet points
The sections employers expect
- Contact information: your name, city and province or state, phone number, email, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link if you have one.
- Professional summary: two or three lines about who you are, your strongest skills and the role you want.
- Skills: the tools and abilities most relevant to the job.
- Experience: jobs, internships and major projects, most recent first.
- Education: school, program and graduation date or expected date.
- Optional extras: volunteer work, certifications, languages or awards.
In Canada and the United States, résumés usually don't include a photo, date of birth, marital status or government ID numbers. Employers don't need them to judge your skills.
Choose a format
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| Chronological | Most people. Lists experience from newest to oldest and shows steady growth. |
| Skills-based | Career changers or people with gaps in employment. Groups experience by skill. Some employers find it harder to follow, so use it with care. |
| Combination | Experienced applicants who want to lead with skills while still showing a clear work history. |
Keep it to one page if you're a student or early in your career. Two pages is fine once you have more experience.
Write achievements, not duties
A duty describes what you were supposed to do. An achievement shows what you actually did and why it mattered. Use this pattern:
Add numbers wherever you can: how many, how much, how often or how fast. Numbers make your impact easy to picture.
Strong action verbs: led, organized, improved, created, managed, trained, resolved, increased, reduced, delivered, analyzed, coordinated.
Tailor every application
Read the job posting and highlight the skills and tools it mentions most. Use the same words in your résumé wherever they truthfully describe your experience. This helps a recruiter, and an ATS, see the match quickly.
Make it easy to read
- Use a simple layout with clear headings like "Experience" and "Education".
- Choose a standard font at 10 to 12 points.
- Keep key information out of images, text boxes and page headers, which some systems can't read.
- Save it as a PDF unless the posting asks for a Word file.
- Name the file clearly, for example
Jordan-Lee-Resume.pdf.