Resume builder for US jobs

A US resume is a short, focused document that markets you for one type of role. It is not a full record of everything you have done; it highlights the experience, skills and results most relevant to the job.

• One page is common early in your career; two pages are often accepted for experienced professionals.
• Contact details at the top: name, phone, email, city and state, plus a LinkedIn or portfolio link if you have one.
• Reverse chronological order, with your most recent role first.
• A short summary of two or three lines instead of a long objective statement.

Many US employers prefer not to see information unrelated to the job, so it is usual to leave it off entirely. Including it can make an application look unfamiliar to a US recruiter.

• A photo of yourself
• Date of birth or age
• Marital status, children, religion or nationality
• Your full street address, as city and state are usually enough

Strong US resumes describe what changed because of your work. Start each bullet with an action verb and, where you honestly can, add a number: time saved, customers helped, errors reduced or a budget managed. Never invent figures; a careful estimate you can explain in an interview is better than an impressive number you cannot defend.

Use US-style dates such as "Jun 2023 – Present" or "06/2023 – Present", and keep the same format throughout.

• Duty: "Responsible for answering customer emails."
• Achievement: "Answered customer emails daily and helped cut the average reply time from two days to one."
• Duty: "Helped with monthly reports."
• Achievement: "Built an Excel template that made monthly reporting noticeably faster for the team."

An applicant tracking system often reads your resume before a recruiter does. Simple, predictable formatting helps it pick up your details correctly.

• Use standard headings such as Experience, Education and Skills.
• Avoid tables, text boxes and images for important information.
• Mirror key terms from the job posting where they truthfully describe your experience.
• Send a PDF or Word file, depending on what the employer asks for.

A skills list is easy to write and hard for an employer to trust. You can add weight to it by taking free skills tests and sharing results that show what you can actually do. Talaskill's US resume mode applies the conventions above to ATS-friendly templates, so you can concentrate on writing clear, honest content.