Section order and page structure – Page 2

A common order is: header with GitHub or portfolio link, short summary, technical skills, professional experience, projects, education and certifications.

Why it works:

• Technical skills near the top let readers and applicant tracking systems see your stack quickly.
• Experience follows with results.
• Projects show extra depth, especially open-source or personal work.

Graduates and junior developers often move projects and education above experience. Senior engineers can keep skills short and let experience carry the most weight.

Example skills line: "Backend: Java, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL, Kafka"

A common order is: header, summary, teaching qualifications and licences, teaching experience, education, professional development, and additional skills or activities.

Tips:

• Put teaching qualifications high, as schools often screen for them first.
• Describe teaching experience with subjects, grade levels and curricula, such as IB, British or CBSE.
• Include extracurricular leadership, such as running clubs, in your experience or a separate section.

Example: "Taught IGCSE Mathematics to Years 10 and 11; introduced weekly problem-solving sessions."

Lead with education and projects, then experience. A good order is: header, summary, education, engineering projects, internships or work experience, technical skills, certifications, and activities.

Projects can show design, analysis and teamwork skills that employers look for in graduate engineers.

Example: "Final-year project: designed a solar-powered water pump for a farm in Ras Al Khaimah; modelled flow in MATLAB and built a working prototype."

Once you have one or two years of engineering work, move experience above projects.

A common order is: header with portfolio link, short summary, experience, selected projects or clients, skills and tools, education, and awards.

Tips:

• Put the portfolio link where it is impossible to miss, in the header.
• Use a "Selected projects" section to highlight your best work with brief results.
• List tools such as Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud and prototyping software in a skills section.

For junior designers, projects and education can come before experience. Keep the order logical even if the visual design is creative.

Lead with your summary and skills, then your experience in reverse chronological order, with the break shown briefly. Recent courses, volunteering or freelance work during the break can go in your experience section to show you stayed active.

A useful order:

• Header and summary that mentions your return.
• Key skills.
• Experience, including a one-line entry for the career break.
• Recent training or certifications.
• Education.

Example: "Career break, 2022 to 2024: full-time caregiver; completed a Google Data Analytics certificate."

Treat freelance work as a job. A common order is: header with portfolio link, summary, skills, experience (including a "Freelance [role]" entry with key clients or projects), education, and certifications.

Tips:

• Use one freelance entry with dates, then bullets for major clients or projects.
• Add a "Selected clients" or "Selected projects" section if your client list is impressive.
• Place full-time roles and freelance roles together in reverse chronological order.

Example: "Freelance Content Writer, 2021 to Present: wrote product pages and blogs for 15 e-commerce clients in the UAE and UK."

Often it goes early, because the professional degree is a basic requirement. Doctors often list medical education, licences and training posts near the top. Lawyers early in their career may put their law degree and bar admission before experience.

As experience grows, clinical or legal experience usually moves above education, while licences and admissions stay near the top.

Example for a junior lawyer:
"Admissions: Advocate, Bar Council of Kerala, 2023
Education: LLB, Government Law College, 2022
Experience: Associate, Menon & Partners, 2023 to Present"

In your education section, at the top if it is your most recent study, with "Expected" and the completion date. If you are working and studying part time, education can stay below experience.

Example: "MBA (part-time), University of Dubai, expected June 2027"

If the degree is highly relevant to the job, mention it in your summary too. Do not write it as if it were complete; employers may check.

In the education section, usually below experience, with an honest description. Focus on what you completed.

Examples:

• "BSc Business Administration coursework (90 credits), University of Sharjah, 2019 to 2021"
• "Studied Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, 2018 to 2020"

Do not imply that you graduated. If you have strong work experience, putting education lower keeps the focus on what you have achieved since. Relevant certifications or training can go above or alongside education to show continued learning.

Usually only if the research is the most relevant thing you have done for the role. For many PhD graduates moving to industry, the PhD is the main experience, so it can be presented as a role in the experience section, with achievements framed for the employer.

Example:
"Doctoral Researcher, Khalifa University, 2020 to 2024

• Built machine learning models to predict corrosion rates in pipelines.
• Presented findings to an industry partner's engineering team."

Publications can follow later in a short "Selected publications" section.

Yes. Many sections with one or two items each make a resume look fragmented and harder to scan. Combining them gives a cleaner structure.

Useful combinations:

• "Certifications and Training"
• "Awards and Achievements"
• "Languages and Interests", or languages within Skills.
• "Memberships and Volunteering"
• "Additional Information" for a few short items.

Keep major sections, such as Experience, Education and Skills, separate. Aim for about five to eight sections in total for most resumes.

Not exactly, but it can guide your priorities. If the advert stresses a certification first, move certifications higher. If it focuses on technical skills, put skills above experience.

However, keep a standard, logical structure. Readers and applicant tracking systems expect familiar sections such as summary, experience, education and skills. Rather than rebuilding the whole resume around the advert, adjust:

• The summary to match the top requirements.
• The order of bullets within each job.
• Which optional sections appear and where.

Usually yes, as long as it still makes sense to the reader. Putting your strongest evidence first is the main rule of section order. For example, a candidate with an impressive projects portfolio and little work history can put Projects before Experience.

