Choosing and organising resume sections

ResumeBuilder.ae offers a wide set of standard sections plus one Custom Section with your own heading, and you can reorder them.

Available sections:

• Work Experience
• Education
• Skills
• Certifications
• Projects
• Languages
• Professional Training
• Awards
• Volunteer Work
• Internships
• Publications
• Research
• Professional Memberships
• Academic Experience
• References
• Custom Section, with a heading you choose

Your contact and personal details, such as name, professional title, email, phone, location and links, are entered separately at the top.

You do not need all of these. Most strong resumes use four to seven sections: usually Work Experience, Education and Skills, plus the few optional sections that help prove you fit the job. Add a section only when you have real, relevant content for it, and remove any you leave empty so no bare headings appear.

Contact details, work experience (or its equivalent), education and skills. These answer the core questions every employer has: who you are, what you have done, what you have learned, and what you can do.

The essentials:

• Contact details: name, phone, email, city and country, and a professional link if useful.
• Work Experience: jobs with titles, employers, dates and achievement bullets. For students, Internships, Projects or Volunteer Work can fill this role.
• Education: your highest relevant qualifications.
• Skills: relevant tools, methods and abilities.

Most resumes also benefit from a short professional summary at the top, two to four lines that tell the reader what you offer.

Everything else, such as Certifications, Languages, Awards or Projects, is optional and depends on your field and the job. A clean resume with the essentials done well beats a long one with many thin sections.

Add an optional section when it gives the employer a new reason to choose you. If it repeats what is already clear, or holds only weak items, leave it out.

Good reasons to add one:

• It proves a skill the job asks for that your work history does not show, such as a Projects section for a junior developer.
• It covers a requirement, such as Certifications for a role that needs a licence.
• It fills experience gaps for students, graduates or career changers, such as Volunteer Work or Internships.
• It shows notable recognition, such as an industry award.

Reasons to skip:

• Only one minor item.
• Not relevant to the role.
• Space is tight and the item is already mentioned in a job entry.

Review your optional sections for each application; a section that helps for one job may be clutter for another.

The Custom Section lets you add a section with your own heading for content that does not fit the standard ones. On ResumeBuilder.ae it sits alongside the standard sections and can be reordered like them.

Good uses:

• "Licences" for professions where licences matter separately from certifications.
• "Leadership and Activities" for student societies and committees.
• "Interests", if they are relevant to the job.
• "Exhibitions" or "Performances" for creative fields.
• "Board Positions" for senior executives.
• "Relevant Experience" for career changers who want to group the most relevant roles first.

Tips:

• Use a clear, standard-sounding heading; avoid creative names like "My Journey".
• Check first whether a standard section already fits, such as Awards, Publications or Professional Training. Standard headings are easier for applicant tracking systems and readers to recognise.
• Keep the format of its entries consistent with the rest of the resume.

A custom section should earn its place like any other; do not use it to add filler.

Use short, plain headings that tell the reader exactly what is underneath. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems recognise familiar wording more easily than clever titles.

Clear examples:

• "Licences"
• "Leadership and Activities"
• "Presentations"
• "Exhibitions"
• "Board Positions"
• "Patents"
• "Interests"
• "Additional Information"

Headings to avoid:

• "What I Bring", "My Story", "Superpowers": vague and informal.
• Very long headings, such as "Courses, Workshops and Other Learning Activities Completed".
• Headings that duplicate a standard section you could use instead.

Use the same capitalisation style as your other headings, and check the preview to make sure the heading fits on one line.

Some builders let you, but it is usually best to keep standard headings. "Work Experience", "Education" and "Skills" are what readers and applicant tracking systems expect, so they are found and understood instantly.

If you want different wording, stay with common alternatives:

• "Professional Experience" or "Employment History" instead of "Work Experience".
• "Qualifications" for education in some regions.
• "Technical Skills" or "Key Skills" instead of "Skills".

