What to Include in a Resume: Essential Sections for 2026
Complete guide to what goes on a resume in 2026. Every essential section explained — summary, experience, skills, education, and extras — with examples and formatting tips.
The essential resume sections
A resume is a structured document, and every section serves a specific purpose for both the human reader and the ATS. Missing a section — or including the wrong one — can hurt your chances. Here's exactly what to include on your resume in 2026, section by section.
The standard resume has five core sections: contact information, professional summary, work experience, education, and skills. Experienced professionals may add optional sections for certifications, projects, or volunteer work. Let's walk through each one.
1. Contact information
This goes at the very top of your resume. Keep it minimal — just what the employer needs to reach you. Do not include your full street address, date of birth, marital status, or national insurance number. These are outdated, waste space, and can introduce bias.
- Full name (largest text on the page)
- Professional email address (firstname.lastname@email.com)
- Phone number with area code
- City and region (e.g. 'London, UK' — full address not needed)
- LinkedIn profile URL (if you have a complete profile)
- Portfolio or personal website URL (for relevant fields)
2. Professional summary
A 2-3 sentence paragraph that gives the recruiter a quick snapshot of who you are and what you offer. This replaces the outdated objective statement. Include your job title, years of experience, one quantified achievement, and your area of expertise.
Example: 'Senior product manager with 8 years building B2B SaaS products used by 500K+ users. Launched a mobile platform that generated $12M in first-year revenue. Strong in roadmapping, user research, and cross-functional leadership.'
For more examples across every career stage, see our [resume summary examples](/blog/resume-summary-examples) guide with 35+ copy-and-paste templates.
3. Work experience
This is the most important section of your resume. List your roles in reverse-chronological order (most recent first). For each role, include your job title, company name, city, and dates of employment (month and year). Then write 3-5 bullet points describing what you achieved.
Each bullet should follow the formula: action verb + what you did + measurable result. 'Reduced checkout abandonment by 18% by redesigning the payment flow' is strong. 'Worked on the checkout page' is weak. Always quantify — see our [common resume mistakes guide](/blog/common-resume-mistakes) for why this matters.
- Job title (use the standard industry title, even if your company used a creative one)
- Company name and location
- Dates: month and year started to month and year ended (or 'Present')
- 3-5 bullet points per role, each with a quantified achievement
- Focus on the last 10-15 years — earlier roles can be summarised in one line
4. Education
List your highest qualification first. Include the degree name, institution, and graduation year. If you graduated more than 10 years ago, the year is optional. Recent graduates should include relevant coursework, honours, or GPA (if 3.5 or above).
- Degree: 'Bachelor of Science in Computer Science'
- Institution name and location
- Graduation year (optional for experienced professionals)
- Relevant coursework, honours, or capstone projects (recent graduates only)
- Professional certifications in a separate sub-section or their own section
5. Skills
A dedicated skills section is critical for ATS scoring and recruiter scanning. List 12-15 relevant skills drawn from the job descriptions you're targeting. Mirror the exact terminology used in the postings — if they say 'TypeScript', don't write 'TS'.
Group your skills logically: technical skills, tools/software, languages, and soft skills. This makes the section scannable and ATS-friendly. For a deep dive, read our [resume keywords guide](/blog/resume-keywords) which explains how to identify and place skills for maximum ATS impact.
- Technical skills: programming languages, frameworks, tools
- Software: CRM, CMS, analytics, design, productivity platforms
- Languages: spoken/written languages with proficiency level
- Soft skills: leadership, communication, project management
- Certifications: include the full credential name (PMP, AWS Certified, CFA)
Optional sections to consider
Depending on your field and experience level, you may benefit from adding one or more of these optional sections. Only include them if they strengthen your case for the specific role — don't pad for length.
- Certifications: Prominent if you're in tech, finance, healthcare, or project management.
- Projects: Useful for developers, designers, and recent graduates with portfolio work.
- Publications: Include for academic, research, and thought-leadership roles.
- Volunteer work: Add if it demonstrates relevant skills or fills an experience gap.
- Awards: Include industry awards, hackathon wins, or internal recognition.
- Professional affiliations: Relevant for regulated industries (law, medicine, finance).
What NOT to include
Just as important as what goes on your resume is what doesn't. Including any of these will make your resume look dated, unprofessional, or even introduce legal risk:
- Personal details: age, date of birth, marital status, nationality, photo (in most countries).
- Full home address: city and region is enough.
- References or 'References available on request': employers ask when they need them.
- Irrelevant hobbies: unless they directly demonstrate a relevant skill.
- Salary information: never include current or desired salary on a resume.
- Reasons for leaving previous jobs: save this for the interview.
Put it all together
Now you know exactly what goes on a resume. The fastest way to build one that includes all the right sections — formatted correctly and ATS-ready — is our [free resume builder](/create). It walks you through each section step by step, applies [ATS-friendly formatting](/blog/ats-friendly-resume) automatically, and exports a polished PDF. Start with a [free template](/blog/resume-templates-free) and have a job-winning resume in under 15 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
The five essential sections are: contact information, professional summary, work experience, education, and skills. Optional sections include certifications, projects, publications, volunteer work, and awards. Every resume should have all five core sections at minimum.
Your contact information goes at the very top: full name, professional email, phone number, city, and optionally your LinkedIn URL or portfolio link. Below that, your professional summary — a 2-3 sentence snapshot of your experience and value.
In the UK, US, Canada, and Australia, no — it can introduce bias and some ATS systems reject image-heavy files. In many European, Asian, and Latin American countries, a professional photo is expected. Check the local norm for your target market.
List 12-15 relevant skills in a dedicated skills section. Mirror the exact terminology from the job descriptions you're targeting. Group them logically (technical, tools, soft skills) for easy scanning by both ATS and human readers.
No. Never include references or 'References available on request' on your resume. Employers will ask for references separately if they need them, usually after an interview. Use the space for more relevant content instead.