Resume guides
How to write the thing, not how to decorate it. Each guide is the advice we’d give someone sitting next to us — specific, opinionated, and free of the filler that makes most resume advice useless.
AI writingTom Aldridge4 min readHow an AI resume builder actually helpsWhat AI is genuinely good at when writing a resume, what it should never be trusted with, and how to use it without ending up with a generic document.
GuideLéa Fontaine6 min readHow to write a resume, step by stepA practical order of operations for writing a resume from nothing: what goes on the page, what to cut, and how to make each line earn its space.
FormattingLéa Fontaine6 min readWriting an ATS-friendly resumeWhat applicant tracking systems really do with your resume, which formatting choices break parsing, and how to stay readable to both software and people.
ATSSofia Marchetti7 min readFinding the keywords that actually matterHow to pull the real keywords out of a job posting, where to put them so they count, and why stuffing a skills section does nothing.
ATSAmina Chatti5 min readThe checklist to run before you submitA concrete pre-submit checklist: how to test that your resume parses, what to verify on the page, and the five-minute tailoring pass worth doing every time.
WritingTom Aldridge6 min readResume summary examples that aren't fillerWhat a professional summary is for, a formula that works, and worked examples across engineering, design, marketing and career changes.
WritingTom Aldridge3 min readWriting resume bullet points that landHow to turn a list of responsibilities into evidence: the verb-scope-outcome pattern, finding numbers you didn't think you had, and before-and-after rewrites.
FormattingAmina Chatti3 min readChoosing a resume formatThe three standard resume formats, which one suits your situation, and the layout decisions that follow — length, order, dates and section naming.
ReviewSofia Marchetti4 min readResume mistakes worth fixing firstThe errors that actually cost interviews, ordered by how much damage they do — and what to do about each one.
InternationalLéa Fontaine3 min readTranslating your resume for another countryWhat changes when you apply abroad — beyond the words. Conventions on photos, personal details, length and qualifications, country by country.
SituationsAmina Chatti3 min readWriting a resume for a career changeHow to make experience from one field read as relevant to another: what to lead with, what to translate, and what to leave out.
FormattingTom Aldridge6 min readThe chronological resume formatThe reverse-chronological resume: what it is, why it's the default for almost everyone, how to lay one out, and the two situations where it works against you.
FormattingSofia Marchetti7 min readThe functional resume format, and why to be careful with itThe skills-based resume format: how it's built, why recruiters distrust it, the narrow cases where it genuinely helps, and the hybrid that usually works better.
FormattingDaniel Okonkwo5 min readHow long should a resume be?One page or two, when a second page is justified, which fields expect longer, and what to cut when you're over — with the rule that actually decides it.
PracticalTom Aldridge5 min readTurning your LinkedIn profile into a resumeHow to turn a LinkedIn profile into a real resume, why LinkedIn's own PDF export is a poor starting point, and what has to change between the two documents.
AI writingAmina Chatti5 min readUsing ChatGPT to write your resumeHow to use ChatGPT on a resume without producing something generic: what to ask it, what never to trust it with, and the tells recruiters actually notice.
VocabularyPriya Raghunathan8 min readCV vs resume: the difference, and which one you were asked forA CV and a resume are the same document in Britain and two different documents in America. What each word means where you are applying, and how to tell which one the posting wants.
BasicsAmina Chatti6 min readWhat a resume is, what it is for, and how to spell itA resume is a one-to-two-page argument for why you should get one specific job — not a record of everything you have done. What belongs on one, and the three accepted spellings.
BasicsLéa Fontaine6 min readWhat to put on a resume — and what to take offThe five sections that do the work, the four that are situational, and the seven things still appearing on resumes that stopped helping years ago.
FormattingAmina Chatti5 min readWhat a good resume actually looks likeThe visual and structural qualities every strong resume shares, what changed in the last few years, and how to check yours in the ten seconds a recruiter gives it.
SkillsTom Aldridge7 min readSkills on a resume: what to list, and what listing provesHow to choose the skills worth listing, why the list itself proves nothing, and where the proof actually goes. With examples by field and the words to stop using.
SkillsTom Aldridge6 min readHard skills and soft skills: which to list and which to proveHard skills belong in a list, soft skills do not. Why the distinction decides where each one goes on your resume, with the phrasing that makes a soft skill credible.
