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Definition of resume

 (Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

intransitive verb

Definition of résumé  (Entry 2 of 2)

• proceed (with)
• encapsulation
• recapitulation
• run-through
• summarization

Examples of resume in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'resume.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French resumer , from Latin resumere , from re- + sumere to take up, take — more at consume

French résumé , from past participle of résumer to resume, summarize, from Middle French resumer

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

1782, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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Cite this entry.

“Resume.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resume. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of resume, kids definition of résumé, more from merriam-webster on resume.

Nglish: Translation of resume for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of resume for Arabic Speakers

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What Is a Resume?

Understanding a resume, the resume heading, resume trouble spots, changing times for resumes, what you should not put on a resume, the bottom line.

• Career Advice

What Is a Resume? Its Purpose and What Should Not Be on Yours

Katrina Ávila Munichiello is an experienced editor, writer, fact-checker, and proofreader with more than fourteen years of experience working with print and online publications.

Investopedia / Jiaqi Zhou

A resume is a formal document that a job applicant creates to itemize their qualifications for a position. A resume is usually accompanied by a customized cover letter in which the applicant expresses an interest in a specific job or company and draws attention to the most relevant specifics on the resume.

American job coaches insist that a resume should be only one or two pages in length. British job applicants traditionally are expected to produce a somewhat more detailed document called a CV (curriculum vitae).

Key Takeaways

• Nowadays, resumes are typically sent by email or as part of an online application.
• The traditional one- to two-page limit for a resume stands, but nothing prevents you from attaching a brief video introduction or other illustration if it is relevant and enhances your presentation.
• It's smart to rewrite your resume to tailor it to a specific job you're seeking.

A resume is almost always required for applicants to office jobs. They are the first step taken by corporate recruiters and hiring managers to identify candidates who might be invited to interview for a position.

Successful resumes highlight specific accomplishments applicants have achieved in former positions, such as cutting costs, transcending sales goals, increasing profits, and building out teams. 

There are many formats for resumes, with many variations for particular professions such as investment banking and the fashion trade.

Whatever the format, most resumes include a brief summary of skills and experience, followed by a bullet list of previous jobs in reverse chronological order and a list of degrees earned.

A final section might be added to highlight specific skills, such as fluency in a foreign language, knowledge of computer languages, professionally useful hobbies, professional affiliations, and any honors achieved.

Brevity, a clean layout, and succinct language all are prized. People who have to sort through hundreds of resumes have short attention spans.

The heading on the resume should include not only your name, email address, and mobile phone number but also your address on LinkedIn or another professional community and the address of your website or blog if you have one.

Be aware that any hiring manager will, as a matter of course, enter your name in the Google search field. Do a search on your own and see if you can optimize your own results or at least decently bury any youthful faux pas.

Recruiters examine job histories for significant employment gaps or a pattern of job-hopping. Be prepared to explain either, whether in a cover letter or during an interview. An applicant with a history of short-lived jobs might consider omitting a few of the oldest ones, especially if they aren't relevant to the current job opening.

For example, if you spent years working behind a counter in food service, then went back to school to earn physical therapy credentials, forget some of those early jobs in food service. Flesh out the sections that report your skills , training, and experience in the field that's now your specialty. You can mention those other jobs in the interview while explaining what a reliable professional you are.

The past can be particularly dangerous for applicants to new technology companies seeking to assemble cutting-edge teams. Legacy skills may imply obsolescence. The most powerful resumes underline how an applicant can thrive in the job that's open right now.

It goes without saying that resumes these days are delivered as email attachments or uploaded for an online application, not printed out and mailed.

Although the two-page maximum still stands, many applicants use the web to its full potential when it comes to attachments. Video introductions, charts, graphs, and other illustrations can make you stand out, so long as they're relevant and slickly made.

There is so much talk about what should be in your resume, but there are also some things that ought to be kept off the page. First, and most importantly, are your age, marital status, and the number of children you may have. While a potential employer might be able to deduce this information via a web search, it isn't relevant for a job application.

In addition, do not list your current salary, religion, political beliefs, or any personal details (like your hobbies), unless that information is required for the job in question.