Avoid creative headings such as "Where I've Made an Impact" or "My Toolbox". They can make sections harder for software to identify and slower for people to find.

If your builder does not let you rename a standard section, and you really need a different heading, you can use the Custom Section with your own heading. For ResumeBuilder.ae, check the editor for what can be changed; the Custom Section always lets you set the heading.

Usually between four and seven, including contact details. That is enough to show your experience, education and skills plus a few relevant extras, without making the page feel cluttered.

Typical combinations:

• Graduate: Contact, Summary, Education, Projects, Internships, Skills, Languages.
• Experienced professional: Contact, Summary, Work Experience, Education, Certifications, Skills.
• Academic: more sections are normal, such as Research, Publications and Academic Experience.

Signs you have too many:

• Several sections with only one item.
• Sections that repeat information.
• Your resume runs onto an extra page because of headings and spacing.

When in doubt, merge small sections into larger ones, for example adding a single award as a bullet in the relevant job.

Put your strongest evidence for the job closest to the top. Readers form their first impression from the top half of page one, so lead with what matters most to them.

A simple rule:

• If your work experience is your strongest selling point, put Work Experience first after the summary.
• If you are a student or recent graduate, Education often leads, followed by Projects or Internships.
• If a qualification is required for the job, such as a nursing licence or engineering registration, consider putting Certifications or a Licences section near the top.
• If you are changing careers, recent Professional Training or Projects in the new field may come before older jobs.

Contact details always come first, and a short summary usually follows them.

On ResumeBuilder.ae you can reorder sections, so you can adjust the order for each application. After reordering, read the first half of page one as if you were the employer: does it show your best match for this job?

Use a separate Certifications section for professional certificates, and keep Education for degrees, diplomas and school qualifications. This makes both easier to scan.

Certifications section:

• Professional qualifications, such as "CPA", "PMP", "CCNA" or "BLS".
• Licences, with numbers and expiry dates where expected.
• Vendor and industry certificates.

Education section:

• University degrees and diplomas.
• School-leaving qualifications, if relevant.
• Ongoing degree programmes.

If you have only one certificate, you can add it to Education to save a heading. If certifications are essential for the job, such as a safety ticket for site work, a separate section placed near the top helps the reader find it quickly.

Certifications are credentials you earned, usually through an exam or assessment; Professional Training is learning you completed, such as courses and workshops, without a formal credential.

Certifications:
"Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), 2024"
"NEBOSH International General Certificate, 2023"

Professional Training:
"Advanced Excel for Finance, 3-day workshop, 2025"
"Leadership Essentials, in-house programme, 2024"

Why the difference matters:

• Employers who require a certification will look for it in Certifications.
• Training shows ongoing learning, which matters for career changers and people returning to work.

Do not list a training course as if it were a certification. If a course gave you a certificate of attendance only, it belongs in Professional Training.

Use a separate Internships section if you are a student or graduate with internships and little other work; put them under Work Experience if you also have regular jobs and want one timeline.

Separate Internships section works well when:

• Internships are your main professional experience.
• You have several and want them to stand out.

Under Work Experience works well when:

• You have full-time jobs and one earlier internship.
• The internship was long and substantial, like a regular job.

Either way, label it clearly: "Finance Intern, Meridian Capital, Jun to Aug 2025". Do not put the same internship in both sections. As your career grows, older internships can be shortened or removed.

Give it its own section when it is substantial or relevant; leave it out or keep it short when it is neither. Volunteer work can show real skills, especially for students, career changers and people returning to work.

Use a Volunteer Work section when:

• You held a responsible role, such as organising events or managing volunteers.
• It relates to the job, such as tutoring for a teaching role.
• It fills a gap in your paid work history.

Put it under Work Experience when:

• It was a major, long-term, job-like role and you want one timeline.

Write it like a job: role, organisation, dates and achievement bullets.
Example: "Volunteer Coordinator, Riverside Food Bank, 2023 to Present. Scheduled 40 weekend volunteers."

