How to Write a Resume: Guide & Examples - Zety Australia

So you sent out resumes, and the only thing you hear is crickets?

Crikey. 

Even if you were stoked for that opportunity, you can’t miss another. 

Check out how to write a resume that will make your phone buzz with interview invites. We’ve got you covered with heaps of advice.

You’ll get:

• A resume template better than 9 out of 10 other resumes.
• A step-by-step guide on how to write a resume.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a resume.
• Know-how to describe your experience on a resume to get any job you want.

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

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Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume examples here.

How to make a resume step by step:

1. Lay Out Your Resume
2. Choose the Correct Resume Format
3. Design a Professional Resume Header
4. Write a Personal Statement for a Resume
5. Include Your Employment History
6. Mention Your Educational Background
7. List Relevant Skills
8. Add Resume Extras
9. Leave Space for References
10. Send a Resume and Cover Letter

Resume Template

Now—

Find out how to write a professional resume:

1. Lay Out Your Resume

Your mates popped by for a visit, and you said sorr-ee because the house looked like a dog’s breakfast. 

They didn’t call, so everyone’s chill.

Well—

Your recruiter won’t relax reading your resume if you don’t care about a clean layout of your resume.

Follow these rules, and you’ll both end up just fine:

• Resume font: Go for a professional and legible one, like Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica. Choose a 12-point font size to give yourself enough space and not impair the recruiter’s eyesight. You can go up with the resume font size by 1–2 points or bold the text to highlight the sections. Never underline.
• Resume margins and line spacing: The amount of white space is as important as the content. So, to create balance, set the margins to 1 inch on each side and line-spacing to 1–1.15.
• Alignment: Always left align. Don’t use justification—no matter how badly you crave it. It’s not Pavlova not to be able to stop yourself.
• Resume length: Experienced candidates can go for 2–4 page long resumes, or 1–2 pages if you’re inexperienced. 
• File format: Unless the job ad says otherwise, save your resume to a PDF file. It won’t crash en route to recruiters.
• Resume file name: Help recruiters identify your resume and include the position, your name, and “Resume” in the filename—for example, ITProjectManager_JoeBloggs_Resume.pdf.

2. Choose the Best Resume Format

Don’t put words just yet!

Do you know the difference between reverse chronological and functional resume formats?

Exactly. 

They exist to help your recruiter determine the level of experience you have. So, depending on where you are with your career, you should choose differently.

See which one is the right for you:

Reverse-chronological / Chronological Resume Format

It’s the Acca Dacca of resume formats. Both Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) and recruiters love it. 

The software parses resumes before recruiters lay their hands on them, and because ATS is familiar with such a format, it’s a safe bet. 

Professional experience stands at the forefront in the chronological resume. When listing your work history, start with the most recent position.

See how to order your resume sections in the chronological resume:

1. Resume heading with contact information
2. Personal statement (summary or objective)
3. Employment history
4. Education
5. Key skills
6. Additional items (optional)
7. References

Functional Resume Format

Have you ever taken a photo where your mate went bonkers in the background and stole all the attention?

Defo.

In the functional resume, it’s the skills that photobomb your experience and shine through the resume. This format is useful to people with employment gaps, no real work experience, or changing their careers.

Have a look at the resume order in the functional resume:

1. Header with contact information
2. Personal statement (summary or objective)
3. Skills summary
4. Education
5. Work history
6. Additional items (optional)
7. References

And that’s it.

For the sake of this guide, let’s get down to filling in the sections one after another in a reverse-chronological format.

3. Design a Professional Resume Heading

You scout. You sneak. But, eventually, you spook.

“How’s that possible?”

Resume headers aren’t the place to learn new job-hunting skills. Recruiters must know they’re dealing with a pro to catch the bait.

When you get to the header range, write only the necessary information:

• Your full name
• Email address
• Mobile phone number

You can mention your home address, but it’s not a requirement in most cases. It’s best to leave it off.

There are items you shouldn’t include due to legal reasons:

• Date of birth
• Age
• Marital status
• Religion
• Your photo

Now spot the below resume header example:

Resume Header Example

Nothing too complicated.

Just make sure to double-check if you wrote correct info, or else you’ll serve your prey on a tray.

4. Write a Personal Statement For a Resume

The most dreaded assignment for every student out there—

“Say a few words about yourself to the class.”

Unless your face goes fair dinkum red, it’s your chance to make it big. Or a meme if you bail.

Sorry to disappoint—you can’t weasel out this time. Your resume personal statement is your elevator pitch.

Depending on how much experience you have, you choose either a career / personal summary or resume objective. Learn the difference between the two and find out how to write a personal statement for a resume:

How to Write a Resume Summary

A resume professional summary summarises your work experience, skills, and qualifications needed for the job. So, if you have enough work history to prove your skillset, this is your go-to.

