You have all of your content prioritized; now it is time to lay it out in your resume. There are a couple of things to remember when trying to decide how to lay out your resume:
Font and Paper
The font and paper you use can say a lot about you, both good and bad. Unless you are applying for a job in a creative field like graphic design, you want to keep your resume simple, clean and professional.
- Use two fonts at most, one for headings and one for the body of text.
- Make sure it is no less than 11 point font.
- Use a thicker bond paper than regular copy paper (which is 20 pound bond).
- Stick with paper that is a soft neutral color; cream, grey and of course white are commonly used
White Space is your friend…
- …but don’t go overboard.
- Use 1 inch margins and use white space to your advantage.
- Leaving an extra space between sections in your resume will help put an emphasis on key parts of your resume.
Use Bullet Points
- Make sure to use bullet points to highlight skills.
- Bullet points make your resume more concise and allow hiring managers to easily find what they are looking for.
- The last thing you want is to have a key skill, quality or experience overlooked because it was buried in the middle of a paragraph.
Go easy on the emphasis
- People try to highlight parts of their resume by using different fonts and using bold, italics and underlining.
- Only use a max of two different fonts, one for headings and one for other content.
- Don’t underline anything, although you may think you are emphasizing you are really creating an unwanted distraction.
- Bold and Italics can be used, but use them sparingly, and preferably only in the titles and headings.
- Use emphasis to distinguish content not to highlight certain text.
Consistency is Key
- If you bold or italicize your previous job title, then make sure to do it for all of your previous jobs.
- If you use circle bullet points for one section don’t use a different shape for the next sections.
- Keep your resume consistent and cohesive.
You want to impress your reader, not distract them.
Resources
http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/resume-writing-tips/resume-look-important-as-content/article.aspx
http://www.career-tools-hq.com/resume-format.html
http://exclusive-executive-resumes.com/resumes/importancegoodresumelayout/
