What Does a Good Resume Look Like? Examples

You know your resume needs to be “good.” But what does that actually look like? Not the advice — the actual visual result on the page?

Most resume guides tell you to “use clean formatting” and “keep it professional.” That’s about as helpful as telling someone to “cook something delicious.” You need to see it.

This article breaks down exactly what a good resume looks like in 2026 — section by section, with before-and-after examples that show you the difference between a resume that gets skimmed and one that gets read.

The 6-Second Test: What Recruiters Actually See

According to recruiter surveys, recruiters spend an average of 6–7 seconds on initial resume screening. In that window, they’re not reading — they’re scanning. Their eyes follow a predictable F-pattern: top-left to right across your name and title, then down the left margin looking for section headers and company names.

A good resume is built around this scan pattern. Here’s what the recruiter’s eye needs to find, in order:

1. Your name and target role — large, clear, top-center or top-left
2. A 2–3 line summary — immediately below, answering “why this person?”
3. Company names and job titles — bold, easy to spot while scanning down
4. Achievement bullets — starting with numbers and action verbs

If a recruiter has to hunt for any of these, your resume has a design problem — not a content problem.

Before and After: What Separates a Weak Resume From a Strong One

The difference between a mediocre resume and a great one often comes down to visual decisions, not content changes. Let’s compare.

The Header

Before (weak): A name in 11pt font, same size as the body text. Email, phone, and LinkedIn crammed into one line with slash separators. The name blends into everything else. There’s no job title or target role.

After (strong): Name in 18–22pt font, bold, with clear breathing room below. Target role directly underneath in 12–13pt. Contact details on a separate line with subtle separators (pipes or dots), including a clickable LinkedIn URL. The recruiter knows who you are and what you want in under two seconds.

The Professional Summary

Before (weak):

“Dedicated professional with a passion for excellence and a proven track record of success in dynamic environments. Seeking a challenging role where I can utilize my skills and experience.”

This says nothing. It’s filler that every recruiter has seen a thousand times.

After (strong):

“Supply chain manager with 8 years in automotive manufacturing. Reduced warehouse costs by $2.1M at Ford through lean inventory systems. Led a team of 14 across 3 distribution centers.”

Specific. Quantified. The recruiter instantly knows your level, your industry, and your impact. For more on crafting this section, see our guide on writing a resume summary that hooks in 6 seconds.

The Experience Section

Before (weak):

Marketing Coordinator
ABC Company, 2021-2024
- Managed social media accounts
- Responsible for email marketing
- Worked with the design team
- Helped with marketing initiatives

Vague duties. No outcomes. “Responsible for” and “helped with” tell a recruiter nothing about what you actually accomplished.

After (strong):

Marketing Coordinator
ABC Company | Jan 2021 – Mar 2024
• Grew Instagram following from 4,200 to 18,600 (+343%) in 14 months
  through original content series and influencer partnerships
• Increased email open rates from 18% to 34% via A/B subject line
  testing and list segmentation, generating $86K in attributed revenue
• Led cross-functional team of 5 to launch 12 campaigns with
  combined ROI of $450K

Every bullet follows the formula: action verb + what you did + measurable result. The formatting uses a clear date format, bold job titles, and consistent bullet structure.

Section-by-Section: What Each Part Should Look Like

Contact Information

Place it at the very top. Include:

• Full name (largest text on the page)
• Phone number
• Professional email (firstname.lastname@, not partyguy99@)
• LinkedIn URL (shortened)
• City and state (full address is unnecessary in 2026)
• Portfolio URL if relevant

What to avoid: Photos (in US/UK markets), full street addresses, personal details like date of birth or marital status.

Skills Section

The best skills sections use a simple two-column or three-column list. No progress bars. No star ratings. Those look like they belong on a dating profile, not a professional document.

Strong format:

Technical Skills: Python, SQL, Tableau, Power BI, Google Analytics
Certifications: PMP, AWS Solutions Architect, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
Languages: English (native), Spanish (professional proficiency)

Short, scannable, keyword-rich. ATS systems parse plain text far more reliably than graphics. For choosing the right skills, check out our guide to the best skills for your resume by industry.

Education

For experienced professionals (5+ years), education goes near the bottom and stays brief:

B.S. Computer Science — University of Michigan, 2018

One line. Degree, school, year. No GPA unless you’re a recent graduate and it’s above 3.5. No coursework unless it’s directly relevant to the position.

The Typography That Actually Works

Font choice matters more than most people realize. Here’s the short version:

Safe, modern picks: Calibri, Aptos, Inter, Source Sans Pro, Lato Classic alternatives: Garamond, Georgia, Cambria Never use: Comic Sans, Papyrus, script fonts, or anything “decorative”

Sizes:

• Name: 18–24pt
• Section headers: 13–15pt, bold
• Body text: 10.5–12pt
• Minimum readable: 10pt (go below this and your resume becomes a squinting exercise)

Spacing:

• Line spacing: 1.0–1.15 for body text
• 6–10pt space between sections
• Margins: 0.5”–1” on all sides (0.5” is fine if you need the space; 1” gives a more open feel)

Stick to one font family. Two at most. Every additional font creates visual noise. For a deeper look at font selection, see our article on the best fonts for your resume, ATS-tested.

