Resume Tips 2026: How to Make Your Resume Stand Out
A resume has seconds, not minutes, to make its case — recruiters often scan a resume for just a few seconds before deciding whether it’s worth a closer look. This guide covers exactly what to put on a resume, how to format it (including the widely-used Harvard resume format), how to write a summary that actually works, and how to get past ATS screening software.
What to Put on a Resume
Every strong resume includes these core sections:
- Contact information — name, phone number, professional email, LinkedIn URL, and city/state. A full street address is no longer necessary and just takes up space.
- Professional summary (optional but recommended) — a brief 2-3 sentence overview of your experience and value, placed near the top.
- Work experience — reverse chronological order (most recent first), with achievement-focused bullet points rather than just a list of duties.
- Education — degree, institution, and graduation date. Recent graduates should place this section higher; experienced professionals can move it lower.
- Skills — a focused list of relevant technical and soft skills, ideally matched to the language used in the job posting.
Optional sections worth adding if relevant: certifications, volunteer work, languages, or projects — but only if they add real value rather than padding.
The Harvard Resume Format
The Harvard resume format, developed by Harvard’s career services office, has become something close to an industry standard — especially for consulting, finance, corporate, and academic roles. It’s popular because its clean, minimal structure is easy for both human recruiters and ATS software to read quickly.
Key elements of the Harvard format:
- Single-column layout — no graphics, icons, tables, or multi-column designs, all of which can confuse ATS parsing.
- Consistent, bold section headers — usually uppercase, often separated by a horizontal line.
- Reverse chronological order — most recent experience listed first.
- Standard, readable fonts — Times New Roman, Garamond, or Calibri, sized 10-12pt for body text.
- One page for most candidates — two pages is generally reserved for candidates with 10+ years of experience.
- Achievement-focused bullet points rather than a plain list of job duties, typically starting with a strong action verb.
The visual simplicity is intentional — it forces your actual experience and achievements to do the differentiating, rather than design choices.
How to Write a Resume Summary
A professional summary is a short paragraph or 2-3 bullet points at the top of your resume that gives a quick overview of who you are professionally.
A strong summary typically includes:
- Your job title or professional identity (e.g., “Marketing manager with 6 years of experience…”)
- 1-2 standout achievements or areas of expertise
- What kind of value or role you’re seeking (optional, and often better as an implication than a direct statement)
Example structure: “[Job title] with [X years] of experience in [industry/skill area]. Proven track record of [specific achievement with a number if possible]. Skilled in [2-3 relevant skills matched to the target role].”
Keep it to 2-4 sentences — a resume summary that runs long defeats its own purpose, which is to be scanned quickly.
Resume Fonts and Formatting
- Font: Stick to professional, widely-supported fonts — Calibri, Arial, Georgia, Garamond, or Times New Roman are all safe, ATS-friendly choices. Avoid decorative or unusual fonts.
- Font size: 10-12pt for body text, 14-16pt for section headings and your name.
- Margins: 0.5-1 inch on all sides is standard — tight enough to fit content, wide enough to stay readable.
- File format: Save as a .docx or a text-based PDF unless a job posting specifies otherwise — image-based PDFs can block ATS software from reading your content.
- Length: One page for most candidates; two pages only if you have significantly more relevant experience to include.
Resume Skills: What to Include
- Match skills to the job description. Reading the posting carefully and mirroring the specific language used (when genuinely true to your experience) significantly improves both ATS matching and human relevance.
- Mix hard and soft skills. Technical or role-specific skills (software, certifications, languages) paired with a few genuinely relevant soft skills (communication, leadership, problem-solving) gives a fuller picture.
- Be specific rather than generic. “Proficient in Excel” is weaker than “Built automated Excel reporting dashboards used by a 15-person team.”
- Avoid overloading the skills section. A long, unfocused list of skills is harder to scan and dilutes the ones that actually matter for the role.
How to Make a Resume Stand Out
- Quantify achievements wherever possible. Numbers catch attention and make impact concrete — “$2M revenue” or “reduced processing time by 15%” is far more compelling than a vague description of responsibilities.
- Tailor your resume for each application. A generic resume sent to every job performs worse than one adjusted to reflect the specific role’s priorities and language.
- Lead bullet points with strong action verbs (led, built, launched, reduced, negotiated) rather than passive phrases like “responsible for.”
- Cut anything that doesn’t add value. An outdated objective statement, an overly long list of unrelated jobs, or filler bullet points all dilute the sections that actually matter.
- Proofread carefully — and get a second set of eyes. A single typo can undermine an otherwise strong resume; reviewing it fresh (or having someone else review it) catches errors you’ll miss after staring at your own document.
ATS Optimization Tips
Most companies of any size use Applicant Tracking Systems to screen resumes before a human ever sees them. To optimize for ATS:
- Use standard section headings (“Work Experience,” “Education,” “Skills”) rather than creative alternatives the software might not recognize.
- Avoid tables, text boxes, columns, and graphics — these frequently break how ATS software parses your content, even if the resume looks fine to a human eye.
- Include keywords from the job posting naturally, distributed through your summary, skills section, and experience bullets — but avoid unnatural keyword stuffing, which can actually hurt readability and relevance scoring.
- Save in the requested file format, typically .docx unless the posting specifies PDF.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a resume need a summary? It’s optional but generally recommended, especially for experienced candidates or anyone changing careers, since it gives a quick, scannable overview before the reader dives into your work history. Recent graduates with limited experience sometimes skip it in favor of leading with education.
What’s the best resume length? One page for most candidates, including those with moderate experience. Two pages is generally reserved for senior professionals with 10+ years of relevant experience where cutting further would genuinely lose important content.
What font size should I use for a resume? 10-12pt for body text is standard, with slightly larger sizing (14-16pt) for your name and section headings. Staying within this range keeps the resume both readable and appropriately compact.
How do I make my resume ATS-friendly? Use a simple, single-column layout, standard section headings, a common font, and keywords pulled naturally from the job description — and avoid graphics, tables, or unusual formatting that can break automated parsing.
Is the Harvard resume format right for every industry? It works especially well for corporate, finance, consulting, and academic roles where a clean, conservative format is expected. For more creative fields, a resume with some additional visual personality may be more appropriate — though even creative resumes generally benefit from the same underlying clarity and structure.
This article contains general resume-writing guidance current as of 2026.