Be thoughtful with volunteering that reveals religious or political affiliations; include it only if you are comfortable sharing that.

Anyone whose projects prove skills that their job history does not. It is especially useful for students, graduates, career changers, developers, designers, engineers and freelancers.

Good project entries include:

• A clear project name and your role.
• Dates or year.
• What you did, the tools you used, and the result.
• A link, if there is a public version.

Example:
"Restaurant Booking App (final-year project), 2025

• Built a booking system in React and Firebase for a local café.
• Reduced phone bookings by moving reservations online."

Experienced professionals can also use Projects to highlight a few major pieces of work in more detail than their job bullets allow. Keep it selective: two to four strong projects are better than ten small ones.

Add one if you speak more than one language, or if the job involves communication in a particular language. In many regions, such as the Gulf, India and Europe, languages are a valued part of a resume.

How to write it:

• List each language with an honest level, such as "Native", "Fluent", "Professional working proficiency" or "Basic".
• If you have a formal test result, you can add it, such as "French (B2, DELF)".
• Put the most relevant languages for the job first.

Example:
"English (Fluent), Arabic (Native), Hindi (Conversational)"

If you speak only one language and the job does not ask about languages, you can leave this section out. Avoid listing the same languages again in your Skills section.

Formal recognition from an employer, institution or recognised organisation. Awards show that others judged your work as outstanding, which is stronger than self-description.

Good examples:

• "Employee of the Quarter, Coastline Hotels, Q2 2024"
• "Dean's List, 4 semesters, University of Lagos"
• "1st place, Regional Hackathon, 2025"
• Scholarships based on merit.

Usually leave out:

• Certificates for simply attending an event.
• Internal thank-you notes without formal recognition.
• Very old school awards, once you have work experience.

Add a few words of context if the award is unfamiliar: "Selected from 120 sales staff". If you have only one award and it relates to a job, consider a bullet in that job instead of a separate section.

Researchers, academics, doctors, scientists, writers and anyone whose published work supports their application. For most business roles, publications are only worth including if they relate to the job.

What to include:

• Journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and reports.
• Professional articles in recognised industry publications.
• Use a consistent citation style, such as author, year, title, publication.

Example:
"Khan, S. and Lee, M. (2024). Water reuse in hotel operations. Journal of Hospitality Engineering, 12(3)."

Tips:

• For an industry resume, list only the most relevant few and add "Selected publications" as the heading in a custom section if you want to make that clear.
• Mark work under review or in press honestly.
• For academic CVs, a full list is normal.

Research describes the work you did; Publications lists the outputs that were published. Many academic and scientific CVs use both.

Research section:

• Projects, roles and topics, such as "Research Assistant, Microbiology Lab, 2023 to 2025".
• Methods, tools and findings in bullets.
• Funding or grants you contributed to.

Publications section:

• Articles, papers, chapters and reports, in a citation format.

Use Research alone when your work has not been published yet, which is common for students and early researchers. Use Publications alone when the research is already described in your Work Experience or Academic Experience. Avoid repeating the same project in long form in both sections.

Memberships of professional bodies, institutes and associations related to your work. They show engagement with your profession and, for some fields, a recognised status.

Examples:

• "Member, Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (MCIPS)"
• "Member, Institution of Engineers (India)"
• "Associate Member, Society for Human Resource Management"

Tips:

• Include the membership grade and year joined if meaningful.
• Mention any active role, such as committee member or chapter organiser.
• Leave out lapsed memberships unless you are renewing them.

Professional memberships are especially useful in engineering, finance, HR, healthcare and procurement. If the membership is also a qualification, such as a chartered status, list it in Certifications too only if it is a separate credential.

It is for academic roles that are not ordinary employment, such as teaching assistantships, lecturing, tutoring at university, lab demonstrating and research assistant posts. It is most useful in academic CVs and for graduates entering teaching or research.

