What to Put on a Resume in 2025
Aug 22, 2025
Your resume has mere seconds to earn attention, and it must pass an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) before a human ever looks at it. With 98.4% of Fortune 500 companies using ATS, formats that worked a few years ago can now send your application straight to a digital dead end. Meanwhile, when 250 people apply for a role and only about 2% are interviewed, what you include — and how — becomes make‑or‑break. This guide uses only the 2025 recommendations from your source document to show exactly what to put on a resume, how to format for ATS, and how to turn experience into quantified proof that wins interviews.
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The Resume Foundation: 6 Essential Sections (2025)
Every high‑performing 2025 resume includes these six elements in a clean, scannable order. The tables and examples below show what to include and what to skip so your document is both ATS‑friendly and hiring‑manager ready.
1) Contact Information
2) Resume Headline (Your 6‑Second Hook)
Including the exact target job title can significantly lift response rates. Use: Job Title + Years + Value Proposition.
Strong: Digital Marketing Manager (7+ yrs) driving 40% revenue growth via data‑driven campaigns.
Weak: Hardworking professional seeking opportunities.
3) Professional Summary
Write 3–4 lines signaling seniority, domain, quantified results, and tools.
Results‑driven Marketing Manager with 5+ years in B2B SaaS. Generated $2.3M in qualified pipeline using SEO, lifecycle email, and paid social. Expert in HubSpot & Tableau. Seeking to scale demand gen at a growth‑stage software company.
- Names the industry and experience level.
- Quantifies achievement (e.g., $2.3M in pipeline).
- Mentions relevant tools naturally.
- Signals the value proposition for the target employer.
4) Professional Experience
For each role include: Title • Company (+ brief descriptor if unknown) • Location • Dates (MM/YYYY) • 3–5 achievement bullets.
Achievement Formula: Action Verb → Task → Metric → Business Impact
- Led cross‑functional team of 12 to deliver $3.2M product launch 6 weeks early, capturing 45% segment share.
- Implemented onboarding that reduced churn 28% and increased LTV by $1,200 per customer.
- Optimized supply chain to save $450K annually while improving on‑time delivery 35%.
High‑signal action verbs to rotate in: Directed, Orchestrated, Spearheaded, Championed (leadership); Exceeded, Delivered, Generated (achievement); Developed, Designed, Launched, Transformed (innovation); Analyzed, Assessed, Optimized (analysis).
5) Skills Section
Organize for ATS and humans: group hard skills and core competencies; keep it curated.
6) Education
List degree, institution, location, year; GPA only if 3.5+. Recent grads may add 3–4 relevant courses.
Recent Graduate Example
B.S. in Computer Science — UC Berkeley (Berkeley, CA) • Graduated May 2024 • GPA: 3.8/4.0 • Relevant: Data Structures, Machine Learning, Software Engineering • Dean’s List (Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
Experienced Professional Example
MBA — Northwestern Kellogg School of Management (Chicago, IL) • BA in Economics — University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
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Advanced Strategies by Career Stage
Recent Graduates
Front‑load relevance: headline with your target role, a tight summary, Education high on page, then Internships/Projects. Quantify campus leadership and capstones; show initiative.
- “Built full‑stack app (React/Node/AWS) in capstone; 1,500 users; code at portfolio site.”
- “Led 4‑person team to #1 project; redesigned onboarding; boosted satisfaction 3.2 → 4.6/5.0.”
Experienced Professionals
Curate the last 10–15 years. Show promotions, budget responsibility, team size, and tie each bullet to revenue, risk, or efficiency. Summarize very old roles in a one‑line “Earlier Experience.”
Career Changers
Declare the pivot in your headline and summary. Lead with transferable skills and new credentials; reframe past bullets toward analysis, leadership, or customer outcomes that match the target role.
ATS Optimization: Getting Past the Digital Gatekeepers
Up to 75% of resumes are rejected by ATS before humans see them. Modern systems evaluate keyword relevance and context, section organization, experience‑level matching, and whether skills are validated by your achievements.
3‑Step Keyword Strategy
- Collect 3–5 postings; highlight recurring nouns, tools, and credentials (use exact phrasing).
- Place top terms in headline, summary, skills, and in 3–5 experience bullets that prove them.
- Refresh per application; aim for 2–3 mentions of mission‑critical terms, naturally.
