Create resume with your pic |Resume in Microsoft Word

Step #1: Pick a Word Resume Template

The first step in making a resume in Word is accessing its free resume templates. How you access the templates may change depending on the Microsoft Word version you’re using, but what you ultimately need to do is the following:

Open Word.

Select one of the Resume templates Word suggests, or simply search for “resume” and you’ll find a bunch more.

Choose the resume template that best fits your qualifications and professional profile.

Click “Create.”

You’re good to go: the template should appear as a Word document ready to be filled with your personal information and all other relevant sections.

Step #2: Create a Resume Header

From this point on, things should be pretty easy to pick up.

Start filling up your resume from the top, which is where the resume header is located. Traditionally, the header should include the following information:

First and last name
Phone Number
Email
Location (Street Address, City, State)

You may notice the lack of optional information in this resume template, such as your professional job title, your LinkedIn URL, or social media links.

If you feel like that info will significantly improve your resume, look for a Word template that includes them, or manually add them to the template you’ve already chosen. We’ll go over some formatting techniques to improve your resume template later on in the article.

Step #3. Include a Resume Summary or Objective

Next, you need to describe your professional experience or professional goals (in case you lack the experience) through the resume summary or objective.

Write a resume summary or resume objective – depending on which one best fits your resume – and try to express yourself in a way that will keep the recruiter’s attention for more than the traditional 7 seconds.

Quick recap: a resume summary is a 2-3 sentence overview of your career and is used in 90% of the cases. A resume objective is more commonly used among those with little professional experience or those who are changing careers and describes your professional goals.

Step #4: Create a Compelling Work Experience Section

This is where things get serious.

The work experience section is the most important part of your resume for obvious reasons and usually plays a decisive part in the recruiters’ decisions. So just filling up the gaps in the experience section of the Word template won’t be enough. You should try to make this section as compelling as possible – following some of the tips provided below.

But first, the basics. As with any standard format, the experience section should include the following components:

Job title and position
Company name and location
Dates of employment
Achievements and responsibilities

Again, how the resume looks in Word will depend on the template that you have chosen.

Obviously, the template lets you add as many professional entries as you wish – but that doesn’t mean you should go overboard. List your experience in reverse-chronological order, meaning: start from the latest and move back in time, based on the amount of professional experience you possess.

There are, of course, a couple of pro tips that you should follow even as you use the Word templates to make your experience section more compelling.

Pro Tip #1 – List achievements over responsibilities

Notice the example above.

Instead of responsibilities, we have opted to list achievements. Listing achievements over responsibilities whenever possible is one of the best ways to stand out in the eyes of recruiters. That’s because responsibilities are similar for one type of job, while achievements show exactly what you can contribute to the position.

Pro Tip #2 – Tailor your resume to the job you are applying for.

Another good practice is tailoring your resume to the job you are applying for. This can help you go through the ATS and land your resume right on the recruiters’ tables.

If you want to know exactly what information to include in your resume, how and when to list achievements over responsibilities, and how to tailor your resume to your job, head over to our complete guide on .

Step #5: Add Your Educational Background

Things should get quite easy after you get your professional experience section out of the way.

The education section of your resume should include the following:

University name and location
Years attended
Program name / Degree obtained

Optionally, you can include your GPA, Minor degrees, or any special award or academic achievement. Our advice is to include them only if you are a recent graduate or entry-level professional with not much else to include in your resume, or if your education history is truly outstanding.

Step #6: Make Sure to Include Your Skills

At this point, you can consider most of the work done!

Now that you have reached the skills section, things get even easier. Make a bullet or numbered list of your hard and soft skills and you’re good to go.

Hard skills are usually measured through experience levels – you can place your experience level (usually categorized into Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced or Expert) into brackets, so you don’t take up too much space within the resume.

Pro Tip #3 – Tailor the skills and qualifications on your resume to the job

Take a look at the essential skills required on the job ad and see if you can incorporate them into your list of skills.

Step #7: Include Optional Resume Sections

Congrats – you can finally stretch your legs and even allow yourself a little pat on the back.

The additional sections are not mandatory in a resume, so if you’ve reached your resume space limit, you can just call it a day and save your resume.

They are, however, a great way to show off additional assets such as languages, hobbies and interests, and even volunteering experience on your resume! Pro Tip:

Remember to also determine your language knowledge levels. Those are Native, Fluent, Proficient, Intermediate, and Basic.

In the off chance that you still have some space left – considering resumes should be 1-2 pages at most and that Word templates are not as good at saving space as online resume builders – you can include the following optional sections:

Certifications and Awards
Publications
Projects