What to Put on a Resume: The Complete Guide to Essential Resume Components

Staring at a blank document—or an outdated resume that needs overhauling—can feel overwhelming. What exactly should go on a resume? What do hiring managers actually want to see? What’s essential, what’s optional, and what should you definitely leave off?

These questions plague job seekers at every career stage. Whether you’re creating your first resume, updating after years in the same position, or completely reimagining your professional presentation, understanding what belongs on a resume is fundamental to job search success.

This comprehensive guide walks through every resume component—the essential sections every resume needs, optional elements that can strengthen your candidacy, and common items you should absolutely exclude. By the end, you’ll know exactly what belongs on your resume and how to present it effectively.

The Essential Resume Sections

Every effective resume includes these core components. Missing any of these raises immediate red flags for hiring managers.

Contact Information

Your resume must include clear, accurate contact information so employers can reach you. This section typically appears at the top of your document.

Required Elements:

Full Name: Use your professional name—the name you go by in professional contexts. If you use a preferred name rather than your legal name, your preferred name is appropriate here.

Phone Number: Include one phone number where you can reliably receive calls. Mobile is standard. Ensure your voicemail greeting is professional.

Email Address: Use a professional email address—ideally some variation of your name. Avoid nicknames, numbers that might indicate your birth year, or anything unprofessional.

Location: City and state (or city and country for international applications) is sufficient. Full street addresses are no longer expected and raise privacy concerns.

Optional Contact Elements:

LinkedIn URL: If your profile is complete and professional, include it. Use a customized URL (linkedin.com/in/yourname) rather than the default string of numbers.

Portfolio or Website: For roles where work samples matter, include links to your professional portfolio or personal website.

GitHub or Similar: For technical roles, links to code repositories or technical portfolios can be valuable.

What to Exclude:

Age, date of birth, marital status, number of children, photograph (in the US), social security number, or any other personal information not directly relevant to your professional qualifications.

Professional Summary or Objective

This brief section near the top of your resume provides context for everything that follows. It should capture your professional identity and indicate what you offer employers.

Professional Summary (for experienced candidates):

A 2-4 sentence overview highlighting your professional identity, key strengths, and value proposition. Effective summaries are specific and achievement-oriented:

“Marketing manager with 8+ years of experience driving growth for SaaS companies. Expertise in demand generation, marketing automation, and cross-functional team leadership. Increased qualified leads by 150% and reduced customer acquisition costs by 35% at most recent role.”

Objective Statement (for career changers, entry-level, or specific targeting):

A brief statement indicating what you’re seeking and what you offer. Objectives work when they’re specific about your goals and what you bring:

“Recent MBA graduate with engineering background seeking product management role in health tech. Combines technical understanding with business strategy to bridge customer needs and development priorities.”

Tips for This Section:

• Keep it brief—no more than 3-4 sentences
• Avoid generic phrases (“hard-working professional seeking challenging opportunity”)
• Include specific achievements or qualifications when possible
• Tailor for each application when targeting specific roles

Work Experience

The work experience section is typically the most important part of your resume. It demonstrates what you’ve actually accomplished in professional contexts.

What to Include for Each Position:

Job Title: Your official title or a clarified version if your official title was unclear (e.g., “Client Services Manager” rather than “CSM Level III”)

Company Name: The organization where you worked

Location: City and state/country

Dates of Employment: Month/year to month/year is standard (e.g., “March 2020 - Present”)

Description: 3-6 bullet points describing your responsibilities and achievements

Writing Effective Bullet Points:

Strong bullet points follow the CAR formula: Challenge/Context, Action, Result

Instead of: “Responsible for managing client accounts”

Write: “Managed portfolio of 45+ enterprise accounts totaling $3.2M in annual revenue, achieving 95% retention rate through proactive relationship management and quarterly business reviews”

Each bullet should:

• Start with a strong action verb
• Include specific, quantifiable achievements when possible
• Demonstrate impact and value, not just duties
• Be tailored to highlight experience relevant to target positions

How Far Back to Go:

• Generally include 10-15 years of experience
• Early-career roles can be abbreviated or omitted if you have substantial recent experience
• Include older experience if it’s highly relevant to your target role
• Very long careers may summarize early experience rather than detailing each position

Education

Your education section documents academic credentials and relevant training.

What to Include:

Degree and Major: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Master of Business Administration, etc.

