Be Sure your Resume is Formatted Correctly

Need help with resume formatting? I can help!  I’m by no means an “expert” but as a consultant at Kane Partners, I scan and review hundreds of resumes each week.  From viewing resume on job boards, to receiving résumés in my inbox, I see a variety of resumes each day that are in desperate need of help.     I also format a number of resumes each day so they look more presentable to send out to our clients.  I’d like to share a few tips that will make your resume easier to read and hopefully more likely to land you an interview.

  1. Formatting:  some resume are easy to navigate, others not so much.  There’s no need for headers, tables, or graphics.  Hiring managers are looking for the information, not a fancy table to navigate through.  Often times these tables/graphics do not translate into all formats.
  2. Fonts: keep it simple and don’t use fancy fonts that aren’t easy to read.
  3. Spell Check:  I can’t stress how important spell check is!  There is NO excuse for spelling errors!
  4. Bullets: a great way to organize your resume.  Bullets are super helpful to sort out the information on your resume; they allow for information to be prioritized and are easy for the reader to scan through without feeling overwhelmed by a large paragraph.

Resume Formatting Advice

Keep in mind, most resumes are sent to a hiring manager and put into a database or an Applicant Tracking system.  A lot of these databases can’t read PDF’s or other non-Word formats.

Also to note:  most recruiters or hiring managers view your résumé on average for 6 seconds.  So keep the resume formatting simple, get your point across in the most efficient way by using bullets and don’t waste time on large confusing tables.