A resume is the central document in most job applications outside the German-speaking world. Typically one to two pages long, it summarises a candidate's professional history, education and skills so that recruiters can decide within seconds whether a profile fits an open role. The North American convention favours conciseness and impact-oriented bullet points; the European CV tends to be longer and more biographical.
A standard resume contains contact information, a brief professional summary, work experience in reverse-chronological order, education, skills and – where relevant – certifications, publications or volunteer work. Photos and personal details such as date of birth or marital status are uncommon outside continental Europe and may even be discouraged for fairness reasons.
Most large employers run resumes through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) before a human ever sees them. Plain layouts, conventional section headings and the use of role-specific keywords significantly improve the chances of passing automated screens. Heavy graphics, multi-column designs and embedded images often confuse parsers and can cause an otherwise strong candidate to be filtered out.
In the age of AI-assisted job search, the resume's role is shifting. Instead of uploading the same file to dozens of portals, candidates increasingly maintain a single structured profile, and semantic matching systems compare it against new postings. Lunigi uses this approach to deliver curated, future-proof job listings via email – without forcing users back into job-board fatigue.