Institution Name: University, college, or school name

Location: City and state/country

Graduation Date: Year of graduation (or expected graduation)

For Recent Graduates, Consider Adding:

• GPA (if 3.5 or above, or if specifically requested)
• Relevant coursework
• Academic honors (Dean’s List, honors programs)
• Relevant extracurricular activities or leadership positions
• Thesis or capstone project titles

For Experienced Professionals:

• Degree information is usually sufficient
• Omit graduation dates if concerned about age discrimination (though this is debated)
• GPA becomes irrelevant after your first few years of work

Positioning:

• Recent graduates typically place education near the top
• Experienced professionals place it after work experience
• If education is particularly relevant or prestigious, positioning higher may be strategic

Skills

A skills section allows you to highlight relevant capabilities that may not be evident from your work experience descriptions.

Types of Skills to Include:

Technical Skills: Software, programming languages, tools, platforms, certifications

Industry-Specific Skills: Domain knowledge, methodologies, frameworks relevant to your field

Language Skills: Foreign languages with proficiency levels

Soft Skills: Only when you can demonstrate them with examples (merely listing “communication” isn’t compelling)

Organizing Skills:

• Group skills by category (Technical Skills, Languages, Tools)
• List most relevant skills first
• Match skills to job requirements when tailoring
• Be honest—don’t claim skills you can’t demonstrate

What Not to Include:

• Basic computer skills assumed for any professional (Microsoft Word, email)
• Skills so basic they seem like padding (typing, using the internet)
• Skills you’ve barely used or couldn’t perform competently
• Soft skills without supporting evidence

Optional Resume Sections

Beyond the essential sections, these optional elements can strengthen your resume when relevant to your situation and target roles.

Certifications and Licenses

If you hold professional certifications or licenses relevant to your target roles, a dedicated section makes them easy to find.

What to Include:

• Certification name
• Issuing organization
• Date obtained
• Expiration date (if applicable)
• Certification/license number (if customary in your field)

Examples:

• PMP (Project Management Professional), Project Management Institute, 2023
• Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), State of California, #12345
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, Amazon Web Services, 2024

Professional Affiliations and Memberships

Active membership in professional organizations demonstrates engagement with your field.

What to Include:

• Organization name
• Your role (Member, Board Member, Committee Chair)
• Dates of membership
• Notable contributions or achievements

Focus on memberships where you’re actively engaged rather than listing organizations you’ve merely joined.

Awards and Honors

Recognition from employers, industry organizations, or academic institutions can strengthen your candidacy.

What to Include:

• Award name
• Granting organization
• Date received
• Brief description if the award’s significance isn’t obvious

Be selective—include awards that demonstrate professional excellence rather than listing every recognition you’ve ever received.

Publications and Presentations

For roles where thought leadership matters (academic, research, technical, marketing), publications and presentations demonstrate expertise.

What to Include:

• Publication/presentation title
• Venue (journal, conference, publication)
• Date
• Co-authors (if applicable)

Format according to your field’s conventions (academic roles may expect full citations; business roles may use abbreviated listings).

Volunteer Experience

Volunteer work can demonstrate skills, values, and engagement—particularly valuable when professional experience is limited.

What to Include:

• Organization name
• Your role
• Dates
• Key responsibilities or achievements

Describe volunteer experience with the same rigor as paid work, emphasizing skills and accomplishments relevant to your target positions.

Projects

For career changers, recent graduates, or those with portfolio-based skills, a projects section can demonstrate capabilities not evident from employment history.

What to Include:

• Project name or description
• Your role/contribution
• Technologies used (for technical projects)
• Outcomes or results
• Link to live project or portfolio (if available)

Languages

If you speak multiple languages and this is relevant to your target roles, a dedicated languages section makes this clear.

How to Present:

List languages with proficiency levels using clear, consistent terminology:

• Native/Fluent
• Professional Proficiency
• Conversational
• Basic/Beginner

Only include languages you could actually use in a professional context.

What NOT to Put on a Resume

Equally important is knowing what to exclude. These items can hurt more than help.