SkillsTom Aldridge5 min readTechnical and computer skills on a resumeHow to list computer and technical skills so they mean something: naming specifics instead of suites, stating depth without ratings, and what to leave off entirely.
SkillsLéa Fontaine5 min readThe skills section: where to put it and how to format itWhere the skills section belongs on the page, how to group it, how many to list, and the formatting decisions that decide whether it survives a parser.
Early careerSofia Marchetti7 min readHow to write a high school resumeWhat goes on a resume when school is most of your history: how to order it, what counts as experience, and the bullet patterns that work for a first job or a college application.
Early careerPriya Raghunathan6 min readThe college student resumeHow to build a resume around a degree, coursework and projects when your work history is a summer job — and when to move education back below experience.
Early careerAmina Chatti6 min readWriting a resume with no experienceWhat to put on a resume for a first job when you have never had one — what counts as experience, how to structure the page, and what employers hiring at this level are actually reading for.
PracticalTom Aldridge7 min readHow to add your resume to LinkedInThe three different places LinkedIn accepts a resume, which one you actually want, and why attaching one to your public profile is usually the wrong choice.
PracticalDaniel Okonkwo5 min readPutting your LinkedIn on your resumeWhere the LinkedIn URL goes, how to format it, how to customise it first, and when including the link works against you.
FormattingDaniel Okonkwo6 min readThe best fonts for a resume, and the size to set them atWhich typefaces work on a resume, which quietly cost you, what size and line height to set, and why the font is a much smaller decision than the time spent on it suggests.
FormatsLéa Fontaine6 min readThe Harvard resume format, and why it worksWhat the Harvard resume format actually is, the structure its career office teaches, the bullet formula behind it, and how to use it without going to Harvard.
FormatsAmina Chatti6 min readJake's Resume: what it is and why engineers use itThe single-page LaTeX template that became the default in software hiring: what it contains, why it works, and how to get the same result without learning LaTeX.
FormatsDaniel Okonkwo6 min readLaTeX resumes: when they are worth itWhy LaTeX resumes look the way they do, where Overleaf fits, what the format genuinely buys you, and the honest case for not bothering.
FormatsAmina Chatti6 min readThe federal resume: why it breaks every other ruleA federal resume is four to six pages and includes hours per week, supervisor details and salary. What USAJOBS requires, why the rules are different, and how to write one.
FormatsDaniel Okonkwo6 min readThe acting resume, and how it differs from every other kindAn acting resume is one page, attached to a headshot, and organised by medium rather than chronology. What casting reads, what to list, and the conventions that mark an amateur.
SectionsLéa Fontaine6 min readReferences: leave them off, and prepare them anywayWhy "references available on request" should come off your resume, when a separate reference page is asked for, and how to prepare referees before anyone calls them.
SectionsAmina Chatti5 min readHow to list certifications on a resumeWhere certifications belong, how to format them, which ones are worth listing, and how to handle expired credentials or ones you are still working towards.
SectionsDaniel Okonkwo5 min readThe education section: what to include and where to put itWhere the education section goes, what to list at each career stage, whether to include your GPA, and how to handle an unfinished degree or a long-ago graduation.
FormattingTom Aldridge6 min readShould you put a photo on your resume?A photo on a resume is a regional convention, not a matter of taste. Where it is expected, where it costs you, what parsers do with it, and how to get the picture right.
WritingSofia Marchetti5 min readAction verbs that carry a resume, and the ones that sink itThe verbs worth starting a bullet with, grouped by what they claim, plus the weak openers to replace and why verb choice matters less than what comes after it.
SectionsPriya Raghunathan5 min readResume objectives and profiles: what replaced themThe objective statement is obsolete and the summary replaced it. What the difference is, when an objective is still right, and how to write the three sentences that open a resume.
Cover lettersLéa Fontaine6 min readWhat a cover letter is, and whether you need oneWhat a cover letter does that a resume cannot, when it is worth writing, what a cover page is and is not, and the four-paragraph structure that works.
DecidingPriya Raghunathan7 min readResume writing services: what you get for the moneyWhat a professional resume writer actually does, what the tiers cost, when the money is well spent, and the cheaper things worth trying first.
PracticalAmina Chatti6 min readBuilding a resume website: when it helps and how to do itWho actually benefits from a personal resume site, what belongs on it, how to build one without over-engineering it, and why it never replaces the PDF.Build it in the editor
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