Top 10 Resume tip #10 – Is your resume format interesting and readable?
Resume tip #10 from Top Ten Resume Tips
When you are creating your resume, you want to design a format that attracts the reader. If your format is 1980s, you will put the reader to sleep and you will be agonizing about why they didn’t call you.
Sometimes when I work with students or people who have been given materials from a workforce development organization or college, I see formats that are so outdated that you know the hiring manager will toss them aside.
There are as many potential formats for resumes as there are people but what you want to do is draw in the reader with a format that makes your accomplishments and keywords easy to define.
If you take a look at my online samples, you will see a diverse mix of formats designed to get the attention of the hiring manager and also incorporate the accomplishments and keywords that make today’s resume move forward.
Watch out for templates
You want to stay away from using templates that make your resume look like all the rest. When I create a resume, I open a blank Word Document and start from scratch. If a client has an existing resume, I print it and after asking them what features they like of my online samples and other resumes I share with them, then I incorporate information to fit the client’s target.
Worried about conversion in online applications?
As I mentioned in this post, some people worry too much about ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) and not enough about the real people who are reading their resume. I always offer a text version of the resume for those people who are applying online and that takes the problem out of applying online. But you can’t strip all the formatting off your resume in fear of the possibility that it will be scanned. Large corporations use ATS systems. Smaller companies are more likely to appreciate formatting in an e-mailed or even snail mailed resume.
The critical issue is to make sure the resume format is attractive and then let the content sell you.
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Julie Walraven
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