Best Practices for Formatting a Tech Resume

I have been writing, reading, and reviewing resumes for nine years. Here are some best practices for 2025: ✅ A resume's job is to get you an interview. It's a marketing document, not a detailed career history. You don't need deep details about all of your tasks and responsibilities for all of your roles. Just stick to the highlights that are relevant to the jobs that interest you. 👏 The keyword here is RELEVANT. If it's relevant to the jobs you're applying for, keep it. If it's not relevant, remove it. 👏 ✅ A resume can be more than one page. Two pages are fine. A recruiter would rather see two pages that have lots of white space, 11-point font, and room for the eye to breathe. This is better than trying to cram everything dense into one page with a 9-point font. ✅ Keep the format simple. Avoid graphics or charts. Keep it all in one column (not two). No fancy fonts, stick to the basics. Keep the sections simple and easy to identify. We just want to make this easy to scan. ✅ City and State, not your full address. Don't list your full address on the resume. This protects your privacy and avoids potential bias. Just list your closest city and state. If you live far from a city, you can say, "[city name] metro area." I also recommend creating an email just for your job search and putting that on your resume to protect your privacy. ✅ Lead with the result. Resume bullet points typically go "Did X to achieve Y which resulted in Z." I flip that: "Got results Z by doing X in order to achieve Y." "I got these results by doing this action in order to achieve this goal." Even better if the "results" have metrics attached: "Reduced production time by 20% in six months by implementing new scheduling software for 50 employees that improved cross-functional collaboration." Why lead with the result? This market is very competitive, and you have to stand out from a sea of applicants. Leading with results, outcomes, and achievements helps you do that. It's the difference between show vs. tell. You can TELL me you're good at something (that's boring and generic), or you can SHOW me by sharing bullet points about your results, metrics, and outcomes (that's specific and intriguing). Plus, numbers and results help illustrate your impact. I'm rooting for you. 👊 ♻ Please repost if you think this advice will help others. ***** Hi, have we met? I'm Emily and I'm on a mission to get the #GreenBannerGang back to work, one actionable step at a time. #jobsearch #jobhunt #jobseekers

As a recruiter for top tech companies, I’ve reviewed 1,000+ resumes. You only need to get these 5 sections right to land 6-figure interviews. 1. Positioning Statement Forget the generic “motivated team player” summary. Your top section should tell me in 3 lines: - Who you are - What kind of problems you solve - Where you’ve done it Example: “Backend engineer with 4 years of experience scaling infra at early-stage startups. Shipped distributed systems handling 50M+ requests/day. Currently focused on latency, observability, and developer experience.” If this section is clear, I’ll keep reading.  If it’s vague, I won’t. 2. Experience (But Structured Like a Case Study) Instead of dumping tasks, each role should answer: - What were you hired to do? - What did you actually build or own? - What changed because of your work? Bullet points should reflect results, not responsibilities. Redesigned caching logic → reduced API latency by 47% across 3 services. Led incident response for system outage → cut recovery time by 60%. That’s what hiring managers remember. 3. Company/Team Context Especially if you worked at a large company, give 1 line of context. “Worked on the Ads ML Infrastructure team at Meta, supporting $XXB in annual revenue.” It helps recruiters understand the scale and environment — fast. 4. Projects Section (Optional, but powerful) For newer engineers or people transitioning into tech, 1-2 serious projects can carry a resume. But only if you show real thinking and impact. Instead of: Built a web app using React and Node. Try: Built a budgeting tool used by 800+ users; integrated Stripe and Plaid APIs, reduced error rate to <0.3%. Show that you didn’t just code, you shipped. 5. Skills That Support the Story Don’t list everything you’ve ever touched. List the tools, stacks, and domains that match what you’re applying for. And reinforce them in your bullet points. “Python” in your skills section means nothing if your experience doesn’t prove you’ve used it in real scenarios. Your resume's job isn’t to tell your life story. It’s to get you in the room. If yours isn’t built to convert, it’s time to rethink it. Repost if this helped. P.S. Follow me if you are a job seeker in the U.S.  I talk about resumes, job search, interview preparation, and more. 

Most job seekers skip resume tailoring. Here's why that's costing you interviews: 📝 Tailoring isn't about rewriting your resume 50 times. It's about making 5 strategic tweaks that triple your callback rate. Here are the changes that actually matter: ❶ Mirror Their Exact Job Title (AI makes this EASY) 🤖 If they want a 'Customer Success Manager,' don't submit as 'Client Relations Lead.' AI trick: Paste the job description and ask: 'What job title variations appear in this posting?' Then update your resume headline and current title to match their language exactly. ❷ Reorder Your Bullets by Relevance Your most impressive achievement might be irrelevant to this role. Move bullets that match their requirements to the top of each role. If they emphasize project management, lead with your PM wins—even if revenue generation was your main focus. ❸ Quantify Using Their Metrics They measure success in user retention? Translate your 'improved customer satisfaction' into 'increased user retention by 32%.' Speak their numbers language, not yours. ❹ Add Their Keywords Naturally (AI makes this SIMPLE) 🤖 AI hack: 'Extract the top 10 technical and soft skills from this job description. Now show me where to naturally incorporate them into my existing bullets.' No keyword stuffing—just strategic placement that feels authentic. ❺ Align Your Summary with Their Pain Points Your generic summary won't cut it. If they're struggling with team scaling (you can tell from the job description), your summary should position you as someone who's built and scaled teams successfully. The math is simple: • Generic resume: 2-3% callback rate • Tailored resume: 15-20% callback rate That's 5x more interviews for 10 minutes of work. Pro tip: Create a 'master resume' with all your achievements. Then for each application, copy it and make these 5 tweaks. You're not starting from scratch—you're optimizing. And yes, two of these literally take 30 seconds with AI.   The tools exist. Use them. 🚀 Make tailoring effortless with AI. Build your master resume with Teal → https://lnkd.in/gJSNk4FN #ResumeTips #JobSearch #AITools #CareerAdvice #ResumeOptimization #JobHunting  ♻️ Reshare to help someone 5x their interview rate. 🔔 Follow me for more job search & resume tips.