How To Make A Resume Outline (With Examples)

One of the essential tools you’ll need when venturing out into the job market is a solid resume. Your resume is an overview of your educational background, professional experience, and your skills and qualifications.

Keep in mind that a resume will be the first point of contact between you and a hiring manager.

If you feel unsure about what to include in your resume, it’s a good idea to start by creating a resume outline. Like other outlines, a resume outline will help you organize and structure a highly functional and great-looking resume.

This article will help you learn how to structure and format a resume outline, which will help you craft an effective and appealing resume.

What Is a Resume Outline?

A resume outline is essentially a template that will help you create a framework for your resume. Like with any assignment, one of the best ways for a person to get organized is by creating an outline that dictates everything that should be included in a document.

This outline will help you break down all the intricate elements that will need to be included in your resume and how to visualize its outcome.

Before you begin creating your outline, you will need to collect as much information as possible. To know which data will be relevant for your resume, you will need to review the job posting for the job you’re applying for.

This information will help you tailor your resume specifically for the job.

How to Create a Resume Outline

If you already have a resume, you can use this as a backbone for your resume outline. With that information, you can add or delete anything you feel is relatable to the job you are applying for.

When creating a resume, there are many things you will need to think about. You need to consider the information you will add to your resume, including the font and format.

Though you might want to add everything you have done up until now, the truth is your resume should not be too long. Focus on your most relevant experiences – this will help you stand out in the hiring process.

Before you begin, consider the information you will want to include, the format you will use, and whether or not you will add a resume summary or objective.

Here are some elements you will need to include in your resume outline:

1. Resume heading. This section should focus on the first information presented at the very top of your resume. It should include your contact information, meaning your name, address, phone number, professional email, and LinkedIn profile (if you have one).

   Example

   Jane Smith
   Address
   Phone Number
   Professional Email
   LinkedIn Profile (If you have one)

2. Resume introcution. Once you have added your contact information, your next step is to market yourself. This means creating an alluring professional summary that states who you are and what you have to offer.

   Creating a professional summary lets the hiring manager know some of the key elements and skills that make you an ideal candidate for the job.

   Another alternative is to create a resume objective. This is a brief paragraph that states why you are interested in the job you are applying for.

   Keep in mind that the resume objective has become somewhat obsolete, seeing how many hiring managers prefer reading about what you can do for the company and not what the company can do for you.

   Professional Summary Example

   An exceptionally hard-working individual with outstanding professional organizational and time management skills. With over 5 years of experience in planning and coordinating cost-effective strategies to increase sales.

   Resume Objective Example

   Administrative assistant with 5+ years of experience in planning and coordinating cost-effective strategies to increase sales seeking to improve my knowledge and experience as I move into a role as a Project Coordinator.

3. Professional experience. Remember to include a list of professional experiences related to the position you are trying to get. If you have a long list of jobs under your belt, make sure that you list those that will help you stand out amongst other candidates.

   Once you have chosen the positions, you will need to briefly describe what you did during your time with the company or organization.

   Something you will need to decide is how you will organize your resume. Choosing to go with a chronological resume will help hiring managers go through your resume more easily and will show your progress over the years.

   Professional Experience Section Example

   Professional Experience

   Company Name | Company Location (City, State)
   Most Recent Job Title | Start Date – End Date (Month, Year or MM/YYYY)

   • Impressive accomplishment (with numbers if possible)

   • Relevant job duties or accomplishments (accomplishments are always better)

   • Discuss the impact of your job on the company’s/department’s overall goals

   Earlier Company Name | Company Location (City, State)
   Earlier Job Title | Start Date – End Date (Month, Year or MM/YYYY)

   • Relevant achievements from your past job

   • Use past tense verbs for jobs you aren’t currently performing

   • You can include fewer bullets for older experiences

4. Education. As a part of professional development, many have attended educational institutions and obtained relevant certifications to advance their careers.

   Even if you have not completed higher education, you can also choose to include your high school education or GED certification. You might also want to add any academic accomplishments you might have received during your education.

   Example Education Section

   Education

   Most Recent School Name | School Location (City, State)
   Graduation Date (or Anticipated Graduation Date, clearly labeled as such)
   Degree Name

5. Skills and qualifications. Lastly, you will want to list any skills and qualifications you have to help you stand out amongst other applicants. The ideal qualifications listed should be related to the job you are searching for.