Examples:
"Teaching Assistant, Introductory Economics, University of Cape Town, 2023 to 2025

• Led weekly tutorials for 30 first-year students."

"Lab Demonstrator, Chemistry Department, 2024"

When to use it:

• You are applying for academic or research positions.
• You have teaching or research roles alongside or instead of industry jobs.

If you are applying for industry jobs, you can move important academic roles into Work Experience instead, written to highlight transferable skills such as presenting and analysis.

Only when the employer asks for references on the resume, or when it is common for the job and region. Otherwise, many people leave the section out and provide references when asked.

If you include the References section:

• List two or three people who know your work well, such as former managers.
• Include name, job title, organisation, email and phone.
• Ask each person for permission first, and tell them which jobs you are applying for.

If you leave it out:

• You do not need to write "References available on request"; employers assume this.
• Keep your referees' details ready in a separate document.

Remember that your resume may be shared widely, so you are also sharing your referees' contact details. Include them only when needed.

Use the Custom Section with a heading such as "Interests". ResumeBuilder.ae does not have a dedicated hobbies section, so the Custom Section is the way to add one if you need it.

Include interests only when they help:

• They relate to the job, such as photography for a marketing role.
• They show something useful, such as team sports, community leadership or a significant achievement like completing a marathon.
• You have little work experience and want to show more about yourself.

Be specific: "Competitive chess (regional club captain)" says more than "Reading, music, travel".

Leave out interests that reveal private information you would rather not share, such as religion or politics, unless you are comfortable doing so. For experienced professionals, an interests section is usually optional and the first thing to cut for space.

You can, but a single line in your work history is usually clearer. Most readers want to see your timeline in one place, so a break shown in the same section as your jobs explains the gap without drawing extra attention.

Option 1, in Work Experience:
"Career break, family care, 2022 to 2024"

Option 2, a custom section, if you did significant activities during the break:
Heading: "Career Break Activities"
"Completed Google Data Analytics certificate; volunteered as treasurer for a parents' association."

Tips:

• Keep the explanation brief and positive.
• You do not need to share private details, such as health information.
• Highlight anything that keeps your skills current, such as courses or freelance work.

Whatever format you choose, make sure the dates are accurate and consistent with your other entries.

If headings take up as much space as content, or readers have to hunt for your main experience, you have too many. Each section adds a heading and spacing, so many small sections waste space and fragment your story.

Warning signs:

• Several sections with only one or two items.
• Similar sections that could be merged, such as Awards and Achievements.
• Optional sections appearing before your main experience.
• An extra page caused mostly by headings.

How to fix:

• Merge related items: a single award can go in a job bullet; one course can go in Education.
• Remove sections that are not relevant to this job, such as Interests or References.
• Combine Professional Training and Certifications if you have few of each.

Aim for a focused resume where each section clearly supports your application.

Usually merge it into another section instead. A whole heading for one small item looks thin and takes space.

Ideas for merging:

• One award: add it as a bullet in the job where you earned it.
• One certificate: add it to Education.
• One language besides your native language: add it to Skills, or keep a short Languages line if languages matter for the job.
• One volunteer role: add it to Work Experience if it was significant.

Keep a single-item section when:

• The item is highly relevant, such as a required licence.
• The employer specifically asks for that information.
• The item is substantial, such as a major publication for a research role.

Check the preview after merging to make sure the item is still easy to find.

In the Certifications section, or in a custom "Licences" section if licences are central to your profession. Healthcare, engineering, aviation, driving, security and some legal and financial roles often need licences to be easy to find.

Include:

• Licence name and type.
• Issuing authority or regulator.
• Licence number, if your role or country requires it and employers expect to see it.
• Issue and expiry dates.

Example:
"Licences
Registered Pharmacist, [regulator name], Licence No. [number], valid until [month year]"

If a licence is a basic requirement for the job, place the section near the top, just after your summary. Never list a licence you do not currently hold; if one is in process, say so honestly, such as "licence application submitted".