Your base resume is the foundation of your job search in Huntr. This guide walks you through creating your base resume from start to finish, showing you how to use each part of the Resume Builder to create a polished, professional resume.
If you're new to the Resume Builder, we recommend reading Understanding Huntr's Resume Builder first to get familiar with the basics.
Getting Started
To create your first base resume, go to Resume Builder in the left menu and click Get Started. If you already have a base resume and want to create another one, click Base Resume, then Create New.
You'll need to fill out a few details before building your resume:
Target Job Title
Enter the role you're pursuing, like "Software Engineer" or "Marketing Manager." This appears on your resume and helps with ATS optimization.
Experience Level
Choose Entry (0-2 years), Mid Level (2-5 years), or Senior (5+ years). This affects how your resume is scored and what content the AI generates.
Document Title
Name your resume so you can find it easily in Huntr. This is just for your organization, not what appears on the actual resume.
Resume Data Source
Choose how to start:
Import an existing resume file
Use your Huntr profile information
Import from LinkedIn
Once you've filled in these details, click Create to open your new base resume in the Resume Builder.
📓Note: If the continue button does not become clickable, ensure all required fields are filled out. If your resume is not being uploaded or you experience an error, try another file type.
Building Your Content with the Editor
The Editor tab is where you'll spend most of your time adding and refining your resume content. Your resume is organized into sections, each telling part of your professional story.
Adding Your Information
The first section you'll see in the Editor is Target Job Title.
Click on this section to edit the job title that appears at the top of your resume. This title should match the roles you're targeting and helps with ATS optimization.
Next, fill in your Personal Info—your name, email, phone number, and location.
Click any field to edit it directly. If you imported a resume or LinkedIn profile, this information is already populated, but you can update it anytime.
Writing Your Professional Summary
Your professional summary is a brief 2-4 sentence overview that appears near the top of your resume. This section tells employers who you are professionally, what you're great at, and what you bring to the table.
You can write your summary manually by clicking on the section, or click the AI Generator to create suggestions based on your experience and target role. The AI provides a starting point—you can always personalize it to sound like you and include your actual accomplishments.
Building Your Work Experience
Your work experience section is typically the most important part of your resume. Each role you add should include your job title, company name, employment dates, and 3-5 achievement-focused bullet points.
To add a new role
Click Add Experience. You'll see a list of work experience from your Huntr profile.
Click the + button next to any role to add it to your resume. If the role you want isn't listed, click Create new at the bottom to add a role from scratch.
Fill in the job title, company, dates, and details, then save.
Editing achievements
Hover over any achievement bullet point to see quick editing options. Click the pencil icon to edit the text directly, click the regenerate icon to rewrite it with AI, or click the trash can to delete it.
Editing the full experience
To update job details like title, company, or dates, click the three dots next to the role and select Edit Experience. This opens the Details Editor where you can modify all the information for that role. You can also remove the experience within this drop down.
You may also drag and drop each each experience to re-order them or use the Sort feature to adjust the organization of your work experience within your resume.
Using the Undo Button
The Undo button lets you reverse your most recent change. Click it once to undo your last action, whether that was an AI generation, a content edit, or a formatting change. You can click it multiple times to work backward through your recent changes.
Using AI to build Achievements
When you click regenerate, the AI Achievement Rewriter opens. Your original achievement appears on the left, with multiple rewrite suggestions shown on the right. Below each rewrite, you'll see an AI Helper explanation that analyzes what was changed and why it's stronger.
You can also use the text box to give the AI Helper specific direction on what changes you'd like to make. Once you've found a rewrite you like, hover over it and choose Select to add it to your resume.
Adding Education, Skills, and More
Education
Add your degrees with institution name, degree type, and field of study. Include graduation dates, GPA (if above 3.5), and relevant coursework if it strengthens your resume.
You can add education that was imported and stored from your resume, or you can manually add education by clicking + Add Education.
You can edit or remove any education entry by selecting the three dots next to your entry.
Skills
The Skills section lists your technical abilities and soft skills relevant to your target role. When you import a resume, Huntr saves your skills to your profile and automatically organizes them into categories.
