DEV Community

Lakshit Pant
Lakshit Pant

Posted on

This will be your last resume template

#career #leadership #resume #personalbrand

What to Include in a Resume & What Not to Include – Avoiding Common Mistakes

Important Links:

This topic is usually discussed very specifically for students. I’m doing my research for working professionals, but I’ll still say this format can be replicated — because it brings most of the essential items to the table.

Note: I’m a big believer in standing out.
So if you’re planning to have a customized theme for every job you’re applying to — like the Netflix-style or Amazon Marketplace-style resumes you might have seen — please go ahead and try that.
Personalization always wins.

Now, let’s start with what to include.

1. Header Design (First Impression Matters)

Keep it simple, precise, and clean.

  • Your Name (highlighted in bold)
  • Email ID
  • LinkedIn ID (always backlink your LinkedIn profile — example shared below)
  • Portfolio (if you’re applying for tech roles, this is a must)
  • GitHub / Behance / Gumroad / LeetCode (or any relevant platform based on your profile)
  • Phone number (don’t hesitate — recruiters will call you to check synergy for the role)

Note: You can always rearrange Skills, Experience, and Projects based on your industry experience.

  • Students: Skills → Projects → Experience
  • Working professionals: Experience → Skills → Projects

2. Skills Section (Play the Keyword Game Smartly)

Don’t just write language names and dump everything into one line.

This is a keyword game, so structure it properly:

  • Languages
  • Frameworks
  • Tools & Technologies

Add respective content under each header.

Important rules:

  • Only add skills that are proven either in your experience or projects.
  • Don’t bluff. It’s very easy to get caught.

My personal recommendation:
Have some extra skillset. If you’re into software development, stand out with low-key or uncommon languages.
Example: 7 Languages in 7 Weeks — wonderful concept and adds great breadth to your resume.

If you’re applying to a specific organization:

  • It’s always good to have their product or ecosystem in your skills.
  • If you don’t have a project on it, contribute via open source or build something inspired by their competitors.

3. Projects Section (This Decides Interviews)

  • Clear project name
  • Tech stack used (written in small-cap italics)

  • Always provide a link

    • No link = looks fake
    • No live link? Push code to GitHub and add that as a CTA

Project description rules:

  • Flourish numbers
  • Highlight the tech stack in bold
  • Max 3 bullet points per project

Anything more than that is noise.

4. Experience Section

If you’re a working professional, you’re already sorted.

Add your last 2 experiences:

  • Company name
  • Job title
  • Major stack you worked on
  • Duration of employment

Keep it crisp. Impact > responsibilities.

5. Education Section

Unless you’re from a very prestigious college or a women-only institute, there’s no need to place education at the top.

Include:

  • College name
  • Degree
  • Timeline

That’s it.

6. Awards & Achievements (Optional)

Add this only if you have space.

And only add it if:

  • You’ve done something extraordinary

Don’t add:

  • Random certifications
  • Club participation
  • Generic achievements

If it’s not impressive, skip it.

What NOT to Add in a Resume

This is where most people mess up.

  • ❌ Random learning certifications (Microsoft, Google, Udemy, etc.)
    If there’s no proctored exam, don’t add it.
    Learning is expected — you’ll not get paid to do that. Showing off certificates is no BS.

  • ❌ School details (Class 10th / 12th)
    Nobody cares if you studied at Doon School or a government school.
    Your skills matter now.

  • ❌ Picture
    Yes, you’re pretty — but this is tech.
    If you want modeling gigs go for it, that’s a different industry.

  • ❌ College club activities
    I’ve been a community person myself, and I used to add these too.
    But for technical roles, this doesn’t help anymore.
    It’s not exclusive like it used to be in 2021 or before.

  • ❌ Pasting raw links like https://xyz.com
    Always type the text and add a hyperlink as a CTA.

  • ❌ Too much content
    No clutter.
    Use clean spacing, proper line-height, and highlight only what’s relevant.

  • ❌ Multi-page resumes
    Never do this.
    One page. Period.

  • ❌ Too many links
    Be selective.

Final Summary

  • Keep it one-page
  • Make it clean, keyword-optimized, and personalized
  • Highlight impact, not effort
  • Relevance beats everything

Here’s a free resume template you can use.
I’m sharing my Overleaf link, which you can also utilize directly in your blog

These tips are specifically for people in technical fields.

I’m planning to share Program Manager and Product Manager resume formats that helped me land roles at top product-based companies — will cover that in upcoming blogs.

Top comments (0)