Monday, February 13, 2023

Riffing on Resumes, Part 2: Formatting

Now you've reflected on your career goals, ideal job, interpersonal and technical skills, and developmental opportunities, as discussed in Part 1 of this series. Next, you will want to format your resume. Here are seven general points to consider.

Size

1. Use standard 8½" X 11" (215.9 mm X 279.4 mm) paper. 

2. Limit margins to ½" or larger (no less) at all four sides. 

Font

3. Use a consistent font type. Serif fonts, like Times New Roman, are more readable than sans serif fonts. Once you have decided on the font to use, stick to it throughout the resume. 

4. Use 11- or 12-point size, no more, no less, for readability.

5. Use font style consistently. For instance, use bold just for headings, italics just for job titles and degrees attained, and regular for everything else.

6. Use only one color, black, especially since your interviewer might print a copy your resume in black only. 

Layout

7. Use either one- or two-column format. From the no-cheat image, you can see the advantage and disadvantage of each format: You gain more space with a single column, but you offer easier scanning with a double column.