What Makes a Good Resume: Top Tips for a Winning Job Application

May 30 2025

A great resume opens the doors to job opportunities, so you must make yours count. Many applicants make the mistake of thinking it’s just about listing their job duties, but that’s not the case.

Your resume strategically displays your relevant skills, achievements, and value. So when suitable candidates fail to land a job role, it’s most likely because they don’t have a good resume.

There are certain elements a strong resume must have to appeal to hiring managers. Without them, you’ll get lost in the sea of applicants. Fortunately for you, we do this at Craft Resumes. Turning your professional background into a compelling career story.

Here’s a brief rundown of what makes a good resume:

Contact Information
Summary Statement
Core Competencies
Professional Experience
Education
Certifications and Training
Additional Information
Good Formatting and Presentation
Customization for the Job Description
Proofreading and Final Review

In this guide, we’ll discuss each of these elements in detail and how they come together to make your resume impossible to ignore.

What Makes a Good Resume?

Contact Information

The section that contains your contact details is highly important. How do you expect the hiring managers to contact you if you make any mistake? Your contact information is perhaps one of the few similarities you’ll see in a cover letter vs resume. It should be completely accurate, easy to read, and, most importantly, at the very top of your resume.

Although it’s one of the easiest sections to write, a few spelling mistakes could cost you the job you’re applying for. Not to worry, though – our resume writers can help you avoid this. They have an excellent command of English and know how to make your contact information appear professional.

Here’s what your contact information should include:

Full name
Phone number (with area code)
Professional email address, e.g., [email protected]
City and state (no full address needed), e.g., Houston, Texas, or Nairobi, Kenya.
LinkedIn profile or personal website (optional but a great addition).

Summary Statement

An impressive resume should have a strong summary statement because it’s your elevator pitch. It tells prospective employers who you are and why you’re the right fit for the job posting. Your professional summary should capture your core strengths, professional identity, and career direction in a few lines.

You can’t achieve that with vague statements about your work history and technical skills. Instead, be specific about your years of experience, the industries you’ve worked in, and the value you’ll bring to the organization.

Focus on what makes you stand out and ensure your resume matches the role by incorporating keywords from the job application. A well-written summary sets the tone for the rest of your resume and makes you stand out from other candidates in the job search.

Core Competencies

Core competencies are like a quick snapshot of your value to potential employers. They communicate to hiring managers that you have the right hard and soft skills for the job. We always recommend listing both because they show your specialty and interpersonal strengths.

Here’s an example of what strong core competencies look like:

Project management
Data analysis
Strategic planning
Team leadership
Effective communication
Problem-solving
Time management
Adaptability
Customer relations
Microsoft Office Suite
Programming languages

You should highlight your skills as bullet points to make the section easy to read.

Professional Experience

Your job experiences section is arguably the most important part of your resume. It’s where you try to prove your worth to prospective employers. You should list your job roles in reverse chronological order and focus more on your achievements than job duties.

Use bullet points, action verbs, and numbers to show your impact, results, and measurable success. Everything should align with the position you’re applying for – job title, company name, location, and employment dates.

Many job seekers struggle with trimming older roles or knowing what to keep for a concise resume. The common question is: ‘How far back should your resume go?’ Our service solves this problem with a streamlined work history that shows your most valuable contributions and excludes outdated details.

We’ll make every line count to produce a sharp, focused resume ready for the hiring process.

Education

Your education section introduces potential employers to your academic background and qualifications. It should come right under your job experiences unless you’re a recent graduate (which means you have no work experience). To make your resume stand out, start with your most recent degree and include relevant coursework or honors if they add to the role.

The education section in a good resume should include the following:

Degree earned
The major field of study
Name of institution
Year of graduation (optional)
Honors (if they’re recent and relevant) and GPA (if it’s strong and can positively impact).

Certifications and Training

Certifications show potential employers that you’re committed to professional growth, which is a great resume objective. It’s a big boost for a resume in industries that require specialized skills or up-to-date knowledge. But that doesn’t mean listing every certification you have under your belt.

You only need to list the recent and relevant ones. When you’re writing this section, make sure you include:

The certification name, e.g., Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
The issuing organization, e.g., Cisco Systems
Date of completion

Additional Information

If you think you have valuable details to add that don’t fit elsewhere, the ‘Additional Information’ section is the right place for them. This section may include the foreign languages you speak, volunteer work, security clearance, or relocation availability. While it may not sell you like your professional summary or interpersonal skills, it can strengthen your candidacy for the job.

Our writers are experts in including these details to boost your employability without overcrowding your resume.

Good Formatting and Presentation

It’s not enough for your resume to contain all the correct elements; it must also be well-formatted. How it looks matters because hiring managers often skim through in seconds, and if it looks cluttered, it could cost you. Here are a few resume tips that can help you create a strong resume:

Use a very readable font, e.g., Times New Roman, Arial, etc.
Stick to a font size of 10-12
Use consistent spacing in the text and white spaces to separate sections
Make sure the headings are bold
Refrain from using graphics or unnecessary colors
Keep the entire resume to one or two pages at most.

Customization for the Specific Job Description

The biggest mistake applicants make is writing generic resumes. The perfect resume has keywords from the new job description, mirrors the language, and aligns your key skills and achievements with the employer’s needs. It shows you’re a strong match for the job application and helps your resume pass through applicant tracking systems.

Proofreading and Final Review

Lastly, make your resume error-free. The fastest way to ruin your chances is by presenting a resume riddled with grammatical errors. Before you submit your document, take the time to proofread it carefully. After a manual read-through, you can further proofread the resume on Google Docs or via Grammarly.

Final Words

A well-written resume should distinguish you from other candidates in the job market. Every section, from the contact details to additional information, should work together to tell your story, but you need the right people for the job. With our same day resume writing service, you can present the correct information in one page and open doors to multiple opportunities.