How to Improve Your Resume: 7 Steps to Stand Out to Employers

If you’re unsure how to improve your resume, your best bet is to make sure it’s error-free, tailored to each job you apply to, and easy to read. Beyond that, including action verbs and quantified outcomes will help you land interviews. 

The resume improvement tips in this guide will help you strengthen your resume and make it more competitive in today’s job market.

How to Improve Your Resume in 7 Simple Steps

The following steps will walk you through how to improve resumes with updates that actually make a difference.

• Step 1:

  Write an Effective Resume Summary (Instead of an Objective)

  One simple way to improve your resume is to replace an outdated objective with a strong resume summary that highlights your qualifications and value right away.

  Most resumes open with either a resume summary (AKA professional summary) or a resume objective.

  Here’s how the two approaches differ:

  Type of Resume Opener	Key Components	Example
  Resume Objective	A 1–2 sentence statement focused on what you’re looking for. Emphasizes career goals, the type of role you want, and how the opportunity fits your plans rather than what you offer the employer.	Recent marketing graduate seeking an entry-level role where I can build experience in digital marketing, content creation, and campaign strategy.
  Resume Summary	A 2–3 sentence snapshot of your qualifications. Highlights your experience, key skills, and measurable impact to show what you bring to the role and how you can contribute immediately.	Marketing graduate with hands-on internship experience in social media and content strategy. Managed campaigns across Instagram and TikTok, increasing engagement by 32% and contributing to a 15% growth in followers. Proficient in Google Analytics, Hootsuite, and Canva.

  At the end of the day, a resume summary is the stronger choice because it shows employers what you’re capable of doing for them, not just your goals.

  When & How to Use an Objective Instead of a Summary

  There are a few situations, however, where an objective can still be useful, like if you’re:

  • Changing careers
  • Entering the workforce as a new graduate
  • Returning to work after a gap

  Even then, the best approach is a hybrid summary/objective. Start with who you are and what you bring (like in a professional summary), then briefly include your direction or goal as you would in a resume objective.

  For example:

  Customer service professional with 3 years of experience resolving high-volume inquiries and improving customer satisfaction. Seeking to transition into an HR support role where I can apply communication and problem-solving skills.

  If you’re early in your career or have employment gaps, focus your summary on transferable skills, relevant coursework, certifications, or projects to shift attention from what’s missing to what you can offer.

• Step 2:

  Use Strong Action Verbs

  To improve your resume quickly, focus on turning duties into accomplishments by starting each bullet point with a strong action verb. When you do this, weak phrases like “helped with” or “responsible for” become more specific and results-driven.

  The examples below focus on improving clarity with stronger verbs, which we’ll build on in the next step by adding measurable results.

  For example:

  • Weak: Responsible for customer inquiries.
  • Strong: Resolved customer inquiries daily, improving response time and customer satisfaction.

  Common and effective action verbs include:

  • Achieved
  • Analyzed
  • Built
  • Collected
  • Coordinated
  • Created
  • Delivered
  • Developed
  • Executed
  • Improved
  • Increased
  • Led
  • Maintained
  • Managed
  • Optimized
  • Organized
  • Researched
  • Scheduled
  • Streamlined
  • Supported

  Here are a few examples of stronger resume bullet points spanning a variety of scenarios:

  • Researched industry trends and compiled reports.
  • Managed team schedules and daily operations.
  • Coordinated meetings and internal communications.
  • Developed marketing materials and campaigns.
  • Organized files and maintained accurate records.
• Step 3:

  Include Quantified, Measurable Results

  To improve your resume in a meaningful way, add numbers, percentages, or clear accomplishments to help hiring managers understand your level of responsibility and effectiveness. 

  Focus on what you can quantify, such as:

  • How often you did something: Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.
  • How many people, tasks, or projects you handled: Team size, workload, volume, etc.
  • How much you completed, increased, or reduced: Revenue, productivity, time saved, etc.
  • How well you performed: Accuracy, speed, efficiency, etc.

  The easiest way to do this is by following a simple formula: action verb + task + result. 

  For example:

  Basic Resume Bullet Point	Quantified Resume Bullet Point
  Responsible for social media.	Managed social media accounts across 4 platforms, increasing overall engagement by 30% in a single quarter.
  Helped with customer service.	Handled 50+ customer inquiries daily, improving satisfaction scores.
  Maintained client records.	Maintained 1,000+ client records with 99% accuracy.

  What if you don’t have clear metrics?

