How to Review Your Resume: A Complete Resume Review Checklist
How to Review Your Resume: A Complete Resume Review Checklist
A strong resume should do more than list your previous jobs. It should quickly show employers what you can do, what you have accomplished, and why you are a good fit for the position.
Before sending your resume to another employer, it is worth taking the time to review it carefully. Small problems with formatting, wording, missing information, or irrelevant details can make a resume less effective.
The good news is that you do not need to be a professional resume writer to perform a useful resume review. A systematic checklist can help you identify the most common problems and make improvements before you apply.
This guide explains how to review your resume step by step.
1. Check Your Resume Format
Start by looking at the overall structure of your resume. Your resume should be easy to scan. A hiring manager should be able to quickly find your name, contact information, work experience, education, and skills.
Check the following:
Is the formatting consistent throughout the document? Are headings easy to identify? Are fonts readable? Are font sizes consistent? Are spacing and margins consistent? Are dates formatted the same way? Are bullet points aligned properly? Are there unnecessary design elements? Does the resume look professional rather than cluttered?
Avoid using excessive colors, graphics, decorative fonts, or complicated layouts unless they are appropriate for your particular industry. For most job seekers, a clean and professional format is the safest choice.
2. Review Your Contact Information
Your contact information should be accurate and easy to find. Typically, your resume should include:
- Full name
- Phone number
- Professional email address
- City and state
- LinkedIn profile, when relevant
- Professional portfolio or website, when relevant
Check every item carefully. A single incorrect digit in your phone number or a typo in your email address could prevent an employer from contacting you.
Your email address should also look professional. An address based on your name is generally better than one containing jokes, nicknames, or unrelated phrases.
3. Check Your Resume Summary or Objective
If your resume includes a professional summary or objective statement, make sure it is relevant to the position you want. A weak summary may be too generic:
Hardworking professional seeking an opportunity with a growing company. This does not tell an employer much about your qualifications. A stronger summary should communicate your relevant experience, skills, and professional value.
For example, someone applying for a customer service position might emphasize experience helping customers, resolving problems, managing inquiries, and maintaining customer satisfaction.
Your summary should also avoid making the same statements that appear repeatedly throughout the rest of your resume.
4. Review Your Work Experience
Your work experience is usually one of the most important sections of your resume. Look at each position and ask:
Does this section explain what I actually accomplished?
Simply listing responsibilities is often less effective than showing contributions and results. For example:
Weak:
- Responsible for customer service
- Answered phones
- Helped customers
Stronger:
Assisted customers with product questions, orders, and service issues. Resolved customer problems while maintaining a high level of service. Handled a high volume of customer inquiries by phone and email.
Whenever possible, include measurable results. Examples include:
- Increased sales by 15%
- Reduced processing time by 20%
- Managed 50+ customer inquiries per day
- Trained 8 new employees
- Managed a
00,000 annual budget
Numbers can help employers understand the scale and impact of your work.
5. Look for Outdated or Irrelevant Information
Not everything you have ever done needs to remain on your resume. Review each section and ask whether the information helps demonstrate your qualifications for the job you are currently pursuing.
Consider removing or reducing:
Very old positions that are no longer relevant Outdated skills Irrelevant responsibilities Excessive details about early career positions Information that does not support your current career goals
This does not mean older experience should always be removed. Some older positions may still provide valuable experience. The goal is to make your resume focused rather than unnecessarily long.
6. Check Your Resume Keywords
Many employers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to help screen resumes before they reach a hiring manager. Review the job description for important qualifications and terminology.
Look for:
- Required skills
- Technical skills
- Job titles
- Certifications
- Software
- Industry terminology
- Education requirements
- Specific qualifications
If you genuinely possess a qualification mentioned in the job description, consider using the same terminology in your resume. For example, if a job description specifically asks for project management, using that exact phrase may be more useful than only saying managed projects.
Do not add keywords for skills you do not actually have.
7. Review Your Skills Section
Your skills section should support the position you are applying for. Separate relevant skills from outdated or unnecessary ones. Depending on your profession, skills might include:
- Microsoft Excel
- Project management
- Customer service
- Data analysis
- JavaScript
- Adobe Photoshop
- Sales
- Communication
- Leadership
- Inventory management
Prioritize skills that appear in the job description and that you can genuinely demonstrate through your experience. Avoid creating an extremely long list of skills simply to make your resume appear more impressive.
8. Check Your Education Section
Make sure your education information is accurate and consistently formatted. Depending on your situation, you may include:
- Degree
- School name
- Location
- Graduation year
- Relevant certifications
- Relevant coursework
If you have significant professional experience, your education section generally does not need to take up a large amount of space. Recent graduates or people with limited work experience may choose to provide additional education details when they strengthen the application.
