What to Put on a Resume (Ranked by What ATS Reads First)

This guide is different. We break down every resume section in order of importance, show you exactly what each section should contain, and — for the first time — reveal how ATS software prioritizes each section when scoring your resume. Because knowing what to include on a resume is only half the equation. The other half is knowing what the machine is looking for.

1. Header & Contact Info — Name, professional title, phone, email, LinkedIn, city/state
2. Professional Summary — 3-4 line tailored overview mirroring the job description
3. Work Experience — Reverse-chronological roles with quantified, keyword-rich bullets
4. Skills Section — 8-12 hard skills pulled directly from the job description
5. Education — Degree, institution, graduation year, relevant honors
6. Certifications & Licenses — Industry credentials that validate expertise
7. Projects — Portfolio work or notable initiatives (especially for tech/creative roles)
8. Awards & Honors — Recognition that reinforces credibility (if space permits)
9. Hobbies & Interests — Optional section that can humanize your application when relevant to the role

Before we dive into each section, here is something most resume content guides never tell you: ATS software does not weight all sections equally. The Skills section is the primary keyword harvest zone — it's where ATS systems pull the most matching data. Work Experience carries heavy weight because it demonstrates those skills in context. Your Summary sets the framing for how the ATS categorizes your application. Everything else — Education, Certifications, Projects, Awards — matters but carries less algorithmic weight.

This matters because most candidates spend 80% of their time perfecting their Work Experience bullets and almost no time on their Skills section — which is arguably the highest-impact section for ATS scoring. Here is how to approach each one.

This is the simplest section on your resume — and one of the easiest to get wrong. Your header should include your full name, professional title (matching the job you are applying for), phone number, professional email address, LinkedIn URL, and city/state. That is it.

The most critical technical detail: place your contact information in the document body, not in the header or footer region. Many ATS parsers cannot read content placed in document headers or footers, which can make your application effectively anonymous in the system.

What to include:

• Full name (not nicknames unless you go by them professionally)
• Professional title that matches the target role
• Phone number with voicemail set up
• Professional email (firstname.lastname@gmail.com, not cooldude99@hotmail.com)
• LinkedIn profile URL (customized, not the default random string)
• City and state (no full street address — recruiters do not need it)

What to skip: Full mailing address, photo, date of birth, marital status, nationality. None of these help. Several introduce bias. And 76% of recruiters will reject a resume with an unprofessional email address (CareerBuilder).

Your professional summary is the first substantive text a recruiter reads — and the first paragraph the ATS parses for keywords. In 3-4 lines, you need to communicate: who you are, what you do, and why you are right for this specific role.

The key word is specific. A summary that reads "Results-driven professional seeking new opportunities" is not a summary — it is noise. A summary that reads "Senior Data Engineer with 8 years building scalable ETL pipelines in AWS, specializing in the real-time processing architectures this role requires" is a targeted pitch that hits keywords and demonstrates fit in one sentence.

The formula: [Title] + [Years of experience] + [2-3 top skills from the JD] + [Most relevant quantified achievement]. Write a new summary for every application.

For a deep dive with templates and examples, the Resume Summary Examples guide has templates you can adapt.

This is the section that gets the most recruiter attention — it's typically the first place hiring managers look and where they spend the majority of their review time. It's also a major source of ATS keyword matching. In short: this section can make or break your application.

Format each role consistently:

• Job title (matching the posting's language where honest)
• Company name + employment dates (Month Year – Month Year)
• 3-5 bullet points per role, starting with your most recent position
• Each bullet follows the formula: Action verb + what you did + quantified result

The order of your bullets matters more than most people realize. Recruiters spend disproportionate time on the first bullet under your most recent role — it often determines whether they keep reading. That bullet should be the achievement most relevant to the target job — not necessarily your most impressive overall accomplishment.

Resumes with quantified bullets receive 2.3 times more interview invitations (GoApply, 2024). Replace "managed projects" with "managed 8 concurrent projects totaling $4.2M, delivering 7 of 8 on time." The How to Quantify Resume Achievements guide walks through the full process.

Here is the section most candidates underinvest in — and it is arguably the most important section for ATS scoring. Your Skills section is the algorithm's primary keyword harvest zone, where ATS systems pull the most direct skill matches against the job description.

How to build your skills section:

• Read the job description. Extract every hard skill, tool, certification, and technical term.
• List 8-12 of these skills, using the exact wording from the JD.
• Order them by prominence in the posting — skills listed first get the most attention.
• Focus on hard skills: programming languages, tools, platforms, methodologies, certifications.
• Include soft skills only if the JD explicitly mentions them — and never more than 2-3.

Rebuild this section for every application. A skills section that is not tailored to the specific job description is actively hurting your ATS score. The Resume Keywords Guide covers keyword strategy in depth.

