Resumes are like brownies: everyone has an opinion on how to perfectly construct them. Me, however? I prefer to follow the box instructions.
Writing a resume doesn’t require reinventing the wheel in the process. Resume templates from Microsoft Word are vastly undervalued.
In addition to providing a great outline, they save a ton of time. Nothing is more frustrating than creating a million text boxes or tables for your various sections and trying to move them where you want them, all while having columns upon columns that mess up your margins. I’m getting frustrated just thinking about it.
You might be thinking: “Sarah, I want to stand out from all of the other candidates. If I use the same template as everyone else, won’t I just blend in with the crowd?”
While it’s a good argument, templates shouldn’t mean that all creativity stops. There are still plenty of options to help you stand out, which I’ll get to below.
Here are some tips to make your next resume the best one yet:
1. Great Content - The content of your resume is arguably the most important part,
along with an easy to follow layout. I won’t get too ahead of myself yet on that one,
though.
A resume should have, at the very least, a section that lists your work experience.
Each job should have concise, well-constructed bullet points that explain what you
did at each job. Having a long paragraph of job duties is doing you no favors and
probably increases the chances that no one is spending time on reading it. Three to four bullet points are always a good number to start with.
Let’s say you worked at a Piggly Wiggly as a cashier in high school like me. Since it’s a
role I had previously, I used past tense. For example, “Provided excellent customer
service by addressing and resolving questions and concerns from customers.” Other
bullet points could include checking out groceries, performing other tasks as assigned,
etc. Either way, these are used to build out your experience.
2. An Easy to Follow Layout - Above and beyond an experience section, a resume
should have a skills section relevant to the job you’re applying for, an education section
(especially when you have a college degree), and a summary - but only if it adds
something to the conversation. Something like, “An IT professional seeking a job in
Information Technology” can be interpreted if you have prior experience and are
applying directly to an IT job. If you are, however, a chef making a career change into IT
for x,y,z reasons, that might not be as self-explanatory. Make sure it contributes to the
conversation.
These sections should all align with one another and have even formatting. A template
will help alleviate this.
3. An Air of Professionalism - Fonts, font sizes, font colors, and so on should all be
uniform.
Fonts like Calibri or Times New Roman are the safest bets when writing your resume.
They look the most professional and are the easiest to read, among other things. In
addition to that, black colored font is the only one you should be using. Again, it’s the
easiest to read and keeps everything uniform.
In terms of font size, I generally think 12 is the largest you should when it comes to the
content. Section titles can be larger only IF they are all the same size and are only
slightly bigger. Oftentimes I will make the person’s name on a resume stand out by
making it larger. Generally speaking, 20 is the largest I would suggest for that. All in all,
uniformity is key!
Above and beyond that, utilize spell check (and your friends/family) to ensure
everything is spelled correctly and grammatically correct.
4. Not Too Short, Not Too Long - Resumes should not be longer than two pages. I’m
no psychic but I know what you’re thinking again: “Sarah, I’ve always heard resumes
should only be one page”.
In my eyes (and plenty others too), having a one page resume is so unrealistic and often
leaves a lot to the imagination. People will cut out very important details just to keep it
one page, which seems silly. As long as you are not repetitive, a second page is justified.
If your resume is longer than 2 pages, chances are you repeat yourself or have work
experience from years and years ago that isn’t necessary.
By following these four steps, you’ll be well on your way to crafting an excellent resume.
When in doubt, look up examples online to draw on inspiration for bullet points and
formatting. If you’re having trouble forming bullet points, try to find a job posting for
the same position you’re doing/did for ideas.
Good luck, and happy resume writing!
This article is my own and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TEKsystems.
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