Adding and removing skills: Check or uncheck skills from your profile to add or remove them from your resume. Click AI Suggestions to get skill recommendations based on your target job title.
Editing skills: Hover over any skill, click it, and edit the text directly.
Organizing skills: Create or remove categories as needed. Use AI to automatically categorize your skills, or drag and drop skills between categories to organize them yourself.
Deleting skills permanently: To remove a skill from your Huntr profile entirely (not just from this resume), delete it directly from your profile's skill library.
💡 Tip: Focus on your core skill sets—the foundational abilities you use across most roles. When you create tailored resumes later, you can add job-specific skills from individual postings.
Volunteer Experience
Volunteer work demonstrates skills and values beyond your paid experience. Add unpaid work with nonprofits, community organizations, or causes you support, structured the same way as work experience with a title, organization, dates, and achievement bullet points.
Include volunteer experience when it relates directly to your target role, demonstrates transferable skills, or helps fill employment gaps.
💡Tip: Focus on achievements and impact rather than just responsibilities. If you helped raise $150,000 for a fundraising committee, that's a notable accomplishment that shows real capability.
Skip volunteer work if it happened more than five years ago or isn't relevant to the roles you're targeting. Always prioritize relevant paid experience over volunteer work.
For more guidance, see How to List Volunteer Work on Your Resume.
Certifications
Add professional credentials, licenses, and completed training programs. Each certification needs a name and issuing organization, with optional fields for dates, certification IDs, and descriptions.
💡Tip: Certifications validate your skills, show professional growth, and help you stand out with both hiring managers and ATS systems. Focus on certifications that are current, relevant to your target role, and recognized in your industry. If a certification is in progress, include it with an expected completion date.
For detailed guidance on listing certifications effectively, see How to List Job Certifications on a Resume.
Projects
Projects show your skills in action and give hiring managers concrete proof of what you can deliver. Add side projects, portfolio work, open-source contributions, freelance work, academic capstone projects, or significant initiatives outside your regular job duties.
Include the project name, a brief description of what you built or accomplished, technologies or skills used, measurable outcomes, and links to live projects or repositories if available. Treat projects like achievements—use action verbs and include measurable results. Instead of "Built a website," write "Designed and launched a responsive website that improved client site load speed by 35%."
💡Tip: Projects are especially valuable when you're a student or recent graduate with limited work experience, changing careers and need to demonstrate relevant skills, or working in project-driven fields like software development, design, marketing, or engineering.
For examples and detailed guidance, see How to List Projects in a Resume.
Social Media & Links
Add professional profiles and online portfolios where employers can see your work or professional presence. Common links include LinkedIn, GitHub (for developers), personal websites or portfolios, Dribbble or Behance (for designers), or Medium and blog sites.
Adding Custom Sections
While the resume builder comes with standard sections like Work Experience, Education, and Skills, every career path is unique. Custom Sections let you add any type of information that doesn't fit into the standard categories—like Awards, Publications, References, Interests, Languages, or Courses.
Automatic parsing on import
If you import an existing resume, the system automatically detects sections that don't fit into standard categories. These will be imported as Custom Sections and appear at the bottom of the editor.
How to add a new section
Scroll to the bottom of the resume editor
Click the Add Section button
Choose a preset from popular options like Interests, Key Achievements, Awards, References, or Publications
Or type your own title in the text field to create a completely unique section
Choosing a layout: Inline vs. Stacked
When creating a custom section, choose how the information is displayed. You can toggle this setting at any time by clicking the Layout button.
Inline Layout: Best for compact lists where items are single lines, like Hobbies, Interests, or Technologies.
Example: "Cycling, Cooking, Photography"
Stacked Layout: Best for structured entries that need descriptions, dates, or more detail, like Awards, Publications, or Other Experience.
Example: An award with a title, issuing organization, date, and description
Adding and editing entries
Once your section is created, click Add Entry. You'll see three main fields:
Title: The name of the item (required)
Description: Optional details about the entry
Date: Optional start and end dates (by default, the "End Date" is hidden—uncheck Hide End Date if you need to show a duration)
You can reorder entries by dragging and dropping them using the handle on the left of each entry. You don't need to fill in every section, just include what's relevant for your career and target role.
