Advice
Rule of Thumb: Simplicity is best when it comes to fonts and formatting
- Use a basic, but modern font like Helvetica, Arial or Century Gothic
- Make it easy to read with a font size between 10-12 and leave a healthy amount of white space on the page so it doesn’t look overcrowded.
- Skip the fancy graphics – resume-scanning software can’t ready them properly.
- There are many resources online with free, modern resume templates to plug your information into. (check out canva.com)
Use reverse-chronological order when addressing your experience and do not add more than 10 years of work experience
- Listing your most recent experience first and working backwards is usually a foolproof way to write a resume.
- Recruiters/Job Managers are generally spending less than 15 seconds reviewing a resume and this format is easiest to skim.
Tailor your resume to the job description
- Identify what is most important to the company through the job description
- Match your resume content to the job description and highlight the most relevant experience or skill set.
- Provide compelling evidence: adding facts and figures creates specificity and shows the impact you had in a role.
- Review and make sure your resume clearly shows how and why you would be a fit for the job description.
Use a Summary of Qualifications instead of an Objective
- An Objective simply tells a Recruiter/Job Manager what YOU want, while a Summary of Qualifications explains what value YOU bring to a company.
- Identify the knowledge, skills and abilities the company values for the position and highlight them in your summary.
Consider adding a ‘Hobbies and Interests’ section to your resume to showcase who you are
- This section can add personality to a resume and will make you seem more three-dimensional.
- It is also an opportunity to highlight relevant skills you might have gotten outside a traditional work environment.
Proofread, Proofread, Proofread!
- There is nothing worse than finding a spelling or grammatical mistake on your resume.
- Read every word out loud – it calls attention to awkward phrases and misspellings.
- Check for consistency across formatting, verb tenses and sentence structure.