  You can still quantify your impact by estimating or reframing your work. For example, instead of exact percentages, use ranges (“50+ customers daily”), frequency (“weekly reports”), or scope (“supported a team of 10”). You can also highlight improvements like time saved, errors reduced, or processes streamlined, even if you don’t have exact numbers.

• Step 4:

  Tailor Your Resume to Each Job You Apply to

  For those asking, “How can I make my resume better?” Arguably, the best approach is to tailor it to each job you apply to. A targeted resume is customized to match a specific role, rather than sending the same version everywhere.

  Start by reviewing the job description closely. Look for specific keywords, required skills, and core responsibilities, then reflect that language in your resume. Then, adjust the content of your resume so the most relevant experience stands out.

  To tailor your resume:

  • Reorder bullet points to highlight relevant work. Move the most relevant responsibilities and achievements to the top of each job so they’re seen first, and remove or shorten less relevant details.
  • Update your summary to match the role. Adjust your resume summary to reflect the job title, key skills, and experience the employer is looking for so it immediately shows alignment.
  • Emphasize skills that match the job requirements. Prioritize and list the skills mentioned in the job description, using similar wording when appropriate so both hiring managers and applicant tracking systems (ATS) can quickly recognize your fit.
• Step 5:

  Format for Readability

  Ensuring proper formatting is one of the fastest ways to improve your resume and make a strong first impression. Hiring managers often review resumes in seconds, so clear structure and consistent formatting help them find the most important information fast.

  Whether you’re building your resume in Microsoft Word, using a resume builder, or working from a resume template, these rules apply across the board:

  • Length: Use a one-page resume. Only use two pages if you have extensive, relevant experience.
  • Bullet points: Use concise bullet points instead of paragraphs for easier scanning.
  • Fonts: Stick to professional fonts, and use one font style throughout.
  • Spacing: Keep spacing consistent between sections, and use white space so the page doesn’t look crowded or packed with text.
  • Bolding: Use bold for section headings and key details like section headings and job titles to guide the reader’s eye.
  • Colors: Keep the colors on your resume minimal and professional. Use subtle accents only if they don’t impact readability.
• Step 6:

  Proofread Meticulously

  A strong resume is error-free. An unpolished resume can signal a lack of attention to detail, even if your experience is strong.

  For example, a small typo like “manger” instead of “manager” or inconsistent date formatting can distract hiring managers and undermine your credibility.

  • Read it backward, line by line, to catch spelling errors.
  • Review each section separately to check for consistency.
  • Double-check dates, job titles, and formatting.
  • Have someone else review it with a fresh set of eyes
• Step 7:

  Enlist the Help of AI & Resume Tools

  Learning how to use AI to improve resumes can help you write and edit your resume faster and more effectively. You just need to retain your human touch by reviewing and personalizing the output.

  AI can help you rewrite bullet points, strengthen your language, and turn basic responsibilities into more impactful statements. If you’re wondering how to use ChatGPT to improve resumes, start by pasting in your current bullets and asking for stronger, more results-focused versions.

  For example, you could use a prompt like:

  Rewrite these resume bullet points using strong action verbs and measurable results. Keep them concise and tailored for a [job title] role.

  You can also ask it to tailor your resume to a specific job description or suggest better action verbs:

  Tailor these resume bullets to match this job description, incorporating relevant keywords and highlighting measurable impact.

  Using AI to improve your resume can save time and help you refine your content, but it works best when you review and personalize the output.

  Additionally, resume tools can help with structure, formatting, and optimization:

  • Resume templates provide a clean, professional layout that’s easy to follow.
  • Resume builders help you create and format your resume step by step.

  For example, Monster’s Resume Builder offers guided resume creation with professional resume templates and built-in tools to help optimize your content for employers and ATS.

Strong Resume, Strong Job Prospects

Improving your resume doesn’t require a complete rewrite. In most cases, knowing how to strengthen resumes comes down to making a series of focused, intentional updates that better highlight your experience and value.

The key is to think like an employer. Make your resume easy to scan, relevant to the role, and backed by clear examples of your impact. When you do that, your resume becomes a more compelling case for why you should be hired.

Kirsten Chorpenning Career Advice Expert

Kirsten Chorpenning is a career advice writer who empowers job seekers to take control of their career paths using Monster’s comprehensive job search and resume tools. She specializes in helping job seekers find rewarding jobs in today’s dynamic work environment.Holding a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in writing, Kirsten combines academic knowledge with five years of career industry experience to provide practical job search guidance. She focuses on the nuances of the modern job market and effective strategies for job applications. Her work, which focuses on providing actionable advice on how to secure interviews and achieve long-term career success, has been featured in Forbes, Money Talks News, MSN, and FlexJobs.

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