What are the main parts of a resume?

Header, summary or objective, work experience, education, and skills, plus optional sections like certifications, projects, and volunteer work.

What order should resume sections be in?

Header, summary, experience, education, skills for most people. Students and recent grads put education right after the summary.

Should I include a summary on my resume?

Yes, for most people. A short summary helps recruiters understand your fit quickly. Students can use an objective instead.

Can I change the order of sections?

Yes. Order sections by what's most relevant to the job. In CVMark, you can drag sections into any order.

Resume outline

Resume Outline: What a Resume Should Look Like

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A good resume outline has six parts, in this order: header, summary, work experience, education, skills, and optional extras like certifications or projects. Students and recent graduates move education up to second place. Each section has a clear job, and recruiters expect to find them in this order, which is why a standard outline makes your resume faster to read. Here's what to put in each part, followed by a complete example.

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Key takeaways

Header → Summary → Experience → Education → Skills → Extras
Students: put Education right after the Summary
3–5 achievement bullets per job, newest job first
One page for most people, two for experienced professionals

Resume Outline: The Parts of a Resume

Header: name, phone, email, city and state, LinkedIn
Summary (or objective): two to four sentences about who you are and what you offer
Work experience: jobs in reverse-chronological order, with three to five achievement bullets each
Education: degree, school, graduation date
Skills: 8–15 relevant hard skills and tools
Extras: certifications, projects, volunteer work, languages, awards

What to Put on a Resume, Section by Section

Header: keep it to two lines. See resume heading.

Summary: title + experience + key skills + one result. See how to write a resume summary.

Experience: for each role, write action verb + what you did + result.

Education: add GPA (3.5+), honors, and coursework if you're a student. See how to list education on a resume.

Skills: mirror the job posting's wording. See resume keywords.

Extras: only if they support the job you want.

What Does a Good Resume Look Like?

JANE SMITH
Marketing Coordinator | Chicago, IL | (555) 123-4567 | jane.smith@email.com

SUMMARY
Marketing coordinator with 4 years in B2B software. Grew email revenue 45% in one year and manages a $250K paid social budget.

EXPERIENCE
Marketing Coordinator, BrightPath Software | 2022 – Present

Grew email-sourced revenue 45% by rebuilding segmentation in HubSpot

Manage $250K in paid social at a 3.8x return on ad spend

EDUCATION
BA in Communication, University of Illinois Chicago | 2020

SKILLS
Email marketing, HubSpot, paid social, Google Analytics 4, copywriting

Clean layout, clear headings, results with numbers, and nothing extra. See what should a resume look like.

Resume Outline Variations

Student or recent graduate: Header → Summary/Objective → Education → Experience → Projects → Activities → Skills
Career changer: Header → Summary → Relevant Skills → Experience → Education → Certifications. See chronological vs. functional vs. hybrid
Experienced professional: Header → Summary → Experience → Education → Skills → Certifications
Academic CV: add Research, Publications, Teaching, and Grants. See graduate student CV

CVMark lets you drag sections into any order without reformatting.

Put it into practice

Build your resume with ATS-friendly templates and AI help. Free to build and preview. Or check your current resume first.