Education carries less ATS weight than Skills or Experience, but it still matters — especially for entry-level candidates, where it can be the deciding section. For experienced professionals, it is a quick checkbox: does this person have the required degree?

What to include:

• Degree type + major (e.g., "B.S. in Computer Science")
• Institution name
• Graduation year (or "Expected May 2027" if current student)
• GPA only if above 3.5 and you graduated within the last 2-3 years
• Relevant coursework only if you lack professional experience in the field
• Honors (cum laude, Dean's List) if they reinforce your candidacy

Where to place it: If you have fewer than 2 years of professional experience, Education goes above Work Experience. Otherwise, it goes below Skills. Entry-level candidates should lead with Education; everyone else leads with Experience.

Certifications carry less raw ATS weight than Skills or Experience, but their ROI is disproportionately high when they match the job description. If the posting requires "PMP certification" or "AWS Solutions Architect," having that credential on your resume is not just a keyword match — it is a hard requirement filter. Many ATS systems use certifications as binary pass/fail gates.

Format: Certification name + Issuing organization + Year obtained (or "In Progress"). List only credentials relevant to the target role. A marketing manager does not need to list their food handler's permit.

Projects carry minimal ATS weight but high human impact — especially in tech, design, data science, and creative fields where portfolio work speaks louder than job titles. If you are a career changer, a recent graduate, or someone whose best work happened outside of traditional employment, this section is your opportunity.

Format each project: Project name + brief description (1-2 lines) + technologies used + measurable outcome if possible. Link to live demos, GitHub repos, or published work where applicable.

Awards carry minimal ATS weight and are rarely decisive in recruiter screening. Include them only if they are genuinely impressive and relevant to the role — a "Salesperson of the Year" award is meaningful for a sales role; a college debate trophy is not.

If you are tight on space (one-page resume), this is the first section to cut.

One of the most common questions about resume sections order is: what goes first? The answer depends on where you are in your career. Here is how to organize your resume based on experience level.

The principle is simple: lead with your strongest section. For entry-level candidates, that is usually Education or Projects. For mid-career professionals, it is Experience. For senior leaders, it is Experience followed by a curated Skills section. In every case, the Summary comes right after the Header because it sets the context for everything below.

Knowing what to put on a resume is only half the equation. Knowing what to leave off is equally important — because every irrelevant line dilutes the keyword density that ATS is measuring and wastes the precious seconds recruiters spend reading.

What are the must-have sections on a resume?

Every resume needs five core sections: Header/Contact Information, Professional Summary, Work Experience, Skills, and Education. These are the sections ATS software expects to find, and they account for over 90% of your ATS keyword score. Certifications, Projects, and Awards are optional but valuable when relevant.

What order should resume sections be in?

For most professionals: Header, Summary, Work Experience, Skills, Education, then optional sections. Entry-level candidates should place Education before Experience. The key principle is to lead with your strongest section — whatever best demonstrates your fit for the role.

How many skills should I list on my resume?

List 8-12 hard skills pulled directly from the job description. The Skills section is the ATS's primary keyword harvest zone, making it one of the most impactful sections for algorithmic scoring. Focus on technical skills, tools, and certifications — not generic soft skills like "team player."

Should I include an objective statement?

No. Objective statements like "Seeking a challenging position..." are outdated and add no value. Replace them with a Professional Summary: a 3-4 line paragraph that includes your title, years of experience, top skills from the job description, and your most relevant quantified achievement.

What should I skip on my resume?

Leave off: "References available upon request," full mailing address, photos, objective statements, irrelevant hobbies, high school education (if you have a degree), every job you have ever had (keep to 10-15 years), and salary expectations. Each of these wastes space without improving your ATS score or recruiter impression. If you're unsure how to handle references properly, the resume references guide explains current best practices.

The difference between a resume that gets interviews and one that disappears is not magic — it is structure. Every section has a purpose. Every line should earn its place. And now you know exactly what the algorithm is looking for in each one.

Start with the high-impact sections: a tailored Summary that mirrors the JD, a Skills section built from the job description's keywords, and Work Experience bullets that lead with quantified achievements. Get those three right, and you have addressed the vast majority of what ATS systems and recruiters are looking for.

Then refine: place your sections in the right order for your experience level, cut everything that does not add value, and run an ATS check before you submit. That is the formula. It is not complicated. It just takes intentionality.

Sources & References

1. 1.GoApply (2024) — Resumes with quantified bullets receive 2.3× more interview invitations
2. 2.CareerBuilder — Recruiters reject resumes with unprofessional email addresses
3. 3.Huntr Q2 2025 Job Search Trends Report — Tailored resumes: 5.75% interview rate vs. 2.68% for generic (115% improvement)
4. 4.TheLadders Eye-Tracking Study (2018) — Average recruiter initial scan lasts 7.4 seconds