💡 Tip: Use default sections (Experience, Education, Skills) whenever possible since they're optimized for ATS. Custom sections are perfect for unique information that doesn't fit elsewhere.
If you try to create a custom section that duplicates a default one (like "Skills"), Huntr will alert you—in most cases, you should use the default version instead.
Customizing with Layout & Style
Once your content is in place, use Layout & Style to control how your resume looks and flows. The Layout & Style tab is organized into several sections that let you customize different aspects of your resume's appearance.
Section Order & Titles
Reorder sections to emphasize what matters most for your target role. If you're a career changer with impressive projects, move Projects higher. If you're a recent graduate, place Education near the top. Simply drag and drop sections to rearrange them.
You can also rename sections if needed. Click the pencil icon next to any section title to change it. Stick to clear, professional labels that both hiring managers and ATS systems will recognize—avoid creative or vague section names that might confuse automated screening tools.
💡 Tip: Some sections are locked by the template you've chosen to maintain design integrity. These are typically Contact Information and Links, which are positioned optimally for each template design.
Text & Font Style
Customize your resume's typography while maintaining ATS compatibility. You can choose different fonts for different parts of your resume to create visual hierarchy and make your resume stand out.
Settings
Font Size
Adjust the font size across your entire resume. Keep body text between 10-12 points for optimal readability—never go below 10 points. Your name at the top can be larger (16-18 points) to stand out, and section headings can be 14-16 points to create visual hierarchy.
If you're struggling to fit content, focus on editing your text concisely rather than shrinking the font below 10 points.
Line Height
Adjust the spacing between lines of text. Use 1.0 to 1.15 line spacing for body text, or 1.15 to 1.5 for a more spacious, readable layout. Add extra space between sections to create clear visual breaks. Consistent spacing throughout your resume looks more professional.
Font Selections
Your resume typography is organized into three categories, allowing you to mix and match fonts for different visual hierarchies:
Display: Controls your name at the top of the resume (the largest text). Since it's front-and-center, you can choose more stylistic, bold, or serif fonts here.
Heading: Controls section headers like "Experience," "Education," and "Skills."
Text: Controls body content including summaries, job titles, descriptions, and achievements. We prioritize readability here with clean Sans Serif options.
For example, you might choose a stylized Serif font like Bree Serif for your Display name to stand out, but keep a clean Sans Serif like Roboto for the body text to ensure recruiters can quickly read your experience.
Font Packs
If you don't want to hand-pick individual fonts, Huntr offers curated Font Packs:
Single Font Packs: Applies the same font to all three categories (Display, Heading, and Text) for a uniform look
Mixed Font Packs: Designer-curated pairings of two fonts—a stylized font for headers and a clean font for text
Simply click on any Font Pack card to apply it to your entire resume instantly.
💡 Note: Each resume template has a default font pack assigned to it. If you switch templates, your fonts will reset to that template's default to maintain design integrity.
All fonts are carefully selected to be ATS-optimized, ensuring your resume can be read by both applicant tracking systems and hiring managers. To learn more about our fonts and templates click here.
Date Format
Choose how dates appear throughout your resume. Huntr offers several date format options to match your preference and regional conventions:
Short Name & Year: Jan 2024
Full Name & Year: January 2024
Month/Year: 01/2024
Numeric: 01-2024
Select the format that looks most professional for your industry and location. This setting applies to all dates on your resume, including work experience, education, certifications, and any custom sections with dates.
Page Size, Margins & Layouts
Page Size
Choose your resume's page size. The default is Letter (8.5 x 11 inches), which is standard in the United States and Canada. If you're applying for jobs in other countries, you may need to select A4 (8.3 x 11.7 inches), which is the international standard.
Margins
Adjust the white space on all four sides of your resume. You can control Left, Right, Top, and Bottom margins independently.
Standard margins are 1 inch on all sides—this is the safest, most professional choice. You can reduce margins to 0.5 inches if you need more space for content, but never go below 0.5 inches or your resume will look crowded and be hard to read.
