 When your resume is reviewed, it must be appealing, while accurately reflecting your industry or career goal. If it’s not — no matter how brilliantly it is written — it will likely be added to the rejection stack.
To ensure that your resume receives the attention it deserves, it’s important to adhere to certain formatting guidelines, which address: - Template and font choice
- Effective use of white space
- Prioritization of data
In all cases, templates and font choice should: Be easy to follow
There is nothing worse than a resume where data is presented in a haphazard manner. That's why templates are used. An effective template will present company names, dates, job titles, academic information, and all other pertinent data in a clear manner, so that a quick glance will tell the contact person what they need to know. Accurately reflect your career or goal
A banker, accountant, or administrative assistant would choose a more conservative format than a graphic artist. Nothing is more jarring than to receive a financial professional's resume written in italics with accompanying graphics. Be easy to read
Resumes in bold text or italics are difficult to read and unprofessional. The same goes for fonts that resemble handwriting. It's a common misconception that "jazzing up a resume" will get it read. It's not the font that attracts attention, but rather the overall appearance and the words crafted within it.
When in doubt about font choice, always err on the conservative side. Two good choices are Times New Roman or Arial in 11 points — no smaller, or the text will be difficult to read. There’s no quicker way to get your resume ignored than to use narrow margins, or block after block of uninterrupted text. No one wants to read a text-heavy document with sentences that run on and on. The goal is to get your point across quickly, with a minimum of words. Use bulleted sentences within special sections (Experience, Qualifications, etc.), separated by well-placed white space. Think of white spaces as necessary pauses — a chance for the reader to catch his or her breath and digest (and appreciate) the data you’ve presented. To highlight the importance of prioritization, consider the following scenario. Imagine you’re a hiring manager. It’s Monday, and an important position needs to be filled in your legal department. To date, 200 resumes have come in. Most are attractively formatted and use appropriate fonts. So far, so good. But on closer inspection: - Many candidates have relegated their willingness to relocate — a core qualification — to the end.
- More than a few have buried accomplishments within the text, figuring this will force the hiring manager to search for that data and read the entire resume.
- Some candidates have placed bar admission dead last, believing that where they can practice isn’t as important as the fact that they are attorneys.
- A few simply list company names and dates of employment, assuming that the hiring manager should know what legal duties they performed.
It’s enough to drive a hiring manager to distraction — or another career. But then, at last, there are those few resumes that list the important data at the top. In less than five seconds the hiring manager knows that the first candidate is willing to relocate and assume the cost. This candidate also provides a section beneath the Qualifications Summary that indicates where she is licensed to practice law. The second candidate does the same, while also placing Career Accomplishments at the top of the first page. After all, why keep a 100 percent win rate at trial a secret, or the fact that one can practice before the state’s Supreme Court? In the above scenario, it’s clear which applicants will be called in for an interview. No hiring manager will read every single resume they receive. Nor will they search for data. It’s up to you to prioritize data so that a hiring manager knows at a glance what you have to offer in terms of achievement, experience, education, licensing, certifications, and special considerations, such as relocation.
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6 Steps Resume Writing 