Right under the resume header, write 3-4 short sentences that describe your career history. But—

Stay relevant!

You must tailor the summary to the job ad. See the requirements in the job description and refer to them. It’s a perfect place to drop a few achievements.

Use this resume summary template for your professional resume, and she’ll be apples:

[Adjective(s)/strong character trait(s)][your job title][your experience]. Eager to support/help/assist/etc. [company name][what you want to help the employer achieve and how you want to do it]. [your key achievement(s)].

Now check it out in practice:

Resume Summary Example

Ooh, the first one is a ripper.

Here’s why:

• Achievements instead of responsibilities 
• Power verbs and adjectives (secured, supervised, substantial)
• Highlighted qualifications (PMI-ACP, RegPM)
• Numbers (6+, $1M, 20)
• Third-person structure (“IT project manager” vs. “I have experience as an IT project manager”)
• Tailored to the job offer (“Sicall” vs. “your company”)

Now let’s see how to write a resume objective—

How to Write an Objective for a Resume

A resume career objective is ideal for students, career changers, or candidates applying for entry-level / junior positions.

It focuses on your skills, personality traits, and overall career goal. A good objective also includes how your skills will be beneficial to the employer.

Find a resume objective template below:

[Your strong trait(s)][position to which you’re applying for]. Seeking to support/gain/etc. [your offer][company name]. [2-3 skills].

See how it works in a real-life example:

Resume Objective Example

Again—

The first one’s sick!

It describes transferable skills from the university, it’s tailored to the offer, and shows which abilities will be helpful to the company’s goals.

The other one, though… Why did Summer even bother to write it?

Pro Tip: Write your personal statement last. When you tailor your experience, education, and skill sections, you’ll only need to pick up the most significant achievements, and the statement’s ready.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

5. Include Your Employment History

Work experience is the substance of your resume.

Or, in simpler terms—

It’s the Vegemite on a Vegemite sandwich.

So to prove you speak-a the language of the offer, make sure you include all the following in your work history section:

• Job title—Bold it and use it as a header of each entry.

• Company, City—Name the company you worked for and use italics for contrast. Add the location after a comma.
• Employment dates—Timeframe is enough. Spell out the month and add a year. 
• Responsibilities and achievements—Create a bulleted list of relevant accomplishment statements that’ll describe your impact on the job. Start with the result and tell how you achieved it using active voice. 5–6 bullets are enough.
• Keywords—Match the job description (requirements, responsibilities, skills, and qualifications) using keywords from the job offer. That’s how you stay relevant and win against the ATS.

Also—

Don’t go back more than 10 years unless you’re applying for a senior position and the earlier jobs are still highly relevant. In that case, 15 years is your threshold.

Work Experience On a Resume

The first example proves Summer took our advice to heart.

She listed contributions and achievements instead of responsibilities, there are quantifiers that draw attention and bring out the accomplishments, and the formatting is sweet as. Plus, she’s consistent with what she wrote in her personal statement.

Ace!

Pro Tip: Unpaid gigs can be relevant to the job, too. If you did any work placement, TAFE, or volunteered, include that as well.

6. Mention Your Educational Background

The education section is a two-way crossroad with no wrong turns.

Finally. Something easy.

The traffic regulations are:

• If you have enough work experience, include your highest degree. 
• If you have little to no experience, include the highest degree together with your academic achievements, relevant coursework, and extracurriculars.

You can list academic achievements, e.g., awards, honours, grade if you achieved a Distinction or High Distinction, or making the Dean’s list. You can also include extracurriculars, like memberships, affiliations, project groups, volunteer placements, or publications.

The educational background, like every other section in the resume, is about relevancy. If you decide to add coursework or describe a project assignment, it has to show the skills that’ll come in handy for the position.

How to Write a Resume—Education

That’s pure gold.

You don’t have to say that you have project management skills explicitly. Being shortlisted for a global award is self-evident.

7. List Relevant Skills

Which marking colour have you seen most often in your school workbooks? Let’s hope your resume will, too, show green in the ATS.

Why?

Skills are yet another section you need to tailor to the job offer. Find various skill keywords when browsing the job description and list them in your resume.

But add the skills you really have! Lying never pays off.

There are two types of skills you should consider mixing: soft and hard skills. 

Soft skills speak about personal attributes, like communication, critical thinking, or decision-making skills. You can fit them under the “Key skills” section. Personal attributes are helpful when you’re applying for a junior position. They’ll demonstrate whether you’re the perfect fit.

Hard skills describe your knowledge to perform specific jobs, for example, programming for developers or tax law for payroll specialists. Depending on what you want to group, these tend to have a separate section in resumes, such as “Programming languages” or “Software skills.”

