How long should a resume be in 2026?

One page is the right length for most people with under 10 years of experience. Senior professionals, executives, and academics can use two pages if every line is relevant to the target role.

What should I put at the top of my resume?

Put your name, a short headline that matches the job title you want, your city and state, phone number, professional email, and optionally a LinkedIn or portfolio link. Follow it with a 2-3 sentence summary.

Should I write a different resume for every job?

Yes, tailor it. Keep a master resume with everything, then adjust the headline, summary, skills, and top bullets for each posting so they mirror the language of the job description.

Is it okay to use a resume template?

Yes. A clean, ATS-friendly template saves time and keeps formatting consistent. Choose a simple layout with standard section headings and avoid templates that place key text inside images.

How to Write a Resume in 2026: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide

To write a resume that gets interviews, pick a clean format, open with a targeted headline and short summary, list your most relevant experience with quantified achievement bullets, add a focused skills section, and tailor every version to the job description. Keep it to one page if you have under 10 years of experience, and save it as a PDF unless the employer asks for something else.

This guide walks through each step in order, with examples you can adapt in minutes.

What is a resume, and what is it supposed to do?

A resume is a one- to two-page summary of your professional experience, skills, and education, written to persuade a specific employer to interview you. It is not a full career history. Its only job is to prove, quickly, that you can solve the problems described in the job posting.

Recruiters often skim a resume in well under a minute on the first pass. That means structure and clarity matter as much as the content itself.

Step 1: Which resume format should you choose?

There are three common formats:

Format	Best for	How it is organized
Reverse-chronological	Most job seekers	Most recent job first
Functional	Rarely recommended	Grouped by skill, not by job
Hybrid (combination)	Career changers, varied backgrounds	Skills summary first, then chronological experience

For roughly nine out of ten people, reverse-chronological is the right choice. It is what recruiters expect, and it parses cleanly in applicant tracking systems (ATS). Functional resumes can look like you are hiding gaps, so use them sparingly.

You can browse layouts built around these formats on our resume templates page, including single-column ATS-friendly designs and two-column layouts.

Step 2: How do you write the header?

Your header should include:

Full name in the largest font on the page
Headline that matches the role, such as "Senior Data Analyst" or "Registered Nurse, ICU"
City and state (a full street address is no longer necessary)
Phone number and a professional email address
Optional links: LinkedIn, portfolio, GitHub, or personal website

Skip photos, date of birth, and marital status for jobs in the United States. They take space and can introduce bias.

Step 3: How do you write a resume summary?

A resume summary is a 2-3 sentence pitch at the top of the page that states who you are, what you are best at, and what value you bring. Write it last, after you know which achievements are strongest.

A simple formula: role + years of experience + core strengths + one standout result.

Example:

Product designer with 6 years of experience shipping B2B SaaS features. Specializes in design systems and user research. Led a redesign that cut onboarding time by 40% for 12,000 monthly users.

For dozens more, see our guide to resume summary examples.

Step 4: How should you describe your work experience?

List each role with job title, company, location, and dates (month and year). Under each, write 3-5 bullet points. Your most recent role should get the most bullets.

Use the action + task + result formula

Each bullet should start with a strong verb, explain what you did, and end with a measurable result.

Weak: "Responsible for social media accounts."
Strong: "Grew Instagram following from 8K to 31K in 10 months by launching a weekly creator series."

Quantify wherever you can

Numbers make achievements concrete. Look for:

Money saved or earned
Percentages (growth, reduction, accuracy)
Volume (tickets resolved, patients served, users supported)
Time (deadlines met, hours saved)
Scale (team size, budget, number of locations)

If you lack exact numbers, use honest estimates such as "about 50 customers per day."

Strong action verbs to start bullets

Led, built, launched, reduced, increased, negotiated, automated, designed, streamlined, mentored, resolved, implemented, analyzed, delivered.

Avoid starting bullets with "Responsible for" or "Helped with." They describe duties instead of outcomes.

Step 5: What skills should you include?

Include 8-12 skills that appear in the job description and that you can genuinely discuss in an interview. Split them into hard skills (tools, methods, certifications) and, sparingly, soft skills.

Hard skills: SQL, Figma, Salesforce, Python, IV therapy, Google Ads
Soft skills: Stakeholder management, cross-functional leadership, conflict resolution

Prove soft skills inside your bullets rather than only listing them. "Mediated a vendor dispute and saved a $200K contract" shows conflict resolution far better than the phrase alone.

Step 6: How do you list education and certifications?

List your degree, field of study, institution, and graduation year. Recent graduates can add GPA (if 3.5 or higher), honors, relevant coursework, and projects. Experienced professionals can keep education to a single line.

Certifications go in their own section with the issuer and date, especially in fields like nursing, IT, project management, and finance where they are often required.

Step 7: How do you tailor your resume to each job?

Tailoring is the single highest-impact habit in a job search. For each application:

Read the job description and highlight repeated skills and responsibilities.
Update your headline to match the job title.
Rewrite your summary to emphasize the most relevant strengths.
Reorder bullets so the most relevant achievements come first.
Mirror exact keywords (for example, "project management" rather than "managing projects").

JotResume PRO includes a tailor-to-job-description tool that highlights gaps and suggests rewrites, and an AI writing assistant for bullets and summaries. See pricing for details.

Step 8: How do you make sure your resume passes ATS?

Most mid-size and large employers use an applicant tracking system to store and search resumes. To stay readable:

Use standard headings: Experience, Education, Skills
Avoid text in images, tables for layout, and headers or footers for key info
Use common fonts and a simple structure
Submit a text-based PDF or DOCX

Our full ATS-friendly resume guide covers this in detail.

Step 9: What should you check before sending?

Run through this final checklist:

No spelling or grammar errors (read it aloud)
Consistent date formats and punctuation
File name like "Jane-Doe-Resume.pdf"
Contact info is current and links work
Fits on one page (or two, if justified)
Every bullet answers "so what?"

Common resume mistakes to avoid

Listing duties instead of results. Recruiters want impact.
Using one generic resume for every job. Tailoring wins.
Including outdated or irrelevant jobs. Most resumes cover the last 10-15 years.
Overdesigned layouts. Graphics can confuse ATS and distract readers.
An unprofessional email address. Create a simple name-based one.

How can you build your resume faster?

You do not need to start from a blank page. With JotResume you can import an existing PDF or DOCX resume, or a LinkedIn profile saved as PDF, then pick from 20+ templates and edit in a live preview. Your first resume is free forever with unlimited PDF downloads.

Need inspiration? Browse resume examples by role and cover letter examples, or read more on the JotResume blog. When you are ready, create your free resume.