Resume Builder

How to build a resume in four steps

1. 1Personal details and a headline: your name, contact information, and one line describing what you are, for example "Registered nurse, 8 years of experience in acute care."
2. 2Work experience and education: for each job, the time period, what you did, and above all what it delivered. Most recent first.
3. 3Skills, languages, and extras: only what's relevant to the job you're applying for.
4. 4Choose a template and download: pick a design, review the result, and download it as a PDF and Word file.

What belongs in a good resume

An employer reads a resume in seconds. These six sections determine whether they keep reading.

• A headline that says what you are: job title, years of experience, and your strongest point. No "motivated professional."
• A short three-line profile: who you are, what you're looking for, and what you bring. Concrete, without empty words.
• Work experience with results instead of tasks: what you achieved, with numbers wherever possible.
• Education and courses that matter for this job. A course from 2009 usually doesn't belong anymore.
• Skills listed in the job posting, using the same words the employer uses, since that's what the applicant tracking system searches for.
• Languages with an honest proficiency level. An employer notices the difference between "fluent" and "good" in the first interview.

Which template should you choose?

Choose a template that fits the industry: clean and understated for office and government jobs, a bit more color for sales and creative roles. If you're applying to a large employer, choose a template labeled ATS-friendly: these are tested for automated processing. View all templates side by side.

Building a resume with no work experience

No work experience doesn't mean an empty resume. Put your education at the top, with courses, projects, and internships relevant to the job. Part-time jobs, volunteer work, and board positions count too: write down what you did there and what it delivered. A short profile stating what you're looking for and why does the rest.

Already have a resume?

Upload it instead of retyping everything. We'll extract your information, place it in the fields, and create a version that gets through the applicant tracking system. Learn how that works under resume improvement.

Frequently asked questions about building a resume

Is it free to make a resume?

Filling in your information, choosing a template, and viewing the result is free. You pay a one-time fee only when you want to download the resume as a PDF and Word file, no subscription and no account needed.

How long does it take?

A few minutes if you have your information on hand. The form saves your input as long as you keep the tab open, so you can step away and come back later.

Do I get the resume as a PDF or a Word file?

Both, in a single download. You send the PDF; you use the Word file if you want to make changes yourself later.

Will my resume get past an applicant tracking system?

Choose a template labeled ATS-friendly. We tested those 15 templates ourselves: we convert them to a PDF and read it back the way such a system would.