Certification Layout
If you have certifications on your resume, choose between two layout options:
Inline Layout (Compact): Places certification name, organization, and ID on one line with the description below. This saves space and works well when you have multiple certifications.
Stacked Layout (Expanded): Each element appears on its own line, giving more visual prominence to your credentials. Best for 1-2 important certifications that are critical for your career.
💡 Tip: Keep left and right margins the same, and top and bottom margins the same for visual balance. If your resume has too much white space, add more relevant content rather than widening margins excessively.
Headshot
Toggle this setting to add or remove a headshot photo from your resume. When in doubt, research resume norms for your specific location and field before adding a photo.
⚠️ Important: In most countries (including the United States, Canada, and the UK), headshots are not recommended on resumes. Recruiters prefer to focus on your skills and experience without the potential for unconscious bias based on appearance. However, if headshots are customary in your country or industry, you can enable this option.
Choosing Your Template
The Templates tab offers seven professionally designed, ATS-friendly templates in various colors and styles. All templates work seamlessly with your content, so you won't have to worry about formatting issues when you make changes.
Click any template to preview it with your content. Select a color option that fits your industry and personal style. Simple templates work well for traditional industries like finance or law, while modern designs suit creative or tech roles.
Want to know more about our templates and what to choose? Check out our Understanding Huntr's Resume Templates article.
Checking Your Resume Score
The Score tab evaluates your base resume across three factors and helps you identify areas for improvement.
Section Completion Checks if all relevant sections are filled with complete information. Click into this factor to see which sections need more detail.
Content Quality Evaluates whether you're using varied action verbs, including metrics, and writing clear descriptions. This helps ensure your achievements are strong and impactful.
Content Length Assesses if each section has enough detail without being too verbose. Your resume should be comprehensive enough to show your qualifications but concise enough to keep recruiters engaged.
Aim for a score around 80. A perfect 100 might mean your resume is over-optimized and has lost its personal touch. Remember, a high-quality resume that authentically represents you is more important than hitting a perfect score.
For more details on how scoring works, see Resume Scoring System.
Getting Additional Feedback
Once you've built your base resume, consider using these tools to make it even stronger:
AI Resume Review analyzes your resume and provides specific, actionable suggestions for improvement. It identifies weak achievement statements, suggests adding metrics, and recommends ways to optimize for ATS. See AI Resume Review to learn more.
Community Feedback lets you anonymize your resume and post it to the r/HuntrCo subreddit for peer review. Click the Get Feedback button in the top-right corner to get input from real people and the Huntr team. See Get Community Feedback on Your Resume for details.
Sharing Your Resume on LinkedIn
Once your base resume is polished and ready, you can share it with your professional network using the LinkedIn Announce button.
The LinkedIn Announce feature helps you let your network know you're open to new opportunities. When you click the LinkedIn Announce button, you can share your resume on LinkedIn with a post announcing that you're actively job searching.
This is a great way to:
Let your professional network know you're available for new roles
Increase visibility with recruiters and hiring managers in your network
Generate referrals and recommendations from connections who know about open positions
Downloading Your Resume
Once your resume is complete, you can export it in two formats. Click the Download button in the top-right corner to access both options.
Export as PDF (Recommended)
PDF export maintains pixel-perfect formatting and matches the preview exactly, preserving your chosen template design, custom fonts, margins, and line heights. This is the best format for submitting to employers.
To Download
Click Download PDF or select Export as PDF from the dropdown menu.
Export as DOCX
DOCX export is ideal for further editing in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Apple Pages. This format includes all your content but uses a standardized template for maximum compatibility:
Default system fonts (Aptos for Word, Arial for Google Docs, Helvetica for Pages)
Standard 12pt body text with larger sizing for your name
Fixed 0.5-inch margins
Clear section divisions using bolding, italics, and line dividers
To Download
Click the dropdown next to the Download button and select Export as DOCX.
💡 Tip: Use DOCX if you've used Huntr's AI tools to create content and want full editing control in your word processor. For job applications, always use PDF to preserve your template design.