What Are Common Resume Mistakes?

Common resume mistakes include typos, vague details without a lack of specifics, either being too long in detail or too short, grammatical errors, poor verb usage, impertinent information, and not including enough information on skills.

Should I Create More Than One Resume?

This depends on whether you are applying for different types of jobs. For example, if you are applying for an office manager job, you should tailor your resume to outline your leadership and organizational skills. But you might also be interested in applying for a retail position, so creating a second resume that instead highlights any retail experience that you have will put you in a better position to get that job.

What If I Do Not Have Any Work Experience?

You can still create a strong resume even if you do not have any professional work experience. Your resume can include any volunteer work you have done and the responsibilities you had during this time. If you are still in school, you can also list any academic organizations you are a part of and any offices and responsibilities you're holding.

Your resume is what gets you the job interview. It's the first step in getting hired. So you want to spend plenty of time making sure it's professional, represents who you are, is void of mistakes, does not contain superfluous information, and highlights why you would be the best candidate for the job.

Your resume should be recent and contain only the most important information; remove anything else. If you've been working for two decades, employers aren't interested in your high school GPA or any internships you had during college. Keep it concise, interesting, and impressive, and you'll be sure to get a response from companies.

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What is a Resume? It's Much More Than You Think

6 min read · Updated on December 08, 2023

What is a resume, really? When created thoughtfully, it's a fantastic personal marketing document that gets employers to notice you in a crowd.

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a resume is “a short account of one's career and qualifications.” Investopedia calls it “a document that job applicants use to summarize their work experience, educational background, and special skills.”

A resume provides the first (and sometimes only) chance to make a good impression on a prospective employer or hiring manager and prove that you are a well-qualified and hirable candidate. 

And while these definitions are technically correct, a well-crafted resume is so much more. It's actually a personal marketing document that can be targeted to a specific job/career/industry and provide the most relevant information about your ability to succeed in that unique role.

If you're ready for a new perspective, read on for more answers to “What is a resume?”

It's choosing the right formatting

How you format your resume also plays a role in how well you can market yourself to employers. 

There are four generally accepted resume formats: Chronological, Functional, Combination, and Targeted. Your own personal history and the specific job you want will generally determine which resume format you should use.

Here's a breakdown of each format's pros and cons and the situations in which they work best.

Chronological Resume

This format has a professional summary or introduction at the top followed by your work history starting with your most recent job, which is called reverse-chronological order. It then can move on to special skills, professional affiliations, and educational history .

A chronological resume is probably the most-used format because it's appropriate for many scenarios, including people with various experience and skill levels. 

It's also the format that's most familiar to recruiters and hiring managers so they immediately know where to find details on work history, education, and competencies.

You really can't go wrong using this format.

Functional Resume

If you are changing careers or have some gaps in your work history, this format is a good choice because it's designed to focus attention on your skills and applicable experience rather than your chronological work history.

Sometimes called a hybrid resume, a functional resume leads with a more detailed introduction and is followed by a list of specific skills that show your fit for the position. After that comes a brief overview of your work history with just general details because you want your skills to get all the attention.

It's important to note that this type of resume needs to be done well to make a good impression on a hiring manager, so it might be worth using a professional resume writer who knows how to present any work gaps or career changes in the best possible light.

Combination Resume

This format uses the key aspects of both a chronological and functional resume. 

It's best for anyone with a long work history or a set of specialized skills that deserve attention because both skills and work history are equally highlighted to show the strength of your qualifications for a particular position.

Targeted Resume

As the name implies, this is a resume that's specifically targeted to each job you apply for. 

The first step is to review the job description for the skills and experience that a company wants in a candidate. Next, tailor your resume so it clearly shows off your relevant skills, making you well-qualified for the role. You can use the same structure as a functional resume or stick with the chronological format.

You may want to consider a professional resume writer to help with this format, too, since it can be tricky to get it just right.

Remember that there are other resume formats specifically for people in education, the arts, and even certain technical or business areas, so do your research to be sure you choose the format that will get you the attention you deserve.

