Resume Templates for Every Job and Industry

A resume is the primary document you use when applying for a job. Resumes summarize your career and highlight the qualities and experiences that make you ideal for a specific role. Every resume should include the five main sections: contact information, summary or objective, work experience, skills and education, all of which we teach you how to write in our ultimate resume-writing guide.

When it comes to writing a resume with no experience, the first thing you should consider is which format will best present the experiences and skills you have while downplaying your lack of years in the workforce.

For applicants with no formal work experience, we always recommend you focus on your skills section rather than the work experience.

With a functional resume, you can showcase your most relevant skills for the job and describe instances where you demonstrated those abilities — extracurricular activities, internships or even hobbies. Remember, what matters here is what you’ve accomplished, not where.

You can format your resume using any of the three resume formats. The resume formats organize the order of your resume sections and modify their formatting to ensure your strengths are highlighted.

The chronological format has the most traditional layout, putting the work experience front and center and outlining each experience with descriptive bullet points.

The functional format features the skills section first and showcases your career accomplishments categorized by skills instead of by job. This makes the functional resume ideal for inexperienced job seekers.

The combination format puts an equal focus on skills and experience. Combination formats are the most customizable because you can have multiple skills sections and play around with their order.

A one-page resume is the best option when applying for most roles.

The one-page resume is concise and easy to read and assess, which overloaded recruiters greatly appreciate when sifting through applications.

However, a two-page resume can be justified if you’ve spent 10+ years in the workforce and have had a rich and varied career. If this sounds like you and you’re applying for a career in medicine or academia, a CV might be a better fit.

Our premium resume templates are part of our Resume Builder package, where you can find over 30 professionally designed resume templates you can customize with your favorite colors and fonts. As part of our Resume Builder, these templates grant you access to expert-written content suggestions for all your resume sections.

We also have some free resume templates that include instructions on how to write each section of your resume.

1. You can format your resume in one of three ways: a chronological format, functional format or combination format.
   Each of these resume formats takes the five main sections of a resume and organizes them to show your strengths and hide your weaknesses.
   The chronological format:
   • Is the format most people (and recruiters) are familiar with.
   • Focuses on accomplishments within your work experience.
   • Works best for people who have had 10+ years of experience.
2. The functional format:
   • Is the least common format.
   • But an ideal option for students, recent graduates or first-time job seekers.
   • Showcases skills first, making it ideal for those without formal work experience.
3. The combination format:
   • Focuses equally on skills and experience.
   • Is great if you’ve had five to nine years in the workforce.
   • Ideal for applicants who want a promotion or are changing careers.

Recruiters rarely expect a resume to extend over two pages since they prefer a shorter document to sift through applicants faster. Our Resume Builder will automatically add as many pages as needed for all your information and offer tools to make it fit neatly into one page.

For more experienced applicants, a longer resume is acceptable, and for some senior positions in academia, research, sciences, medicine and entertainment, employers may ask you to submit a CV instead for this very reason. You can learn how to write a curriculum vitae in our CV writing guide.

A resume summary should be one-to-five sentences long and mention your job title, years of experience, area of expertise, two or three job-relevant skills and at least one measurable achievement. You can also add your degree, a certification, a license or any other required qualification for your desired job.

When listing your work experience, you must first organize your roles in reverse-chronological order and mention your job title, employer name, location and dates of employment. Add three to four bullet points outlining your most relevant accomplishments in each role. Last but not least, make sure you incorporate resume keywords from the job description.

You should list six to eight skills in your resume’s skills section. Ensure you include a balanced selection of soft and hard skills relevant to your desired job. In the case of combination and functional resumes, you can have multiple skills sections.

In combination resumes, you can list skills in a summary of qualifications that goes right below your professional summary.

In functional resumes, you have an expanded skills section; below each skill you list, you’ll include bullet points describing your career accomplishments.

A cover letter should complement your resume, not repeat what your resume says. Your cover letter contains a pitch of yourself as the best person for the job. To write an effective cover letter, follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Structure your header in a business letter format and address your hiring manager by name.

Step 2: Introduce yourself and capture the recruiter’s attention by sharing your motivation for applying to that job.

Step 3: Share key career accomplishments in paragraph or bullet point form in your body paragraph.

Step 4: Encourage next steps in your closing paragraph, add a sign-off and finalize the cover letter with your name and signature (optional).

Learn everything about cover letter writing in our how to write a cover letter article, or simply head to our Cover Letter Builder for a customized cover letter in minutes.

Cover letters are ideal for students because they allow you to convince employers that you’re a worthy candidate despite your lack of formal work experience. A few things you can mention in your student cover letter are:

• Internships
• Extracurricular activities
• Student body council
• Relevant hobbies
• Freelance work
• Volunteering
• School projects

You can check out our cover letter examples to better understand what to include in your cover letter.

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a software program used by employers to scan resumes for keywords pulled from their job ads. This software looks for words and phrases describing skills and experiences critical to the role.