Does your resume have everything you need? Does it leave out what you don’t? Here’s a simple 7-step checklist for making sure your resume is strong and effective.

1. Headline.

Just like a news article uses a headline to draw attention to its story, your resume should use a headline to draw attention to your career story. 

Examples:

• Expert Certified Auto Technician

• Bilingual Customer Service Specialist

• Communications Team Leader

The headline should contain the job title that you’re applying for, even if you haven’t had that exact job title previously. Your goal is to position yourself for the job you want and get the hiring manager to think about you in those terms, not just about the jobs you’ve had in the past.

It should be placed at the top of your resume, directly under your contact information and above your summary. The point size should be bigger than your standard body text size.

2. Summary.

Your headline guides the reader into your summary, which should make them think “This person matches everything I want!” In just a few sentences, your summary needs to hook them and get them to read more. It should include keywords from the job posting, woven in naturally with an overview of your most relevant experience and accomplishments.

Here’s an example of how a headline and summary work together. This is for a nonprofit fundraising director who’s applying to lead a small organization that needs someone with development chops.

Nonprofit Executive Director and CEO

Expert major gifts development leader with extensive experience in strategic growth planning and board member recruiting. History of leading double-digit revenue growth and creating powerful public-private partnerships. 

3. Job overview.

After the headline and summary come the core of your resume – your professional experience. Each listing should be broken into two parts, a job overview and bullet points of your results.

Job titles alone don’t always provide a hiring manager or recruiter with the information they need. The job overview is a short paragraph of 1-3 sentences that gives the reader context about your role and major areas of expertise. It should include information like the size of your employer, the scope of your role, the size of your budget, and the number of staff you manage.

Here’s an example:

Lead communications and marketing strategy for 50,000-member professional dental hygienist association. Manages media relations, social media, and marketing projects, directing $250,000 marketing budget and leading staff of three FTEs. Counsels affiliate organizations on membership strategy and tactics.

4. Results and achievements.

Too many resumes just have lists of tasks and duties that don’t set them apart. If another employee in the same role could use your resume without any changes, you need to start over. It should differentiate you from everyone else by focusing on what you’ve done for your employer – and what you will do for future prospects.

They should include numbers and quantify results whenever possible. Here are some sample result bullet points for the job overview above:

• Grew membership 12% over two years with direct mail member acquisition strategy.

• Increased social media engagement by 27% year-over-year with aggressive UGC expansion into TikTok and Instagram Reels.

• Achieved 8% increase in thought leadership op-ed placements in targeted Mid-Atlantic media outlets.

• Reduced publication budget by 15% by streamlining production process and consolidating vendors.

5. Skills.

Skills go beyond technical abilities to include training, project management, editing, and similar areas of expertise. This is an important place to make sure your skills match the keywords in a specific job posting. If the employer lists Microsoft Word, then you need to include that as well. Just listing Microsoft Office Suite may not satisfy the computer systems.

6. Jargon.

Always think about your audience. The recruiter or HR staffer who’s doing the initial screening – and even the hiring manager – may not have your same level of technical knowledge. You need to balance out a need to showcase your expertise with a need for readers to understand what you’re saying.

Start by eliminating as much jargon as possible from your job overview and results bullets – acronyms, abbreviations, technical terms, or industry lingo. If certain items are important, try to work them back in naturally while also making sure a non-technical person can understand what you’re saying. Or add them into your skills section.

7. Proofread.

Always give your resume a good, thorough read before submitting. Ask a trusted friend or family member to check for typos, missing words, or similar errors that might disqualify you. Run grammar and spell checks, but don’t rely solely on them. If you can, read it out loud slowly to identify any problem spots.