A simple guide to sections of a resume

A resume is like a menu card expressing all the skills and talents that you can bring to the table. A good resume is one that is successful in ensuring that your important skills, experience, and qualifications are understood by the recruiter/employers easily. This also means that your resume should also be ATS friendly and your resume sections and heading should be following the best practices.

While every person’s resume is different, there are certain sections that should be always included, while the rest can be made optional. Here are the standard sections of a resume -

• Basic Information
• Contact details
• Skills
• Work Experience
• Education

Let’s understand these in detail -

1. Basic Information — This section has all the basic information giving an overview about you; showcasing your professional goals and why you’re qualified for the job. Adding a picture of yourself to your resume is optional.
2. Contact details — This section helps the recruiter with all the necessary information to reach out to you. Always ensure that you have included the correct contact details and that you have double-checked the same.
3. Skills — This section should include about 5 to 10 core strengths and competencies that are relevant and necessary for the job. You can include a combination of soft skills and hard skills.
4. Work Experience — This section should very clearly mention the company name, the time period you worked there, job title, and 3–4 lines highlighting work and contribution there. If you are a fresher you can include your internship experience here.
5. Education — This section should include your education in reverse chronological order, that is, the highest education degree on top and then the others. Along with the degree, mention the name of the college and university and graduation year. You can highlight your CGPA (of more than 7) and percentage (of more than 70%) to add more value to your resume.

As mentioned above, you can add optional sections according to the job that you’re applying for, here are a few additional sections-

1. Projects — List down all your projects and a one-line summary of the project along with the year of project completion. Projects showcase your implementation capabilities.
2. Training and certificates — Your certifications can help you set yourself apart from other candidates. While listing the certification, include the name of the certificate, Certifying agency/website and the date received.
3. Achievements — Listing your achievement shows the recruiter that you can use your skills and experiences to get results.
4. Extra-curricular Activities — Mentioning your extra-curricular activities gives a holistic idea about your personality and capabilities.
5. Languages — You can include languages if you speak more than one language, it may of some benefit to the hiring company.
6. Hobbies — Adding hobbies relevant to the job role or the type of company you’re applying for, might be beneficial. The hobbies you list may include certain skills that are important for the job or are a perfect fit for the company culture.

Choosing sections in your resume as a fresher

As a fresher, your education, skills, and extra-curricular activities are going to be stronger than your experience. Hence, it is important to include sections like extra-curricular, skills, hobbies, etc.

1. Basic Information
2. Contact details
3. Education
4. Experience (Internship)
5. Projects
6. Extracurriculars
7. Skills
8. Hobbies

Choosing sections in your resume as an experienced professional

As an experienced professional, you should emphasize more on your experience and professional achievements. Hence, it is important to include work experience, highlighting your achievements.

1. Contact details
2. Basic Information
3. Work experience
4. Achievements
5. Certifications (if relevant)
6. Education
7. Skills

When you make your resume be extremely thoughtful in the process and pay attention to details. Your resume should be able to deliver the core information clearly.

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