Resume Structure: What Goes Where (And Why)

Why Resume Structure Matters

I've reviewed 50,000+ resumes as a tech recruiter. Here's what happens in the first 6 seconds:

1. I scan your name and title
2. I check your most recent role
3. I look for keywords in your skills or summary
4. I decide: keep reading or reject

If your resume structure is wrong, I never get past step 2.

Resume structure isn't about aesthetics. It's about information hierarchy. The order of your sections tells me your seniority level, your priorities, and whether you understand professional norms.

Put your degree at the top when you have 8 years of experience? You're signaling inexperience. Bury your technical skills at the bottom when applying for a backend engineer role? ATS rejects you before I see your resume.

Let me give you the exact section order for different career stages and roles. These aren't suggestions—they're the structures that pass ATS and get you to the interview. For the complete methodology on structuring your experience for maximum impact, see our Ultimate Experience Translation Guide.

The Standard Resume Structure (Universal)

This is the baseline structure that works for 80% of professionals:

1. Header (Contact Information)

What to Include:

• Full Name
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• City, State (optional: full address is outdated)
• LinkedIn URL (custom URL, not the random number string)
• Portfolio/GitHub (if relevant)

What to Skip:

• Photo (unless required in your country)
• Full street address (privacy concern, outdated)
• Date of birth or age
• Marital status
• Social Security Number

Formatting: Center-aligned or left-aligned. Name should be the largest text on the page (18-24pt).

2. Professional Summary (Optional)

When to Include:

• 5+ years of experience
• Career changers
• Niche specializations

When to Skip:

• Entry-level with under 2 years experience
• Your job title and experience are self-explanatory

Length: 2-4 lines, 50-80 words

3. Work Experience

Order: Reverse chronological (most recent first)

What to Include:

• Job Title
• Company Name
• Location (City, State)
• Dates (Month Year – Month Year)
• 3-6 bullet points per role

Why This Goes Third: Work experience is the core of your resume. Everything else is context.

4. Education

What to Include:

• Degree Type (BS, MS, PhD)
• Major/Field of Study
• University Name
• Graduation Year (or Expected Graduation)
• GPA (if >3.5 and recent graduate)

What to Skip:

• High school (unless you're currently in high school)
• Unfinished degrees (unless in progress)
• Coursework lists (unless entry-level)

5. Skills

Format: Group by category (Languages, Frameworks, Tools) or simple list if under 8 skills total.

6. Additional Sections (Optional)

• Certifications (if relevant)
• Projects (if entry-level or career changer)
• Publications (if academic or research role)
• Languages (if multilingual and relevant)
• Awards/Honors (if prestigious and recent)

Order of Priority: Certifications > Projects > Languages > Awards

Structure by Career Stage

Entry-Level / Recent Graduate

Order:

1. Header
2. Education (BEFORE Experience)
3. Relevant Coursework (optional, if no experience)
4. Experience (internships, part-time, projects)
5. Projects (if technical role)
6. Skills
7. Certifications (if any)

Why Education First: Your degree is your strongest credential when you lack professional experience. Lead with your strength.

Projects Placement: If you have strong technical projects (GitHub repos, portfolios), create a dedicated section. This proves capability.

Mid-Level Professional (3-8 Years)

Order:

1. Header
2. Summary (optional)
3. Experience
4. Education
5. Skills
6. Certifications (if relevant)

Why Experience First: Your work history is now your primary credential. Education becomes context.

Skills Placement: For technical roles, move Skills to position 3 (before Experience) or position 4 (after Experience but before Education).

Senior Professional / Executive (10+ Years)

Order:

1. Header
2. Executive Summary (REQUIRED)
3. Experience (focus on last 10-15 years)
4. Education
5. Board Positions / Advisory Roles (optional)
6. Publications / Speaking Engagements (optional)

Why Summary Required: At this level, your summary contextualizes a long career. It's your elevator pitch.

Education Placement: Education stays near the bottom. Your MBA from 15 years ago is context, not a headline.

Career Changer

Order:

1. Header
2. Career Summary (REQUIRED - explains the pivot)
3. Skills (moved up to signal new competencies)
4. Relevant Experience (prioritize transferable roles)
5. Previous Experience (condensed)
6. Education
7. Certifications (especially new certs in target field)

Why Skills High: You need to signal your new skill set immediately. Burying technical skills at the bottom loses you the role.

Structure by Role Type

Technical Roles (Engineering, Data, DevOps)

Order:

1. Header
2. Summary (optional)
3. Skills (BEFORE Experience)
4. Experience
5. Projects (if relevant)
6. Education
7. Certifications

Why Skills Early: Technical recruiters and ATS search for specific tech stacks (Python, AWS, Kubernetes). If your skills are buried, you're filtered out.

Skills Format: Group by category: Languages, Frameworks, Databases, Cloud/DevOps, Tools.