Here’s a list of common employability skills to add to a resume:

• Interpersonal skills: verbal and non-verbal communication, active listening, empathy, teamwork, collaboration
• Transferable skills: management, leadership, computer skills
• Analytical skills: critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making
• Organisational skills: planning, prioritising, delegating, time management

There are plenty of situations where you displayed your skillset. You don’t have to limit yourself to work experience only. Think about the school, university, work placement, or volunteering, too.

Take a look at the below resume sample:

How to Put Skills on a Resume

Summer wasn’t faffing around!

It looks like she matched her skills perfectly to the IT project manager position and proved she applied them in her regular job.

Apart from the skills—

8. Add Resume Extras

Perfect resumes come in bundles of mandatory and additional sections. 

You’ve already done a great job putting your must-haves in the trolley. But if you take some extras, you can not only pick up a bargain, but also a top up your voucher for a job interview.

See which additional resume sections are worth considering:

• Hobbies & Interests—Is there anything you do for fun that proves your skills? Mentioning playing sports for a position that requires team working and collaboration is a great idea.
• Volunteering—It’s evidence of your engagement and commitment to growth. Volunteer placements work wonders for inexperienced candidates.
• Internships—Similarly to volunteering, internships are a great way to show your learning path and engagement outside school. Fresh graduates, make room for internships on your resumes!
• Certifications and licenses—Include them only if relevant to the job and if you have proof to provide during recruitment. 
• Awards—If you took part in any competitions and won or got shortlisted for the main prize, do yourself a favour and include that on your resume.
• Languages—Does knowing foreign languages come in helpful for the role you’re applying to? List them with language proficiency levels.
• Projects—They’re an outstanding way to prove your passion and values.

• Publications / Online Portfolio— Are you a blogger or a journalist? Or perhaps you only had a few chances to write guest posts? It doesn’t matter. If the publications are in your portfolio and prove your expertise, add them to your resume. The same goes for creative designers who’d like to show off their work.

Now see how to add other sections to your resume:

How to Make a Resume—Additional Sections Example

9. Leave Space for References

Employers don't like being played. And they have their ways not to let that happen.

At the end of your resume, you should always include the contact details of two referees who aren't your relatives.

Recruiters contact them to see whether they recommend you as an employee. 

Cool, huh?

Once you decide who that can be, remember to ask if they agree to it and whether they're OK with listing their contact details. If they don't choose to do that, write “References available on request” instead. 

See how to add contact details to your referees in the resume:

Sample Resume—References

Think hard when choosing your referee for a resume. You want to be sure that the person that sends a reference letter for you is trustworthy and will say positive things about you.

Now onto the chapter you’ve probably never seen coming—

10. Send a Resume and Cover Letter

Far, far away, there lived an evil fairy.

She told every job seeker not to write a cover letter or else they’ll be cursed with a wasted arvo and jobless life. Little did they know that she was the Queen of Lies…

The truth is, recruiters ignore job applications without cover letters.

Why don’t you stop believing the wicked fairy and just get down to work?

How to Write a Cover Letter for a Resume

1. Stick to the resume formatting and mirror the resume header.
2. Enclose the date of writing.
3. Follow with the contact details of your hiring manager.
4. Mention the role you’re applying for.
5. Address your hiring manager by name. Using “To Whom It May Concern” is a crime.
6. Open with an accomplishment.
7. Speak about your experience and skills to reinforce your fit for the position.
8. Highlight your motivation and say how the company will benefit from hiring you.
9. Close with a call to action, requesting a meeting.
10. Sign off with “Yours sincerely” and your full name.

The more personal the cover letter is, the better. This is your chance to allow the recruiters to get to know you and pick up your character. 

Give them the best you’ve got.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Key Takeaway

Everything you need to know about how to write a resume in a nutshell:

• Tailor your resume—The job ad is the source of power. Find the keywords and use them in your resume.
• Stay relevant—Your resume should be full of details matching the job description. Don’t mention cooking skills if you’re trying for a data analyst position.
• Be consistent—In formatting and content.
• Use power verbs and accomplishment statements—Start each bullet with a strong action verb and follow the accomplishment statement formula to transform your responsibilities into a list of achievements.
• Add something extra—Don’t write just another resume. Write the best resume out there with additional sections that prove your skillset.
• Proofread—Ask someone to double-check your resume in terms of spelling and punctuation.
• Attach a cover letter to your resume—Or expect to be ghosted.

And that’s a wrap.

Chookas!

Please tell us—

Do you have questions about how to write a resume? Did we miss any resume writing tips? What do you think of attaching a cover letter to your job application?

Give us a shout in the comments! Let’s get the conversation rolling.