Resume Sections
A resume is a written document required for most job applications that summarizes your job skills, abilities, education, and accomplishments. And according to a study by the job-matching service Ladders.com, recruiters only spend an average of 7.4 seconds reviewing a resume.
Whether you have a lot of skills and experience or a little, you can build a professional resume that will help you stand out from the competition.
Resume Sections
A standard resume has six sections: contact information, headline, summary, skills, experience, and education.
Contact Information
Keep it simple. Provide your name, email address, phone number, and LinkedIn info. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, visit our resource on how to create one.
There is no need to include your physical address on your resume, though you may be asked to provide it within a job application.
Headline
Similar to a news headline that is intended to grab attention, a resume headline is meant to capture the initial interest of a hiring manager.
Headlines must be brief and impactful. Here is an example:
- Good headline: Detail-oriented, organized, and friendly
- Bad headline: I’ve had a few jobs, but mostly don’t have a lot of employment experience but am hoping you’ll hire me to get more.
Summary
A summary is an extension of your headline. It should be no more than 2–3 sentences and should build upon what you noted in your headline.
Here is an example:
Headline: Detail-oriented, organized, and friendly
- Good summary: I have learned that paying attention to details can make the difference between a happy customer or a frustrated one. I approach my work in a way that keeps me focused on most important tasks so I can deliver exceptional service.
Skills
An effective skills section uses keywords and phrases from the job posting so that it is easy for a hiring manager to match the job to the applicant. Keep your list of skills to 6-8.
The skills area is a great place to pack in the keywords that don’t naturally fit into the other parts of your resume to help you stand out.
Experience
The experience section is the most important part of the resume. But what if you don’t have many (or any) past jobs? Experience can be anything that an employer might find valuable — volunteer work, Church callings, serving a mission, parenting, etc. Think about your skills and how you’ve gained them, and find a way to showcase those in your resume.
Here’s an example showing how you could use a Church calling as experience:
Counselor / Jan. 2022 - Present
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Counsel with more than 100 women in our congregation every quarter to ensure their mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional needs are met
- Prepare and teach one-hour lessons monthly, utilizing video and engaging questions
- Meet with another counselor and our organization’s president weekly to discuss the needs of all women in our congregation and how we can help and serve
High-impact Statements
A high-impact statement is a way of writing that demonstrates (or shows) what you can do rather than simply listing your job duties. To illustrate the difference, review these examples:
- Bad example: Trained new employees on how to run the front desk
- High-impact example: Implemented an employee training program that increased customer satisfaction by 14% and reduced processing errors by 38%
- Bad example: Helped customers with their concerns
- High-impact example: Worked with customers until their concerns were resolved, even if it meant staying late or being available after hours
The bad examples state what the job duty was — not how they did it or what the result was. Remember, employers don't want a list of your previous job duties; they want to know how you performed those duties.
Action Verbs
Use action verbs when describing your experience. Action verbs should always appear at the beginning of your statements. Here are some great action verbs to borrow.
These show leadership abilities:
- Advocated
- Bolstered
- Drove
- Engaged
- Elicited
These show management experience:
- Established
- Delegated
- Facilitated
- Organized
- Designated
These show work ethic & reliability:
- Exceeded
- Improved
- Outperformed
- Produced
- Achieved
Education
Your education will typically go after your experience section and be shorter. However, if you don’t have much experience, you could put your education section before your experience section. If you do this, you need to provide additional details about the skills you’ve gained, including using high-impact statements.
Your education section should start with your highest degree and work back in time. Each entry should include the name of the school, the degree or course of study that you obtained (or will obtain upon completion), and the date of completion (or anticipated completion).
Let’s look at two examples:
SHORTER EXAMPLE
Brigham Young University-Idaho
- Bachelors in Applied Business Management, Anticipated September 2025
- Certificate in Business & Leadership Skills, July 2024
BYU-Pathway Worldwide
- PathwayConnect Certificate, December 2019
EXPANDED EXAMPLE
Brigham Young University-Idaho
- Bachelors in Applied Business Management, Anticipated September 2025
- Certificate in Business & Leadership Skills, July 2024
- Learned skills in business applications, accounting, economics, organizational leadership, and business finance
- Certificate in Basic Accounting, July 2023
- Learned skills in business applications, financial accounting, personal finance, Quickbooks, and interpersonal communication
BYU-Pathway Worldwide
PathwayConnect Certificate, December 2019
- Studied learning strategies, time and financial management, thinking errors, talent development, and led peer discussions regarding topics in our coursework.
- Strengthened career skills, learned decision-making strategies, practiced professional communication, and collaborated with others to solve problems.
- Learned time management, budgeting, study habits, oral and written communication skills, decision making, quantitative reasoning, and how to work online.
The shorter example shows how the individual meets minimum educational requirements. In the expanded example, the additional details can be helpful for people with less experience or if you want to highlight your education further.