Resume format: the US standard in 2026

1. Name and contact line: phone, email, city and state (Austin, TX), and a LinkedIn link if you have one
2. Summary: two or three lines on what you do now, your years of experience and the job you want, with no I or me
3. Experience: job title, employer, city and state, and dates, then three to five bullet points that start with a verb
4. Education: degree, school and year; recent graduates put this above experience
5. Skills: the tools, systems and certifications the job posting names
6. Optional: certifications and licenses, languages, projects or volunteer work

Use the reverse-chronological resume format unless you have a strong reason not to. It is what US recruiters expect and what applicant tracking systems read most reliably, because every job sits under its own dates.

A functional (skills-based) resume groups skills first and lists jobs briefly, which can help after a long career break or a change of field, but many recruiters distrust it because it hides dates. A combination resume opens with a skills section and then lists jobs in order: a fair middle way for career changers.

Most large US employers screen resumes with an applicant tracking system such as Workday, Greenhouse, iCIMS or Taleo. These read real text in order, so keep standard section names (Experience, Education, Skills), put dates beside each job, and avoid text inside images, tables used for layout, headers and footers.

Mirror the words of the job posting where they are true for you: if the posting says 'customer service' and 'POS systems', use those exact phrases rather than synonyms.