   It is also essential to list more than only one or two skills. Keep in mind that there are two different kinds of skills: hard and soft skills. Hard skills are skills that you will need to take a class or workshops to perfect, while soft skills are more interpersonal abilities such as being detail-oriented or team player.

   Example Skills Section

   Relevant Skills

   • Hard Skill #1

   • Hard Skill #2

   • Hard Skill #3

   • Soft Skill #1

   • Soft Skill #2

   • Soft Skill #3

Why Is It Important to Create a Resume Outline?

When you create a resume, you should plan every detail you would like to include in the document. An outline will help you organize your thoughts and create your ideal resume. Having an alluring resume can help you with one of your most important goals: getting hired.

Resume Outline Template

Resume Outline Example

Now before you go off and state drafting your resume outline, here are a few examples that can help you get started.

Tips for Using a Resume Outline

• Consider your resume format. There are three popular resume formats: chronological, functional, and combination. So far, we’ve been providing outlines and templates for a chronological resume format. But it’s not so hard to adapt the above outline for functional and combination resumes.

  Simply place the skills above the work experience, and write a more thorough description of your experience with each skill. Then, include less information about your professional experience, omitting dates if you need to cover up gaps in your employment.

  If you’re writing a combination resume, then beef up your skills section as you would for a functional resume, but keep your work history as complete as you would for a chronological resume. This may take up more room, so be sure that each line item packs plenty of value and is worth the real estate.

  Regardless of your format, feel free to change the order of the sections listed above and include optional sections if you feel they improve the quality of your resume.

  For example, if you’re a recent college graduate, you may opt to place your education section after your resume summary statement and before your professional experience section.

• Tailor your resume for each job. A resume isn’t a static document that’s the same for each and every job application. Instead, it’s necessary to tailor each resume you send for the specific job.

  We recommend reading the job description carefully. Highlight the action verbs in one color and the skills, qualifications, and job-specific nouns in a different color.

  Then look for ways to naturally and honestly incorporate those keywords into your resume. If one keyword seems more important or is frequently repeated in the job listing, consider sprinkling it through multiple sections of your resume.

• Write about accomplishments. Most hiring managers and recruiters know what your job responsibilities were based on your job title. For example, an accountant doesn’t need to write that they handled payroll, because it isn’t very informative or impressive.

  Instead, try to make each bullet point under your professional experience section include a noteworthy accomplishment. If possible, include numbers here as well — folks may have a tough time discerning the value of qualitative data, but 25% is 25% no matter who you talk to.

• Keep formatting simple. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are frequently used today — some 75% of companies use them, and 98%+ of Fortune 500 companies do. These pieces of software are designed to parse your resume and assign a score. Resumes that don’t pass this test aren’t ever read by a hiring manager (sad, but true).

  Instead of crying about robots ruining your future, take advantage of the system by optimizing your resume for ATS. That means no fancy formatting gimmicks or graphical elements.

  If you want to see how an ATS will read your resume, simply copy/paste your document into a plain text document (like Notepad). Whatever you see there is exactly what an ATS will see.

  The most important ATS trick is to never put your contact info in the header of the document. Some ATS can’t read this information, and if it can’t read your contact information, you’ll automatically be removed from the candidate pool.

• Make your resume one page. Unless you’re a senior-level employee with a decade or more of relevant experience, it’s best to keep your resume to a single page. Stick to 1-inch margins, keep your font 12-point, and make sure to remove irrelevant information.

  Try to keep each bullet point to a single line, combine your contact information into one line, and consider combining optional sections like “volunteering” or “certifications” under headings like “additional experience,” for example.

• Make a “master” resume. Our last tip is to create a massive, master resume document that you can work from. In this document, you can break all the rules about relevant experience, page length, and customization.

  Having one document that includes everything you might need to write the perfectly optimized resume for any company is a real asset. It means that you don’t have to start from scratch each time you start a new job application.

  Combined with a resume outline, a master resume document has the power to make your job-search process more efficient and effective.

Final Thoughts

Learning to create a resume outline is a beneficial tool to have when venturing into the job market. It promotes good organizational skills, and it will also help you choose a path in your career. Knowing what you are going to include will help you develop the perfect resume.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.