It's highlighting your “soft skills”

The information presented thus far is about presenting your “hard skills” which are any skills that you've gained through hands-on experience or an educational process. These are generally what people think of when asked “What is a resume?”

However, you also want to present your soft skills to a potential employer--which can be a little tricky at first.

Soft skills are the traits, qualities, thought-processes, and ideologies that help you put your hard skills into practice. Examples of soft skills can include communication style, leadership abilities, motivational skills, and team-building strategies which are shown by listing specific achievements you've met.

For example, you can highlight motivational skills with a statement such as: Consistently kept my team meeting or beating deadlines through daily, weekly, or monthly rewards and open communication policies.

It's using sections wisely

The following sections should be on every resume, regardless of the format, and should be as tailored to the job as possible no matter what layout you choose.

Contact Information - Name, phone number, email address are standard. You can also add your Linked-In profile and website links if they exist.

Introduction - This can be a professional profile, a job or career objective, a summary of your qualifications for the job, or an overall summary of your resume. Keep it concise!

Skills - Be sure to also include soft skills. Just a list here; you'll highlight them through your achievements.

Achievements - These are actual examples of milestones you've met that have helped the company in some way. Another option is to include these as part of your work history.

Work History - Starting with the most recent job, list your job title, time worked, location, and specific duties, making sure to include what's most relevant to the job application.

Education - List the highest degree you've earned, the school name, and majors/minors if appropriate.

If you don't have a ton of work experience, you can also add a section for volunteer experience or professional associations that might highlight your ability to succeed at a particular job.

It's marketing yourself as a solution

A resume isn't just a document for you to toot your own horn. 

It's a vehicle to show potential employers how you can help them and their organizations to succeed because you're the best qualified person for their role.

So, what is a resume? It's a personal marketing document that, when used effectively, will make you stand out from other candidates in a huge way--and get you hired. 

Do you need a resume? You can get one written by one of TopResume's professional resume writers whether you need an update or a resume written from scratch: Professional Resume Writing Service . 

Recommended Reading:

Resume Examples & Samples for Every Career

Your Guide to Writing a Resume

How Long Should a Resume Be?

Related Articles:

7 Best Personal Skills for Your Resume (With Examples)

7 Rejection Letter Samples to Send to Unsuccessful Applicants

How to Check if My Resume is ATS-Friendly for Free

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Resume vs. Résumé: A Brief Account Of Their Differences

We all have those words that we’ve heard over and over but don’t have the chance to write out all that often. Which can lead to a little bit of confusion when you actually need said word—like handing in your job application with “ resume ” in big letters on top instead of résumé. Or worse, talking about your résumé and pronouncing it resume the entire time: “As you can see on my re-zoom …”

While mixing up resume and résumé will surely lead to some funny looks, there’s a reason the two words get confused: a shared origin and differences between formal and informal writing.

If you’re looking to bolster your résumé, review some of the key action verbs we recommend when writing your résumé.

What does resume mean?

Resume is a verb that means to continue or “to take up or go on with again after interruption.” You can resume watching your favorite TV show after dinner, for example, or you could say that the football game resumed after the storm passed.

The noun form of resume is resumption , which is “the act or fact of taking up or going on with again.” The resumption of activities in nicer weather, for instance.

Resume was first recorded in 1375–1425. It comes from the Latin resūmere. The Latin word can be broken down into re- , a prefix meaning “again, back,” and sūmere, which means “to take.”

The definition is pretty straightforward, but it can get a little more complicated very fast. Resume is also a spelling variant of résumé when the accent marks are dropped (more on that later). You can thank how the English language adopts some French words for that curveball.

What is a résumé ?

A résumé (with the accent marks) is “a brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience, as that prepared by an applicant for a job.” It’s pronounced [  rez – oo -mey ] as opposed to how resume is pronounced [ ri- zoom ].

One could submit their résumé when applying for a graduate school program, for example, or do some extra volunteer work to add to their résumé. Our article on how to write a résumé has the tips and tricks you need, just be sure to use our Grammar Coach™ to make sure you don’t mix up resume and résumé before sending it in.

