How to Write a Headline for a Resume (60 Examples)
A resume headline is great opportunity to immediately grab a recruiter’s attention with a brief one-line statement describing your skills and experience. We’ll teach you everything you need to know to write a compelling headline for a resume.
by Gabriela Hernandez, CPRW, Career Advice WriterLast Updated: March 29, 2026
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A punchy, concise resume headline is what grabs a recruiter’s attention and makes them click on your resume. This one-line sentence shows your experience, skills and achievements and entices the reader to want to know more about you.
We’re here to show you how to write an impactful resume headline that gets you noticed!
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What is a headline for a resume and why is it important?
A good headline for a resume is a brief introduction that showcases your job title, professional background, and top skills and achievements.
It’s an opportunity for job applicants to identify themselves by their most impressive and relevant professional accomplishments — not just their name.
With a resume headline, the recruiter immediately learns information about you before scanning the rest of your document.
Therefore, this headline becomes an almost foolproof way to intrigue recruiters quickly when your resume lands in their hands or inbox.
What is a good headline for a resume?
The key to writing a resume with a good headline for a resume lies in keeping it concise and choosing job-relevant achievements.
A good resume headline can include some of the following:
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Looking for inspiration for your resume headline? We’ve written 60 resume headline examples for the top job, plus resume examples for different industries.
Resume title examples:
Accounting resume headlines
Accountant Graduate With 2 Years of Internship Experience at PwC and Nielsen
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Writing a great resume headline is super simple once you know the steps.
Follow these tips to ensure your resume headline gets your value across and stands out:
Stick to a formula. If you’re unsure where to start, fill in this formula for a good resume headline: Your job title + years of experience + Relevant skills/achievement/qualifications.
Put it right where recruiters can see it. Place your headline for a resume at the top of your resume, ideally below your name in your contact information for visibility. Learn more about the ideal spot to place your sections on our How Should A Resume Look Like article.
Keep it short and to the point. Your resume headline should be one-sentence long and written concisely. Avoid unnecessary articles (“a,” “an,” “the”) and too many descriptive words.
Don’t confuse it with a resume summary or objective. The resume headline is just one brief phrase to quickly identify you as a candidate, whereas the resume summary and resume objective consist of longer statements with more accomplishments.
Write it in Title Case. Capitalize key words of your resume headline just like newspapers do.
Include relevant keywords. Browse the job description of your desired role and pinpoint repeated skills or qualifications — resume keywords. You should include the keywords that reflect your abilities in your headline.
Highlight up to two skills. If you’re a recent graduate with no experience, include no more than two skills in your headline. You want to save your critical skills for other sections of your resume.
Compensate for lack of work experience. If you haven’t spent many years in the workforce, highlight internships, extracurricular activities or certifications on your resume headline instead.
Use action verbs. Include strong, specific action verbs that explain what you accomplished, like “revitalized” and “coordinated”, but steer clear of overused resume buzzwords that sound vague or empty.
Focus on your current achievements, not your goals. This isn’t the place to share what you aspire to do. Instead, mention your top selling points as a candidate.
Write a new resume headline for each job. One of the biggest lessons in resume writing is to update your resume to each job application. The same goes for your resume headline — feature the information most relevant to what the employer needs from a candidate.
Key Takeaways
You’ve now got all you need to write a punchy and effective resume headline! Here are the top takeaways you should remember when writing your headline for a resume:
Your resume headline should consist of a single, snappy sentence.
It goes on top of your resume, right below your name.
The headline features your top selling points as a candidate.
Use the resume headline formula: “Job title + Years of experience + Skill/Accomplishment/Qualification”
Always Write Your Resume Headline in Title Case.
Tailor your resume headline to each job application.
Over the past 15 years, we’ve helped more than 10 million job seekers build stronger cover letters, discover their career paths, interview confidently, and boost their chances of finding the right job faster. Review our Editorial Policy to learn more about our process.
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About the Author
Gabriela Hernandez • CPRW, Career Advice Writer
Gabriela is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches. She focuses on helping job seekers improve their professional resumes to highlight their unique skills and experience. Gabriela holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Puerto Rico and offers more than four years of specialized experience helping candidates navigate the complexities of today’s online job market, with a strong focus on resume optimization and effective self-presentation.