Creative Roles (Design, Writing, Marketing)

Order:

1. Header
2. Portfolio Link (prominently displayed in header)
3. Summary
4. Experience
5. Education
6. Skills
7. Publications / Featured Work (optional)

Why Portfolio Link High: Your work speaks louder than your resume. Make it impossible to miss.

Non-Technical Roles (Sales, Operations, HR)

Order:

1. Header
2. Summary (optional)
3. Experience
4. Education
5. Skills (if space allows)
6. Certifications

Why Skills Optional: For non-technical roles, your accomplishments matter more than tool proficiency. Skills section can be minimal or omitted if space is tight.

The Skills Section Debate: Top or Bottom?

Place Skills Near the Top (Positions 2-3) If:

Place Skills After Experience (Position 4-5) If:

Education Placement Rules

Put Education BEFORE Experience If:

• You're a current student or recent graduate (under 2 years post-grad)
• You're applying to roles that require specific degrees (JD, MD, PhD)
• Your degree is from a highly prestigious institution (MIT, Stanford) and you're under 5 years out
• You have no relevant professional experience

Put Education AFTER Experience If:

• You have 3+ years of professional experience
• Your work history is more impressive than your degree
• You're 5+ years post-graduation
• You're applying to roles where experience matters more than credentials

Skip Education If:

• You don't have a degree and have 10+ years of experience (rare, but it happens)
• Your role doesn't require formal education (some creative/trade roles)

Note: Never lie about having a degree. If you don't have one, either omit the section entirely or list "Coursework in Field" if relevant.

Optional Sections: When to Include Them

Certifications

Include If:

• Highly relevant to the role (AWS Solutions Architect for cloud jobs)
• Recent (within 3 years)
• Industry-standard (CPA, PMP, CFA)

Omit If:

• Irrelevant to target role
• Outdated (certifications from 10+ years ago)
• Low-value online courses (random Udemy certificates)

Placement: After Skills (if critical) or within Education section (if minor).

Projects

Include If:

• You're entry-level or self-taught
• You're demonstrating skills not shown in work experience
• The project is impressive (open-source contributions, 10K+ users)

Omit If:

• You have 5+ years of professional experience
• The projects are trivial or academic exercises
• Space is limited

Placement: After Experience or after Skills (for technical roles).

Volunteer Work

Include If:

• You lack professional experience
• The role is relevant (volunteer project manager → applying for PM role)
• You have measurable impact (raised $50K, organized 500-person event)

Omit If:

• You have sufficient professional experience
• The volunteer work is irrelevant to the role
• You can't quantify impact

Placement: Integrate into Experience section (don't create separate "Volunteer" section).

Publications / Speaking Engagements

Include If:

• You're in research, academia, or thought leadership roles
• Publications are in peer-reviewed journals or major platforms
• Speaking engagements are at recognized conferences

Omit If:

• You're in an individual contributor technical role
• Publications are blog posts or Medium articles (link in header instead)
• Space is limited

Placement: After Education or at the very end.

Languages

Include If:

• The job requires multilingual skills
• You're fluent or conversational (not "basic")
• You're applying to international companies

Omit If:

• You only speak English and the role is US-based
• Your language skills are basic or outdated

Placement: After Skills or at the very end.

Awards / Honors

Include If:

• The award is prestigious (industry recognition, academic honors)
• It's recent (within 5 years)
• It's relevant to the role

Omit If:

• The award is from high school (unless you're currently in high school)
• It's irrelevant (your marathon medal on a software engineer resume)
• You have better content to showcase

Placement: At the very end or within Education (if academic).

Common Structure Mistakes

These structural errors damage your candidacy before anyone reads your content. I see them constantly in resume reviews.

Mistake 1 - Leading with Objective Statement

Wrong: "Objective: To leverage my skills in a challenging role that allows me to grow professionally."

Why It Fails: Objectives are self-focused (what YOU want) rather than value-focused (what you OFFER). Employers don't care about your professional growth goals—they care about what you'll contribute. Use a professional summary that states your value proposition instead.

Mistake 2 - Putting Education First (When You Have Experience)

Wrong (8 Years Experience): Education → Experience → Skills

Right: Experience → Education → Skills

Why It Fails: Leading with your degree when you have 8 years of experience signals you don't understand professional priorities. Your work accomplishments now outweigh your academic credentials. The structure tells recruiters you're either inexperienced or unaware of resume conventions.

Mistake 3 - Creating Too Many Sections

Wrong: Header → Objective → Summary → Skills → Core Competencies → Experience → Projects → Certifications → Education → Volunteer → Awards → Hobbies → References

Right: Header → Summary → Experience → Skills → Education → Certifications

Why It Fails: 12 sections create visual clutter and dilute your message. Recruiters scanning your resume in 6 seconds will miss your key qualifications. Combine related sections or eliminate low-value additions entirely.

