A competitive job market makes it difficult to construct an effective resume. Rest assured that everyone, even those with limited credentials, can design both a professional-looking and complimentary resume.
In order to take the pressure off of the formatting of the piece, first purchase your resume paper. Resume paper can be purchased at your local retail store. It is sold in the same department as the printer/copier paper. Resume paper is made of a thicker stock than copier paper; it is often made from cotton. It comes in a variation of hues such as off-white or cream color. Choose the hue that best reflects your personality and your level of professionalism.
Unlike copier paper, resume paper is sold in a much smaller quantity and is packaged in a protective cardboard box, similar to that of letter writing paper. Resume paper is of a higher quality and is, therefore, more costly per piece but is, none the less, still affordable, even to penny pinchers. After you have purchased your resume paper, set it aside and begin to format your resume.
Any word processing program can be used to create a resume, as fancy fonts and graphics are not essential to the process. It is important to remember that, even when applying for a position in a creative field such as graphic design, submitting a professional, clean-looking resume helps you put your best foot forward. Examples of your creativity within your talent, if relevant to the job position, can be reflected in submissions included within your portfolio, if applicable.
A resume should say as much as possible about you and your experience as relevant to the job position within the smallest amount of space you can manage. A resume should never go over a page no matter how extensive your credentials. Proper alignment, wording, and spacing is key to making it fit.
Allow one-inch margins around the border of your page. Center your name at the top of the page. Your name should stand out the most on your resume. It should be in a professional and legible font, and it should be decorative, but not fancy. You want the name to stand out and immediately say something about yourself. It should not overwhelm the page; it should provide an immediate and bold introduction that entices the employer to read on. A font size that extends beyond the 20-point range is too large, as you want it to look proportionate with the rest of the paper.
Double-space after your name, and center your contact information. This should include your address and telephone number. An email address and cell phone number is optional, but it tends to make the top of the page look too cluttered, and this draws attention away from the important details regarding your experience. It is recommended that only one telephone number be provided to avoid this. The contact information should be in a point size smaller than your name but larger than the 10-12 point type you’ll use in the body of your resume.
Using a different font for your contact information than you used for your name and the body of the resume will also be of great help to you in your quest for a job. If you use the same font for your contact information as you did for your name, your name tends to make less of a visual impact. If you use the same font as in the body than your contact information blends into the body and does not stand out enough.
Double-space after your contact information. The body of the resume will be aligned to the left. The information here should be brief and effective. This is not a place for creative writing. This is an overview of your education and experience. Creative writing can be utilized in making an impact statement in your cover letter. The font size of the body can be anywhere between 10-12 point size as long as it is consistent throughout. It will be arranged with headings to the left followed by a colon and the information relevant to that heading (ie: Objective: Seeking a Part-Time Secretarial Position In The International Affairs Department). It is not recommended that you make the headings in a larger font than the text. All of the colons will be lined up vertically making them pop out naturally rather than forcefully.You want the attention to be drawn towards what makes you an excellent, perspective employee, not the headings of the resume.
Begin with your objective. A company wants to know what position you are applying for immediately. It is not necessary to use complete sentences or punctuation because some portions of the resume, such as “Work Experience” or “Job Responsibilities” will only require listings of information. Having periods in some places and not in others makes the resume look messy. Watch your wording. Specify whether you are seeking part-time or full-time employment. Specify the department in which you are seeking employment. Use words that are relevant only to the company that you are applying for. The employer likes to feel as if their company matters to you. They do not want to know that you are applying at 20 different places. You want your resume to express that their company is the only one that matters to you. It emphasizes your passion for the company within your field. An employer will hire someone who has an interest in their company over someone who just needs a job.
You do not need to specify the company you’re applying at here; the company already knows their name and they know that you are applying to them. A poor objective statement would be: “Seeking Secretarial Position In An Office”; it is obvious that a secretary would work in an office. A proper objective statement would be: “Seeking Full-Time Receptionist Position In Marketing Communications”.
As some employers have education requirements, it is best to list education next. List your most recent place of graduation, the degree you obtained, and the institution's address (ie: Bachelor of Business Degree, Westburg State College, address). This information should be aligned as if you were writing it on an envelope. It should not be listed with commas in a run-on sentence. You want the words "Degree" and "College" to pop out if the employer just views it briefly. Cramming all of that information onto one line will not allow this to happen. Remember, you want it to look as uniform and consistent as possible, so double-space between institutions.
The following categories may be included at your discretion. Listing special awards or volunteer work relevant to the position you are applying for is a plus. Be careful not to list sentences. It makes the resume look boring, busy and messy! A poor example of information listed under an awards heading would be: “Awards: In 2004 I was awarded Customer Sales Rep of the Year at my old company”. A good example of information listed under an awards heading would be: “Awards: Customer Sales Representative Of The Year - 2004, Morganstorff Enterprises, Ltd (*Note - Morganstorff Enterprises, Ltd. should be listed under the actual award, not next to it separated by a comma, as you want “Award” to pop out to the perspective employer).
Next, you will list your most recent work experience relevant to the position. On the first line, list your position and the department you worked in (ie: "Marketing Communications Team Secretary"). On the second line, list the name of the company. On the third line, list the company’s address. On the fourth line, list your dates of employment. Double-space and indent to where your cursor lines up with the first character of each sentence and type the subheading of “Responsibilities Included”. Responsibilities can be separated with commas. This is optional, but a good idea. It gives the employer insight into your experience and clues them in as to what you could potentially offer their company.
Conclude your resume with a "References" section. Three is sufficient. List the person’s name, their company, and their telephone number. Double-space between references. You may conclude with a comment such as “*Additional references available upon request.”
Confidence in resume-building is critical. No matter what level you are at or what your experience, we all have information that could potentially dazzle on our resume. Many times, employers overlook a lack of experience. If they see that you are a candidate who is eager to learn, is organized, hard-working, and professional, you may have just as good a chance at acquiring a position as someone who has experience but lacks those qualities.
Your resume is your first impression. Simple steps towards making your resume neat-looking can make a world of difference. If you find that your resume exceeds a page and you feel as though all of the information is important, work on the formatting and the wording of your information. Could you move some information up to other lines while still keeping the format consistent? Take your references section for example. You could move the company and job title of your reference to one line, and separate the information with a comma to give you some extra lines. It is better to be more congested here than to sacrifice important words from that could help you get the job. Be sure to make uniform changes, however. If you do this for one reference, you must do it for all of the references. Neatness is key!
At the conclusion of your resume, make sure that all of the colons that follow the headings are lined up vertically. Make sure that the first character of every line following the headings is lined up as well. If you have subheadings, make sure that their colons are lined up, etc.
Once you have everything fitted perfectly, vertically center your resume before you print. This gives the page a sense of balance. Run a few practice sheets on regular paper as you experiment with spacing to see what looks the most appealing before printing on your resume paper.
Formatting an eye-catching resume actually takes more time than writing the resume itself. Taking the time to accommodate these minor but significant details, however, can make a world of difference when it comes to whether an employer reviews your resume or the one lying next to it. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression!
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