9. Check Your Resume Length
There is no single resume length that works for every job seeker. A resume should contain enough information to demonstrate your qualifications without becoming unnecessarily long.
Ask yourself:
Does every section earn its place on the page?
If you have only a few years of experience, one page may be sufficient. Professionals with extensive experience may need two pages to present their qualifications effectively.
Do not remove important accomplishments simply to force an experienced candidate's resume onto one page. At the same time, avoid adding information simply to fill space.
10. Check for Spelling and Grammar Errors
Proofreading is one of the easiest ways to improve your resume. Check for:
- Spelling mistakes
- Grammar errors
- Missing punctuation
- Incorrect capitalization
- Incorrect dates
- Duplicate words
- Inconsistent verb tense
- Typographical errors
Pay particular attention to company names, job titles, software names, certifications, and other proper nouns. A resume can be professionally designed and still make a poor impression if it contains obvious errors.
Consider reading the resume slowly from beginning to end rather than simply scanning it.
11. Make Sure Your Formatting Is Consistent
Consistency matters because inconsistent formatting can make a resume look unfinished. For example, if one position uses:
January 2022 – March 2024
and another uses:
01/2020 - 12/2021
consider choosing one format and using it throughout the document. Check:
- Dates
- Headings
- Bullet points
- Font styles
- Font sizes
- Bold text
- Italics
- Line spacing
- Margins
A consistent format makes your resume easier to read.
12. Review Every Bullet Point
Read each bullet point individually. Ask:
Does this bullet demonstrate something useful?
Whenever possible, strong bullet points should communicate an action, responsibility, accomplishment, or result. Start bullets with strong action verbs such as:
- Managed
- Created
- Developed
- Improved
- Increased
- Reduced
- Coordinated
- Implemented
- Organized
- Led
- Analyzed
- Designed
Avoid starting every bullet with the same word. More importantly, make sure the bullet points accurately represent your actual experience.
13. Check Your Resume Against the Job Description
This is one of the most important parts of a resume review. Put your resume and the job description next to each other. Compare them carefully. Ask:
Do I have the required skills? Are those skills visible on my resume? Does my professional summary match the position? Does my experience demonstrate the employer's requirements? Have I included relevant keywords? Are my strongest qualifications easy to find?
You do not need to completely rewrite your resume for every job. However, tailoring important sections to the position can make your application more relevant.
14. Test Your Resume With an ATS or Resume Checker
An AI resume checker, resume scanner, or ATS-focused resume tool can provide another layer of review. These tools may identify issues such as:
- Missing keywords
- Formatting problems
- Weak bullet points
- Missing sections
- Readability issues
- Potential ATS compatibility problems
These tools should be treated as an additional resource rather than an absolute authority. A high score does not guarantee an interview, and a lower score does not automatically mean your resume is bad.
Use the results to identify areas worth reviewing.
15. Review Your Resume From the Employer's Perspective
After completing your technical review, read your resume as if you were the person hiring for the position. Give yourself approximately 10–15 seconds for the first scan.
Can you quickly identify:
What position you are targeting? What your professional background is? What your strongest skills are? What relevant experience you have? What accomplishments you have achieved?
If your most important qualifications are difficult to find, consider changing the structure or wording.
Complete Resume Review Checklist
Before submitting your resume, use this quick checklist:
Content ✓ Contact information is accurate ✓ Professional summary is relevant ✓ Work experience is clearly described ✓ Accomplishments are emphasized ✓ Skills are relevant ✓ Education information is accurate ✓ Important qualifications are included Keywords ✓ Relevant job-description keywords are included ✓ Required skills appear where appropriate ✓ Industry terminology is used naturally ✓ No false or misleading qualifications were added Formatting ✓ Resume is easy to scan ✓ Fonts are consistent ✓ Headings are consistent ✓ Dates use the same format ✓ Bullet points are aligned ✓ Margins and spacing are consistent ✓ Design is professional Proofreading ✓ No spelling errors ✓ No obvious grammar mistakes ✓ No incorrect dates ✓ No duplicate information ✓ Company names and job titles are correct Final Review ✓ Resume matches the target position ✓ Most important qualifications are easy to find ✓ Unnecessary information has been removed ✓ Resume is an appropriate length ✓ The final file has been opened and checked before submission
A resume review does not have to be complicated. The goal is to make sure your resume is accurate, relevant, easy to read, and focused on the position you want.
Start with the basic information and formatting, then review your experience, skills, keywords, and accomplishments. Finish by proofreading the entire document and comparing it with the job description.
Using this process before each important application can help you catch problems that might otherwise be overlooked. You can also use an AI resume checker or resume scanner as a second set of eyes. These tools can help identify potential weaknesses, but the final decision about what belongs on your resume should be based on your actual qualifications and the requirements of the job.