Keep it readable:

• Use standard headings so readers know what they are looking at.
• Keep reverse chronological order within each section.
• Do not hide important information, such as recent jobs, at the bottom.

What you want to avoid is an order that looks like you are hiding something, such as putting a recent job below unrelated older roles without explanation.

Place it according to how relevant it is to the job. A custom section with your own heading can hold items that do not fit standard sections, such as "Selected Clients", "Patents", "Exhibitions" or "Speaking Engagements".

Guidelines:

• Highly relevant content: after experience or even after the summary.
• Supporting content: near the end, before references.
• Use a clear, descriptive heading so readers and systems understand it.

ResumeBuilder.ae includes a Custom Section where you choose the heading, and sections can be reordered to place it where it works best.

For students and recent graduates, put them after education and projects, in a section such as "Leadership and Activities". If a leadership role is your strongest experience, it can go higher.

Describe them like jobs:

• Role and organisation.
• Dates.
• One or two bullets showing results.

Example: "President, Engineering Society, 2024 to 2025: organised an industry visit for 60 students and secured two company sponsors."

Once you have professional experience, shorten this section or move it near the end.

In your experience section, in reverse chronological order with any other jobs. Mark it as part-time if helpful, such as "Sales Assistant (part-time)".

For students and graduates, part-time work shows reliability, time management and customer skills, so it belongs in the main experience section even if it is unrelated to your degree.

Example: "Barista (part-time), Coffee House, Abu Dhabi, 2023 to 2024: served 150 customers a day during peak periods while studying full time."

Once you have several years of professional experience, these jobs can be shortened or removed.

List the one you started most recently first, or the more relevant one first if they started around the same time. Show both with clear dates so the overlap is obvious.

Example:
"Accounts Executive, Al Safa Trading, Jan 2023 to Present
Freelance Bookkeeper, various small businesses, Jun 2022 to Present"

You can label one as part-time or freelance to explain the overlap. Do not merge them into one entry, as that hides the fact that you managed both.

Yes, usually. Reverse chronological order means your most recent role comes first, even if it was short. Readers expect it and may be confused if it appears lower.

Make it work:

• Label it clearly, such as "Contract" or "Temporary".
• Keep it brief if it was less relevant.
• Let your summary point to your strongest experience.

If the short role is unrelated and your stronger experience is earlier, consider a "Relevant Experience" section first, followed by "Other Experience".

At the end of the resume. An "Additional Information" section is a useful place for short items that do not fit elsewhere, such as a driving licence, availability, willingness to relocate or security clearance.

Example:
"Additional Information: UAE driving licence; available to start in 30 days; willing to relocate within the GCC."

Keep it to one to three lines. If any of these items is essential for the job, such as a driving licence for a delivery role, put it higher, near your contact details or summary.

Usually not, if you have several years of experience. Your professional experience is still your strongest evidence. Mention the MBA in your summary or title line so it is seen early, and keep the full entry in Education.

Example title: "Operations Manager | MBA | Lean Six Sigma Green Belt"

The exception is if you are using the MBA to move into a new field where your past experience is less relevant. Then an education-first order, followed by relevant MBA projects and transferable experience, can work well.

Plan the top half of page one carefully, because readers often decide there whether to read on. It should contain:

• Your name, professional title and contact details.
• A short summary that matches the job.
• Your key skills or core competencies.
• The start of your most recent, relevant role.

Then check:

• Is anything essential, such as a licence or required degree, missing from page one?
• Are there sections near the top, such as long personal details or objectives, that could move lower or be removed?

If someone read only the top half of page one, they should understand who you are and why you fit.

Link to it in your header, and mention selected work in your experience or a "Selected Projects" section. The portfolio itself should usually be a separate link or file, not part of the resume pages.

A clear structure:

• Header: name, title, contact details and portfolio link.
• Summary mentioning your specialism.
• Experience with results.
• Selected projects with one or two lines each.

This works for designers, writers, architects, developers, photographers and marketers. Make sure the link works and goes straight to your best work.

Put them inside each job's bullets, with your most impressive results first. For sales roles, you can also add a short "Key Achievements" section under your summary.

Structure:

• Summary: years in sales, sector and headline strength.
• Key achievements (optional): two or three standout results.
• Experience: results-focused bullets for each role.
• Skills: CRM tools, negotiation, product knowledge.

Example: "Grew key account revenue by signing three new distributors in Saudi Arabia in 2024."

Usually experience, with a short skills section near the top. Hospitality and retail employers want to see where you have worked and what you did, such as guest service, upselling, cash handling and teamwork.

A common order:

• Header and summary.
• Key skills, including languages.
• Experience with results.
• Training and certifications, such as food safety.
• Education.

Languages are especially valuable in hospitality, so keep them visible near the top.

Put licences and key certifications near the top. A useful order is: header, summary, licences and certifications, experience, equipment or vehicles operated, training, and education.

Example:
"Licences: UAE heavy vehicle licence (Class 6); Forklift operator certificate
Experience: Delivery Driver, Fast Freight LLC, 2020 to Present"

Employers in these fields often screen first for the right licence and equipment experience, so making them easy to find saves time for everyone.