Personal Information to Exclude

Age or Date of Birth: Irrelevant and potentially enables age discrimination

Marital Status or Family Information: Not relevant to job qualifications

Social Security Number: Never include this on a resume

Photograph: Standard practice in some countries but creates discrimination risk in the US

Physical Characteristics: Height, weight, health status are irrelevant

Religion or Political Affiliation: Keep your resume focused on professional qualifications

Outdated Resume Elements

“References Available Upon Request”: This phrase is obsolete and wastes space

Objective Statements Focused on What You Want: Modern resumes focus on what you offer, not what you want

Full Addresses: City and state are sufficient

Personal Interests/Hobbies: Unless directly relevant, these don’t help and may distract

Content That Hurts Your Candidacy

Negative Information: Never mention conflicts, firings, or criticism

Irrelevant Experience: If it doesn’t relate to your target role, consider excluding it

Excessive Detail: Keep bullets focused on high-impact information

Salary History or Requirements: Discuss compensation during interviews, not on your resume

Reasons for Leaving Positions: Address in interviews if asked

Tailoring Your Content for Maximum Impact

Understanding what goes on a resume is step one. Making strategic choices about how to present that information is where the real impact happens.

Prioritize Ruthlessly

You can’t include everything, so prioritize based on:

• Relevance to your target position
• Recency (recent experience typically matters more)
• Impact and achievements (concrete results over duties)
• Uniqueness (what differentiates you from other candidates)

Tailor for Each Application

While you don’t need completely different resumes for every application, tailoring makes a significant difference:

• Adjust your summary to match the specific opportunity
• Reorder bullet points to prioritize most relevant experience
• Incorporate keywords from the job description
• Emphasize aspects of your background that match stated requirements

Using professional tools like those available at 0portfolio.com can streamline the process of maintaining multiple tailored resume versions.

Balance Comprehensiveness and Conciseness

Include enough information to demonstrate your qualifications without overwhelming readers:

• Entry-level candidates: 1 page
• Mid-career professionals: 1-2 pages
• Senior executives or academics: 2+ pages may be appropriate
• International applications: Research local conventions

Every word should earn its place. If something doesn’t strengthen your candidacy, remove it.

Industry-Specific Considerations

Different industries have different resume expectations. Research your target field’s conventions.

Traditional Industries (Finance, Law, Consulting)

• Conservative formatting
• Emphasis on prestigious credentials
• Quantified achievements
• Standard sections without creative additions

Technical Industries

• Skills section often more prominent
• GitHub links, technical certifications valued
• Projects section for demonstrating capabilities
• Less emphasis on traditional credentials, more on demonstrable skills

Creative Industries

• Design and visual presentation matter more
• Portfolio links essential
• Creative formatting acceptable and sometimes expected
• Work samples may matter more than job history

Academic Positions

• CV format (typically longer than resumes)
• Publications and research experience prominent
• Teaching experience detailed
• Grants, fellowships, and academic service included

Healthcare and Regulated Industries

• Licenses and certifications featured prominently
• Compliance with credential verification expectations
• Specific formatting may be required for applications through credentialing systems

Common Questions About Resume Content

Should I Include Every Job I’ve Ever Had?

No. Include positions relevant to your current career trajectory. Early-career or unrelated positions can often be abbreviated or omitted, especially if you have substantial relevant experience.

What If I Have Employment Gaps?

Be prepared to explain gaps, but you don’t need to highlight them on your resume. If you did something productive during gaps (freelancing, volunteering, education, caregiving), you can include those activities.

Should I Include My GPA?

Include if above 3.5 and you’re within a few years of graduation. For experienced professionals, GPA is typically irrelevant and can be omitted.

How Do I Handle Short-Term Positions?

Include if they add value to your candidacy. Consider grouping short positions or consulting work under a single heading. Be prepared to explain brief tenures in interviews.

Should I Include Freelance or Consulting Work?

Yes, if it’s relevant and substantial. Present it as you would employment, with client names (if permissible) or client types, scope of work, and achievements.

What About Positions Where I Was Promoted?

You can list promotions as separate positions to show growth, or combine them under one entry with the date range showing your full tenure. The choice depends on space and how you want to emphasize your advancement.

Conclusion: Quality Over Quantity

The best resumes aren’t comprehensive records of everything you’ve ever done—they’re carefully curated marketing documents that present your most relevant, impressive qualifications to potential employers.

Understanding what goes on a resume is the foundation. Essential sections—contact information, professional summary, work experience, education, and skills—form the structure every resume needs. Optional sections add depth when they strengthen your specific candidacy.

Equally important is understanding what to leave off. Personal information that doesn’t relate to job qualifications, outdated resume conventions, and anything that might hurt your candidacy should be excluded.

Finally, remember that content selection is strategic. What you include depends on your career stage, target industry, and specific opportunities. A resume that works perfectly for one opportunity may need adjustment for another.

Focus on presenting your strongest, most relevant qualifications in a clear, professional format. Every word should contribute to convincing hiring managers that you’re worth interviewing. That’s what truly belongs on a resume.