Layout: One Column vs. Two Columns

Single-Column Layout

Best for: most industries, ATS compatibility, conservative fields (finance, law, government).

The entire page flows top to bottom. Name, summary, experience, education, skills. Every ATS can parse this without issues. It’s the safest choice and — when well-formatted — looks clean and authoritative.

Two-Column Layout

Best for: creative roles, tech, marketing, mid-career professionals with both deep skills and work history.

A narrower left column (about 30% width) holds contact info, skills, certifications, and languages. The wider right column (70%) holds summary, experience, and education. This layout packs more content into one page without feeling cramped.

The catch: Some older ATS systems read two-column layouts left-to-right across both columns, scrambling your content. If you’re applying through a job portal, test with a single-column version too.

Color: Less Is More

A touch of color separates a good resume from a sea of black-and-white documents. But “a touch” means exactly that.

What works:

• A single accent color for section headers and lines — navy (#2C3E50), dark teal (#1A7A6D), or slate blue (#4A6FA5)
• Your name in the accent color
• Thin horizontal rules between sections in the accent color

What doesn’t work:

• Colored backgrounds behind text blocks
• More than two colors total
• Bright or neon colors (red, orange, lime green)
• Color used in the body text itself

The goal is subtle differentiation, not decoration. If you removed all color and the resume still made sense structurally, you’ve used color correctly.

The Five Visual Mistakes That Kill Resumes

1. Wall of Text

No bullet points. No white space. A dense paragraph for each job. The recruiter’s eye has nowhere to land, so they skip you entirely. Break every role into 3–5 bullet points, each 1–2 lines long.

2. Inconsistent Formatting

Different date formats (“January 2023” vs. “01/23” vs. “2023”), mixed bullet styles (dots, dashes, arrows), or varying indentation. These signal carelessness. Pick a format and stick with it ruthlessly. For more common mistakes, see 10 red flags recruiters notice immediately.

3. Graphic Overload

Skill bars, pie charts, icons for every section header, a headshot, decorative borders. This isn’t an infographic — it’s a business document. Every graphic element that ATS can’t parse is information that disappears into a void.

4. Tiny Margins, Tiny Fonts

Cramming a 3-page career into one page by shrinking everything to 9pt with 0.3” margins doesn’t save you — it punishes the reader. If your content doesn’t fit one page, either cut ruthlessly or use two pages (acceptable for 10+ years of experience).

5. Creative File Names

resume_final_final_v3_UPDATED.docx tells a recruiter exactly how organized you are. Name it FirstName_LastName_Resume.pdf. Always PDF unless specifically asked for .docx.

What a Good Resume Looks Like by Industry

Visual expectations shift by field. Here’s what works:

Finance & Law: Single column, black text, minimal or no color. Garamond or Calibri. Conservative and dense with achievements. No graphics whatsoever.

Tech & Engineering: Single or two-column layout. Skills section prominent, often with a technical skills table. Links to GitHub or portfolio. Clean sans-serif font. Slight color accent acceptable.

Marketing & Creative: Two-column layout welcome. Brand-aligned color palette. Can include subtle design elements. But the content still needs to read well in plain text for ATS.

Healthcare & Education: Single column, chronological. Credentials and certifications prominently listed. Traditional structure. No embellishments.

Entry Level / Students: One page, single column. Education at the top. Skills and relevant coursework emphasized over limited work experience. A clean template does the heavy lifting here.

The ATS Reality Check

Industry data suggests that the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies use Applicant Tracking Systems. Your resume has to pass the machine before it reaches a human. This means:

• Standard section headers: “Work Experience,” “Education,” “Skills” — not “My Journey” or “What I Bring”
• No text in images, headers, or footers: ATS often ignores these regions entirely
• No tables for content layout: Some systems can’t parse them
• Simple bullet characters: Round dots (•) are safest
• PDF format: Preserves formatting while remaining parseable by modern ATS

Read our complete guide to ATS-friendly resumes for the full technical breakdown.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should my resume be one page or two?

One page if you have fewer than 10 years of experience. Two pages if you have more. Never three. The “one page rule” exists because most people with less than a decade of work don’t have enough relevant content to fill two pages without padding — and recruiters can smell padding.

Should I include a photo on my resume?

In the US, UK, Canada, and Australia — no. It introduces unconscious bias and most ATS systems can’t process it. In Germany, France, and parts of Asia, photos are still expected. Know your market.

What file format should I use?

PDF, unless the job posting specifically requests .docx. PDF locks your formatting in place across every device and operating system.

Are resume templates worth using?

Yes, if they’re ATS-compatible. A good template gives you the typography, spacing, and structure decisions already made. A bad template adds graphics and layouts that break ATS parsing. ResuFit builds resumes that are both visually clean and ATS-optimized from the start.

How do I know if my resume looks good?

Print it. If you can scan the page and identify your name, current role, top 3 achievements, and key skills within 6 seconds, the visual design is working. If anything takes effort to find, redesign that section.