What Should I Put on My Resume? A Practical Checklist for Modern Hiring
Staring at a blank page and wondering what actually belongs on your resume? You’re not the only one. Between conflicting advice online and old rules that won’t die, it’s hard to know what really matters in 2025.
The good news: most strong, ATS-friendly resumes follow the same simple structure. You don’t need a wild design or a secret template—you just need the right sections, written in a way that recruiters and Applicant Tracking Systems can both understand.
1. Contact Info & Headline: Make It Instantly Clear Who You Are
Your header doesn’t need to be fancy, but it does need to be clean and accurate. A recruiter should be able to figure out who you are and how to reach you in two seconds.
Must-have details at the top
- Full name (the one you use professionally).
- City & state (or country if you’re only targeting remote roles).
- Professional email address.
- Phone number.
- Optional: LinkedIn profile and/or portfolio or personal website.
Add a short, targeted headline
Instead of “Seeking new opportunities,” use a one-line headline that clearly states what you do and what kind of role you want:
- “Front-End Developer · React & TypeScript”
- “Registered Nurse (RN) · Emergency & Acute Care”
- “Account Executive · B2B SaaS, Mid-Market”
2. Work Experience: Focus on Impact, Not Just Duties
For most candidates, work experience is the deciding section. Instead of listing everything you were responsible for, highlight what you actually achieved.
Basic work experience layout
- Job title.
- Company name + location (or “Remote”).
- Dates of employment (month + year, e.g. Mar 2021 – Present).
- 3–6 bullet points showing results, not just tasks.
Strong bullet points often follow a simple pattern:
- Increased qualified leads by 37% by building a new email nurture sequence and A/B testing subject lines.
- Reduced onboarding time by 20% by rewriting SOPs and launching a searchable internal knowledge base.
- Resolved an average of 35+ support tickets/day while maintaining a 95% satisfaction score.
3. Skills: Make Them Skimmable and Keyword-Friendly
Most recruiters skim your skills section in seconds. Your goal is to show them “Yes, I have the right tools and tech” without turning your resume into a wall of buzzwords.
Group related skills
- Technical Skills: tools, languages, software, platforms.
- Domain/Business Skills: CRM, EMR, industry-specific tools, methodologies.
- Soft Skills: communication, leadership, collaboration (keep these concise).
Example list for a tech role:
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- React
- Node.js
- REST APIs
- SQL
- Git
- Jira
- Agile/Scrum
4. Quick “What Should I Put on My Resume?” Checklist
Before you send your resume out, run through this simple checklist:
- ✔ Clear contact info with a professional email.
- ✔ A short headline that matches the type of role you want.
- ✔ Work experience written as impact-focused bullet points.
- ✔ Numbers or results wherever you can honestly include them.
- ✔ Skills grouped and written using the employer’s language.
- ✔ Key tools, software, and technologies clearly listed.
- ✔ Education and certifications up to date and easy to find.
- ✔ Optional projects that prove your skills (especially if you’re pivoting careers).
- ✔ Clean, simple formatting that ATS can parse.
- ✔ 1–2 pages total, depending on your level of experience.
See How ATS-Friendly Your Resume Really Is
Once you’ve checked off the basics, the smartest move is to test your resume against an ATS-style scan. That’s exactly what ProRes was built to do.
Upload your resume to get:
- An overall ATS-friendliness score.
- Keyword and skills matching against your target roles.
- Specific suggestions to improve your content and formatting.