Sections

Resumes tend to be broken up in similar sections. Here we'll provide an overview of how to best organize your resume into sections and what each section should include.

Basic Sections

The most common sections are:

Header (name and contact information)
Education
Work experience
Other activities, skills, and interests

If you are applying for your first job, or are recently out of school and applying for a position, you likely want your education immediately after the header. Otherwise, consider having your education after your work experience.

Some industries have specific expectations for what sections should be in a resume. Research resumes in your industry to get a sense of best-practice for the industry.

Header

The resume header should be pretty simple, containing a few key pieces information:

Name
Email
Phone Number
Address

Make sure your email looks professional. first.last@gmail.com is good. sexy.joe@gmail.com is bad.

Education

In this section, list your university and high school education. You can also include any study abroad experiences here. As you progress in your career, consider removing high school and study abroad, as these matter less over time.

Include the following for your university experience:

University name
Degree (majors and minors)
GPA
Graduation date (month and year)

Include the following for any study abroad:

Program/university name
Subject studied
Program start and end dates (again, month and year)

Work Experience

In this section you'll want to list all of your work experience. This may include internships when you're younger. As your career progresses, you may leave off internships to make more room for your full-time positions. If possible, you want to avoid showing large gaps between jobs, so don't remove any jobs you held for a significant period of time.

If you do have a large gap in time between jobs, don't fret. This is something you can explain in a cover letter or introductory email.

For each job, include the following:

Company name
Your position
Location
Dates employed
A list describing your role/responsibilities and key accomplishments

Other activities, skills, and interests

This is a great place on your resume to make you stand out as an individual.

The items you list here can be directly related to the position you're applying for (e.g., your knowledge of certain computer programs) or something personal about you that the interviewer may be able to connect to (e.g., your hobbies).

This is an optional section. If you choose to include it, choose a section title that most closesly matches the information you include. For example, it could be titled "Skills", "Skills & Interests", or anything else.