Welcome back everyone! Today we’re going to go over how to format your resumé. It can be intimidating, especially when you have a specific image in mind, but don’t let that overwhelm you.
I like to think that a well written resumé is what gets you invited over to a friends house, whereas your portfolio is what gets you seat at the dinner table. This is why it’s important to keep the creativity level within the contents of the document, and not the font or formatting.
Importance of fonts:
Before we get to the actual formatting, we’ll want to figure out which font we should use. It may seem trivial, but a clean font may be one of the first things your resumé will be critiqued on, and if it’s difficult to read, it might get tossed aside.
Remember – write with your audience in mind. Do some research to better understand the company as a whole, and how you would fit into it.
Classic fonts are always an excellent choice. They’re clear to read and it’s easy to follow along. If you’re not sure which font to use, repeat a sentence and change the font to compare.
The brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. –Bodoni Moda
The brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. – Newsreader
The brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. – Figtree
The brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. – PT Serif
Steer clear of using fonts that are used for aesthetic purposes. It may look nice, but it can be difficult to read.
Now from the top:
Of course we want to have our name be front and center at the top of the page, large and in charge. This grabs the reader’s attention. Beneath that, in a smaller font, is where we include our contact information and location.
That’s the easy part. The next step is a more challenging task: listing your skills and proficiencies. As I mentioned in the previous post, include traits that are relative to the job you’re searching for.
Begin with your absolutely most proficient abilities. Whether it be your communication skills, critical thinking, or even being a team player, these are all important qualities to have in any role. Alternatively, perhaps the role they’re hiring for is more independent. If you’re a self starter, reliable, and have great time management skills, make sure to list those.
No matter which skills you decide to include, make sure to keep it clear and concise. Avoid lengthy, run on sentences, and ensure your spelling and grammar are correct.
Make it drop:
Here’s where the meat and potatoes of your resumé come in: work history. The length, or lack of, will depend on age and experience. They are not mutually exclusive of course, but the more experience you have, the lengthier your resumé will be.
We previously talked about writing a rough draft of all your work history. Get those notes out and let’s work on refining.
Remember – when organizing your experiences on resumés, we will always start with the most recent and/or current. This applies for employment, academics, non-profit/volunteering, and anything else you include within your resumé.
Start with your current job. It should have the name of the company, followed by the beginning month/year and end month/year (or if you’re still working there), then list the title, followed by a brief description of your duties.
If you are worried about the description being too long, fret not my friend. Dial it down to the most important/relevant duties, keeping it around 2-3 sentences at the most. You can always provide more details in person, during an interview.
Repeat this step to account for the past 5 – 10 years. If you feel that it’s necessary to go back further, then go right ahead. However, keep in mind a resumé is typically a single page, so if it extends beyond that, it might do more harm than good.
That’s some:
We’re almost there! Next is academic experience. We’re going to follow the same system as above – the most recent/current experience is listed first.
For some of you, that could be college universities. For others, it may be high school. No matter the level of education, it’s all important to include. It shows that you made an effort to become more knowledgeable.
When it comes to listing the year you graduated, it can be a bit iffy. College isn’t as bad, since you can attend whenever you want. However, by listing your high school graduation year, they can easily figure out how old you might be.
Why does that matter? There are people who believe in age > experience, meaning there is a possibility you are brushed off due to your age, regardless of your experience.
They might assume you’re too young for this position and lack in experience, even though your resumé says otherwise. Perhaps they think you’re too old, and assume you might have barriers when it comes to learning technology. Whatever age you might be, avoid these invalid assumptions by leaving out your high school graduation year.
GOTCHA!
The finishing piece to our resumé: volunteer work and/or extra curricular activities.
Same method as before – most recent/current experiences listed first, followed by the previous ones.
We’re halfway there!
Even though we have our resumé typed up, it’s not quite finished yet. Come back next week to see what’s left!
Did I forget anything? Let me know in the comments!
What are your thoughts on the matter?