Mistake 4 - Burying Critical Information

Wrong (Applying for Backend Engineer Role): Header → Summary → Experience → Education → Projects → Skills (at the very end)

Right: Header → Summary → Skills → Experience → Education

Why It Fails: For technical roles, your tech stack needs to be immediately visible. ATS systems search for keywords in the first third of your resume. If your Python, AWS, and Docker skills are buried at the bottom, you're filtered out before a human sees your application.

Mistake 5 - Including "References Available Upon Request"

Wrong: References Available Upon Request

Right: (Omit this entirely)

Why It Fails: This is assumed and wastes valuable space. No one includes references on their resume anymore. It dates your resume and suggests you're using outdated advice.

ATS-Friendly Structure Rules

ATS systems parse your resume from top to bottom. Incorrect structure causes parsing errors.

Rule 1 - Use Standard Section Headers

ATS-Friendly:

• Experience
• Work Experience
• Professional Experience
• Education
• Skills
• Technical Skills

ATS-Risky:

• My Career Journey (too creative)
• What I've Done (informal)
• Expertise (ambiguous)

Rule 2 - Maintain Consistent Hierarchy

Wrong: Experience (H2) → Company Name (H1) → Job Title (H3)

Right: Experience (H1) → Job Title (H2) → Company Name (H3)

Why: ATS expects job titles to be more prominent than company names.

Rule 3 - Avoid Tables and Multi-Column Layouts

Wrong: Two-column layout with Experience on the left and Education on the right.

Right: Single-column layout with clear section breaks.

Why: Many ATS systems can't parse tables or columns correctly. They read left-to-right, top-to-bottom.

Section Order Templates

Template 1 - Mid-Level Technical Professional

• Header: Name, Contact Info
• Professional Summary: 3 lines
• Skills: Grouped by category
• Experience: Reverse chronological, 3-4 roles
• Education: Degree, University, Year
• Certifications: AWS, etc.

Template 2 - Recent Graduate

• Header: Name, Contact Info
• Education: Degree, GPA if >3.5
• Relevant Coursework or Projects
• Experience: Internships, part-time roles
• Skills: Technical skills grouped
• Certifications or Awards

Template 3 - Senior Executive

• Header: Name, Contact Info
• Executive Summary: 4 lines, high-level accomplishments
• Experience: Last 10-15 years, focus on leadership
• Education: MBA, Degree
• Board Positions or Advisory Roles

Template 4 - Career Changer

• Header: Name, Contact Info
• Career Summary: Explains the pivot
• Skills: New competencies prominently displayed
• Relevant Experience: Prioritize transferable skills
• Previous Experience: Condensed
• Education + New Certifications

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the correct order for resume sections?

Standard order: Header (Contact Info) → Summary (optional) → Experience → Education → Skills → Certifications/Projects (optional). Adjust based on seniority: Junior candidates may place Education before Experience. Technical roles should place Skills near the top.

Should education or experience come first on a resume?

For professionals with 3+ years of experience: Experience first. For recent graduates or current students: Education first. Once you have relevant work history, your degree becomes secondary context.

Where should I put my skills section?

Technical roles: After Summary, before Experience. Non-technical roles: After Experience. Skills-critical roles (engineering, data) require skills at the top for ATS matching and recruiter scanning.

Do I need a resume summary or objective?

Summary: Yes, if you have 5+ years or are changing careers. Objective: No, outdated and self-focused. Summaries state what you offer (value proposition). Objectives state what you want (irrelevant to employers).

Should I include projects on my resume?

Yes, if you're entry-level, self-taught, or changing careers. No, if you have 5+ years of relevant professional experience. Projects prove capability when work experience is limited.

Where do certifications go on a resume?

If highly relevant to the role: Create dedicated section after Skills. If moderately relevant: Include in Education section. If minimal relevance: Omit entirely. AWS/Cloud certs for DevOps = dedicated section. Random Udemy courses = skip.

Should I include volunteer work on my resume?

Only if relevant to the role or if you lack professional experience. Format it like work experience with metrics and impact. Don't create a separate "Volunteer" section—integrate it into Experience or omit it.

What order should work experience be listed?

Reverse chronological order (most recent first). This is the standard for 95% of resumes. Functional resumes that group by skill instead of timeline are red flags for employment gaps and confuse ATS systems.

Final Thoughts

Resume structure signals seniority and professionalism. The order of your sections isn't arbitrary—it communicates your career stage, your priorities, and your understanding of professional conventions.

Lead with your strongest credential: Education for recent grads, Experience for professionals, Skills for technical roles. Follow standard section order unless you have a specific reason to deviate. When you do deviate, make sure the logic is obvious to the reader.

Use standard section headers that ATS systems recognize. Maintain consistent hierarchy throughout the document. Avoid creative labels that confuse parsing algorithms and waste recruiter time decoding your unconventional structure.

If your resume structure is wrong, you're rejected before anyone reads your accomplishments. Fix the order. Make it scannable in 6 seconds. Get past the initial screening. Your content might be exceptional, but poor structure ensures no one will ever discover that.