How Should a Resume Look in 2026?

A resume is read twice: once by software that extracts text, and once by a person who gives it a few seconds before deciding whether to read properly. A good layout serves both.

Length

• One page for students, graduates and anyone with under about ten years of experience.
• Two pages for longer careers, where cutting would remove relevant work.
• Longer only for academic CVs, which follow different conventions entirely.

Two pages is not a failure. Shrinking the font to 8pt to force one page is, because it is immediately visible.

Layout

Keep it single column. Two column layouts look designed and frequently scramble when software reads them, because the text extracts in the wrong order.

Other basics that hold up:

• Margins between 1.3 and 2.5 cm
• 10 to 12pt body text
• Clear white space between sections rather than a dense block
• Consistent spacing, which matters more than the exact amount
• Bold for job titles and company names so the eye can scan

Fonts

Use something ordinary and readable: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, Garamond, Times New Roman. The font is not where you differentiate yourself, and an unusual one can fail to embed in a PDF and render as something else.

One font throughout, with size and weight for hierarchy, looks tidier than mixing two.

Sections, in order

1. Name and contact details. Phone, professional email, city, LinkedIn if it is current. No full street address, and no photo in the US, UK, Canada or Australia.
2. Summary. Two or three lines saying what you do and what you are looking for. Optional, and better omitted than filled with phrases like “results driven professional”.
3. Experience. Reverse chronological. Company, title, dates, then bullet points.
4. Education. Above experience only if you graduated recently or the role requires a specific qualification.
5. Skills. Concrete and relevant. Tools, languages, certifications.
6. Optional extras. Projects, publications, volunteering, where they add something.

Writing the bullet points

This is where most resumes are won or lost.

Start with a verb, say what you did, and show the result. Compare:

• Responsible for managing social media accounts
• Grew Instagram following from 2,000 to 15,000 in eight months through a weekly content schedule

The first describes a job description. The second describes a person.

Numbers help because they are specific and checkable. If you do not have numbers, scope works: how many people, how many clients, how often.

Three to five bullets for recent roles, one or two for older ones.

Applicant tracking systems

Most medium and large employers run resumes through software that extracts text into a database. Things that break it:

• Tables and text boxes
• Multiple columns
• Headers and footers containing contact details
• Graphics, icons and skill rating bars
• Images of text
• Unusual section names such as “Where I Have Been” instead of “Experience”

The widely repeated claim that a majority of resumes are auto rejected by software is overstated. These systems mostly store and search rather than reject outright. Still, a resume that extracts badly is harder to find in a search, which has the same practical effect.

File format

PDF unless the posting asks for something else, because it keeps your layout. Some older systems prefer .docx, and when a job ad specifies a format, follow it.

Name the file properly: Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf, not resume-final-v3.pdf.

What to leave out

• Photo, age, marital status and nationality, in countries where these are not customary
• “References available on request”, which takes a line to say nothing
• Every job since you were sixteen, unless relevant
• Skill rating bars, which are unmeasurable and extract as nothing
• An objective statement about what you want from the company

Tailoring

Reorder bullets and adjust the skills list to match the posting. You do not need a new resume for each application, but a generic one sent everywhere performs noticeably worse.

Use the language of the job advert where it is honest to do so. If they say “stakeholder management” and that is what you did, use their phrase.

Frequently asked questions

Should a resume be one page or two?

One for most people under ten years of experience, two when the extra content is genuinely relevant.

Do I need a cover letter?

When one is requested, yes, and a specific one. Where optional, it helps most when changing field or explaining something unusual in your history.

How far back should experience go?

Roughly ten to fifteen years in detail. Older roles can be a single line or left out.

Should I include my GPA?

Include it if you graduated recently and it is strong, commonly 3.5 or above. See our guide on how to calculate your GPA. After a few years of work, leave it off.

Is a creative resume ever a good idea?

In design and similar fields, a portfolio does that work. The resume itself should still be readable and machine friendly.

How do I explain an employment gap?

Briefly and without apology. A short line stating the reason is better than an unexplained hole, and most interviewers care far less than candidates expect.