Complete Resume Guide: What to Put on a Resume in 2026

What Is a Resume?

A resume is a one- or two-page document that summarizes your professional qualifications for a specific job. It’s your first impression with an employer — and in 2026, it’s almost always your first impression with software too.

Most companies now use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen resumes before a human ever sees them. That means your resume needs to work for two audiences: the software that filters it and the recruiter who reads it.

What to Include on a Resume

Every resume should have these core sections:

Contact Information

Your full name, phone number, professional email address, and city/state. A LinkedIn URL is increasingly expected. Don’t include your full street address — city and state is enough.

Professional Summary

Two to three sentences that summarize your experience level, key skills, and what you bring to the role. This replaces the outdated “objective statement.” Make it specific to the job you’re targeting.

Work Experience

List your most recent positions first (reverse chronological order). According to Harvard University’s Office of Career Services, employers typically prefer this reverse-chronological format because it clearly highlights your most recent and relevant experience. For each role, include your title, the company name, dates of employment, and 3-5 bullet points describing your achievements. Career advisors at MIT recommend quantifying accomplishments with numbers whenever possible, since measurable results help employers quickly understand your impact — “Increased sales by 23%” is stronger than “Responsible for increasing sales.”

Skills Section

List 8-12 relevant skills. Match these to the job description’s requirements. Include both hard skills (tools, technologies, certifications) and soft skills (leadership, communication) — but lean heavily toward hard skills.

Education

Include your degree, institution name, and graduation year. If you graduated more than 5 years ago, you don’t need to include your GPA. Recent graduates should put education higher on the resume.

Optional Sections

Depending on your situation, you might also include: certifications, projects, volunteer work, publications, or awards. Only include these if they’re relevant to the job.

What to Leave Off a Resume

Not everything belongs on a resume. Leave off:

• Your full street address — city and state is sufficient
• A photo — in the U.S., this can trigger bias concerns and some ATS systems can’t process them
• An objective statement — use a professional summary instead
• References or “References available upon request” — this is assumed and wastes space
• Irrelevant work experience — a job from 15 years ago that has nothing to do with your target role doesn’t help
• Personal information — age, marital status, religion, or social security number
• Salary history or requirements — save this for the negotiation stage
• Graphics, charts, or icons — these look nice but most ATS systems can’t read them

How to Format Your Resume

Use a Clean Layout

Stick to a single-column layout with clear section headings. ATS software reads top-to-bottom, left-to-right. Multi-column layouts, text boxes, and tables can scramble your content.

Choose a Clean, Readable Font

Don’t overthink the font — any clean, professional, legible font works. Keep the body text at 10-12pt and headings at 12-14pt. Avoid decorative or script fonts that sacrifice readability.

Use Standard Section Headings

ATS software looks for specific heading names. Use “Work Experience” (not “My Journey”), “Skills” (not “What I Bring”), and “Education” (not “Academic Background”).

Save as PDF

PDF preserves your formatting across devices. Only use Word format if the job posting specifically requests it.

Keep Margins Reasonable

Use balanced margins that give your content room to breathe. Too narrow makes the resume hard to read; too wide wastes space.

ATS Optimization Basics

Your resume needs to pass ATS screening to reach a human reader. The key principles:

1. Mirror keywords from the job description — if the posting says “project management,” use that exact phrase
2. Use a simple, single-column layout — no tables, text boxes, or graphics
3. Use standard section headings — Work Experience, Skills, Education
4. Don’t put important information in headers or footers — many ATS systems skip these
5. Submit as PDF unless told otherwise

For a deeper dive into ATS optimization, read our ATS-Friendly Resume Guide.

Common Resume Mistakes

1. Sending the same resume to every job — career advisors at MIT recommend tailoring each resume to the specific position, selecting experiences where you demonstrated the skills required. It’s the single highest-impact change you can make
2. Using a creative template — these break ATS parsing and distract recruiters
3. Listing duties instead of achievements — “Managed team of 5” is weaker than “Led team of 5 that delivered project 2 weeks ahead of schedule”
4. Including irrelevant experience — keep it focused on what matters for this role
5. Typos and grammar errors — proofread, then proofread again
6. Making it too long — the UC Berkeley Career Center advises that most early-career professionals should keep their resume to one page, focusing only on the most relevant experience

Next Steps

Now that you understand the fundamentals, explore the specific topics in this guide to make better decisions about your resume. Each article below answers a common resume question with clear, actionable advice.

Ready to put this into practice? Build your resume for free with JobScoutly’s ATS-optimized resume builder or check your existing resume’s match score.

Once your resume is ready, learn how to write a cover letter that complements it and prepare for interviews so you’re ready for every stage of the hiring process.