How do I add resume sections?

Use clear headings to group evidence a hiring team needs. Most resumes need contact information, experience, education and relevant skills. Add a summary, projects, certifications or volunteering when they strengthen your case. You do not need every possible section, and the strongest relevant evidence should be easy to find.

Jump to summary, experience, skills, education, projects, certifications or volunteering. All examples below are illustrative writing patterns, not claims about an actual applicant.

What order should I use?

Put contact details at the top. After that, consider what best establishes your fit. A current student may lead with education and relevant projects. An experienced applicant may lead with work history. A career changer can use a short summary to connect relevant experience, while keeping the employment timeline clear.

Penn Career Services describes core and optional sections and recommends moving education below experience after graduation. Adapt this guidance to the role's instructions and your own background.

Summary: explain the connection

A summary is optional. Use it if a brief explanation helps a reader connect your experience to the target work. Avoid a paragraph of adjectives that repeats your skills list.

Illustrative example: “Operations coordinator with experience scheduling field visits, tracking supplier orders and maintaining service records. Seeking to bring that coordination experience to a facilities team.”

Use a target title as a career goal, not as a replacement for an official title you never held. If the summary adds no useful information, begin with your strongest section.

Experience: give each role a clear entry

Include the employer, actual title and employment dates. Use bullets to explain your contribution. Give recent, relevant roles more detail; avoid repeating the same generic duties under every job.

Illustrative example: “Coordinated weekly service appointments, confirmed customer availability and updated technicians when schedules changed.” If you can verify a measurable outcome, add it. If you cannot, the concrete description still communicates useful work.

Label internships, freelance work and part-time work accurately. Do not combine unrelated roles in a way that obscures who employed you or when the work occurred.

Skills: name capabilities you can demonstrate

List relevant tools, methods, languages or technical procedures. Keep the labels specific enough to be meaningful. Penn recommends demonstrating interpersonal skills through experience descriptions rather than relying on a list of soft-skill claims.

Illustrative example: “Excel: pivot tables and lookup formulas; inventory reconciliation; written customer support.” Include each item only if it reflects your capabilities. A training exercise can support an entry-level skill, but should not become a claim of professional mastery.

Education: state the qualification accurately

Identify the institution and degree, credential or program. Make completion status clear. Put relevant coursework here when it supplies useful evidence that your employment history does not yet show.

Illustrative pattern: “Bachelor of Science in [subject], [institution] — expected [month year].” Replace every bracket with verified information. Do not describe an unfinished degree as awarded. A completed course and a completed degree are different qualifications.

Projects: show applied work

Describe the problem, your contribution and the deliverable. Say whether it was personal, academic or professional, and make team contributions distinct.

Illustrative example: “Academic project: built a Python script to combine survey files, documented missing-value checks and presented findings with the project team.” Link to a relevant public artifact when you have permission to share it. A course project belongs here without being disguised as paid employment.

Certifications: distinguish earned from planned

Include the credential's exact name, issuing organization and relevant validity information. Follow the posting's instructions if a license or certification is required.

Illustrative pattern: “[Credential name] — [issuer], awarded [date], expires [date if applicable].” If you are studying for an exam, label that status accurately or omit it. Registration for an exam does not mean you hold the credential.

Volunteering: make the contribution visible

Use the organization, role and dates, followed by relevant work. You can also include volunteer work in a broader Experience section if its label is clear.

Illustrative example: “Volunteer coordinator: maintained the weekly rota, confirmed shift coverage and prepared handover notes for incoming volunteers.” Paid status does not determine whether an example demonstrates a useful skill. Protect the privacy of anyone served by the organization.

Before you finish

  • Does every section contribute relevant evidence?
  • Are titles, dates, qualifications and completion statuses accurate?
  • Can a reader distinguish individual work from team work?
  • Are the headings recognizable and the timeline understandable?
  • Have all placeholders been replaced or removed?

Next: choose a useful length

Read How many pages should my resume be?. Related guides: formatting and clear resume language.

If a section contains vague duties, try the Bullet Converter with your own factual notes, then check every proposed statement.

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