We map your target postings, build the keyword matrix, and rewrite your resume to score with ATS and impress humans.
Get professional helpOptional Sections That Add Strategic Value
Only add sections that strengthen your candidacy for this role. If a section doesn’t advance the story, cut it.
Certifications & Professional Development
Project Management Professional (PMP) — 2024 • Google Analytics — 2023 • Salesforce Administrator — 2023
Volunteer Experience
Format like a job: title, organization, dates, and achievement‑style bullets.
- Marketing Committee Chair, United Way (2022–Present): Raised donor engagement 60%; managed $15K budget; led 8 volunteers.
Projects & Publications
- E‑commerce Analytics Dashboard (2024): Python/Pandas/Tableau; analyzed 50K+ transactions; identified 15% revenue lift opportunities.
- “Machine Learning Applications in Customer Segmentation,” Marketing Analytics Journal, 2024.
Languages
List only at professional proficiency or higher; align with target market needs.
What NOT to Put on a Resume in 2025
Trim anything that wastes space or raises red flags.
Red flags that get resumes rejected
- Typos and grammatical errors (commonly cited as immediate rejections).
- Exaggeration or inconsistencies.
- Unprofessional email addresses.
- Unexplained long employment gaps (address briefly and positively).
- Generic, untailored content.
Real Resume Examples That Get Interviews
Marketing Manager
Professional Summary: Growth‑focused leader with 6+ years driving demand for B2B SaaS; $3.2M pipeline generated via SEO, paid social, and lifecycle campaigns.
- Increased qualified leads 85%, contributing to $2.1M in new ARR.
- Built automation workflows improving nurture efficiency 40%.
- Launched product campaigns with a 25% pipeline overage vs target.
- Optimized funnel (A/B testing): 2.1% → 3.7% conversion.
Software Engineer
Professional Summary: Full‑stack engineer with 4+ years building scalable web apps; improved performance 60% and cut infra costs 35% through cloud architecture and CI/CD.
- Microservices for 100K+ DAU at 99.9% uptime; API latency down 45%.
- Automated deployments (Jenkins, Docker); release time 2h → 15m.
- Mentored juniors; enforced code quality via reviews and metrics.
- React/Node feature work drove 30% lift in engagement.
2025 Resume Trends That Change the Game
- Skills‑Based Hiring: More emphasis on validated skills and outcomes; some postings no longer require degrees.
- Quantification Everywhere: Replace tasks with measurable results: revenue, efficiency, risk reduction, customer impact.
- Distributed Work: Show you deliver in remote teams: async tools, timezone coordination, clear communication.
- AI Fluency: Note where you used AI/automation to boost speed or quality; pair with uniquely human skills (strategy, empathy, creativity).
Before → After Quantification Examples
- Before: Improved customer satisfaction. After: Raised CSAT from 3.2 → 4.6/5.0 via redesigned onboarding.
- Before: Managed large budget. After: Managed $1.2M budget, delivering projects 15% under while exceeding quality metrics.
Your 4‑Week Resume Success Plan
Week 1 — Foundation & Research
- Audit your resume against the six essentials; remove clutter.
- Collect 5–10 postings; build a keyword list (exact phrases + acronyms).
- Define three positioning themes (e.g., revenue growth, compliance, scale).
Week 2 — Content & Evidence
- Rebuild headline, summary, and top two roles with quantified bullets.
- Collect metrics from dashboards, reviews, and stakeholders.
- Create or update a portfolio/Case Studies PDF; link it in your contact block.
Week 3 — ATS & Human Testing
- Place keywords in headline/summary/skills/experience naturally.
- Use clean .docx formatting; standard headings; bullets only.
- Ask two peers/managers to skim for six seconds: what stands out?
Week 4 — Targeted Applications
- Customize the top third per application; mirror language from the posting.
- Adjust achievement emphasis based on company needs; track response rates.
- Iterate weekly; update skills and achievements as you progress.
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The Bottom Line
A 2025‑ready resume is lean, quantified, keyword‑aligned, and easy for ATS and people to read. Success comes from the right sections, measurable outcomes, exact‑match language, and targeted tailoring.
- Include all six core sections with a clear hierarchy.
- Optimize for ATS without sacrificing human readability.
- Quantify achievements with specific metrics.
- Tailor the top third for each application; keep learning and refining.
If you’d like expert hands on yours, see resume writing & coaching for professionals and student & graduate resume services.
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