The word résumé was first recorded in 1795–1805 and originally meant a summary . The English résumé comes directly from the past participle of the French verb resumer, which means to “ sum up .” In French, résumé literally translates to something that has been summed up. The English meaning isn’t all that different when you consider a résumé is just a summary of a person’s education and work experience.

Why is résumé spelled that way?

Sometimes when the English language adopts a word from another language, the accent marks stick. Consider the word café , or déjà vu . The accent marks tell French speakers how to pronounce a vowel. That mark over the E in résumé is called an acute accent and signals that it should be pronounced like “ey.” Accent marks also distinguish two different words that are otherwise homographs.

Do you have the savoir-faire to know when to use a French loanword? Learn about savoir-faire and other French words that made their way into English.

That latter reason is one example of why the accent marks remain in English. A reader would have to rely entirely on context if résumé lacked the accent marks, and relying on context can easily lead to a misreading of the situation.

That said, sometimes the markings are left out in common usage, especially for words that were borrowed from French long ago—they had time to settle in, drop the marks, and assimilate. That’s why, in informal writing, résumé may be spelled resume. Think of it like how some places describe themselves as a café while others use cafe.

As with anything else in communication, it’s important to know your audience. Résumés are typically used when applying for a job or school. Both of those tend toward more formal, so using résumé with the acute accents is a safe bet.

What is a résumé vs. curriculum vitae ?

You may also be asked for a curriculum vitae (or CV for short) instead of a résumé. Using curriculum vitae is more common in British English and in other varieties of English across the world, but it’s not entirely uncommon in American English.

Like a résumé, a curriculum vitae is a summary of work experience and other background information that might be relevant to someone reading a job or school application. A CV is more likely to be asked for in academia than at your average, run-of-the-mill job in the United States. It also typically refers to a much more detailed summary—describing published papers and awards under a job or education heading rather than only listing a title and short description of duties, for instance. The fact that a CV is so comprehensive makes sense, as curriculum vitae  means “course of life” in Latin.

Now, if you landed here while working on your résumé or curriculum vitae to double check that you were using the right accent marks, you can resume with confidence now.

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Now that you're definitely sure you understand the nuances with those accent marks, hop over to this article on using "definitely" and "definitively" correctly.

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Other forms: resumed; resuming; resumes

If you resume something, you start it again after stopping. You might resume singing an aria after breaking to spit out your gum.

Resume is from Latin resumere "to take up again, take back," from the prefix re- "again" plus sumere "to take up, take." The Latin verb sumere is formed from the prefix sub- "under, up" plus emere "to take." When you pause a movie or game and then you press play again, what you're really doing is resuming play.

• verb take up or begin anew “We resumed the negotiations” synonyms: re-start , restart see more see less type of: bear on , carry on , continue , preserve , uphold keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last
• verb return to a previous location or condition “The painting resumed its old condition when we restored it” synonyms: take up see more see less type of: change undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature
• verb assume anew “ resume a title” “ resume an office” “ resume one's duties” see more see less type of: adopt , assume , take on , take over take on titles, offices, duties, responsibilities
• noun a summary of your academic and work history synonyms: CV , curriculum vitae see more see less type of: sum-up , summary a brief statement that presents the main points in a concise form
• noun short descriptive summary (of events) synonyms: sketch , survey see more see less type of: sum-up , summary a brief statement that presents the main points in a concise form
• verb give a summary (of) synonyms: sum up , summarise , summarize sum , sum up , summarise , summarize be a summary of see more see less types: show 5 types... hide 5 types... abstract give an abstract (of) precis make a summary (of) docket make a summary or abstract of a legal document and inscribe it in a list recap , recapitulate summarize briefly hash over , rehash , retrograde go back over type of: ingeminate , iterate , reiterate , repeat , restate , retell to say, state, or perform again

Vocabulary lists containing resume

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re•sume

Ré•su•mé, or re•su•me or re•su•mé.

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Definition of resume – Learner’s Dictionary

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(Definition of resume from the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Translations of resume

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serious and determined, especially too serious and unable to find your own actions funny

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Definition of resume verb from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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• 2 [ transitive ] resume your seat/place/position to go back to the seat or place that you had before

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