Design Your Resume to Get Noticed

Published on 08-06-2009

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I was recently asked to review a resume to see how the design could be improved. With so many people reviewing and updating their resumes lately, I thought it would be appropriate to write a blog about how having good design can improve a resume.

Although the content and substance of a resume are most important, it is essential to present the information in the best way possible so that your resume will get noticed and stand out. The best way to do this is to make the resume visually appealing and easy to quickly skim over.

Let’s compare two resumes. Here are two average resumes, one that is somewhat cluttered and one that is better designed. I’ve seen the first resume style many times, and while I could have used an even uglier example, I wanted to show possible improvements to an average looking resume.

ClutteredResume2

Resume Distractions

• Part of the resume is centered with long, ragged type, making your eye jump from one line to another.
• The text is pushed to the edges of the paper and doesn’t have enough white space.
• There isn’t a clear focal point. The eye has a hard time following where it is supposed to go next.
• There are too many different formatting styles: Bold, Bold Caps, Large Bold, Bold Underlined, Italics, Regular.

Resume Improvements

• Plenty of white space to improve readability.
• There is a clear focal point on the name, drawing your eye to it first.
• There are nice visual alignments that guide the eye down the page.
• The style and formatting is consistent through both pages.
• The headings are easily recognizable. Only 3 formatting styles and sizes are used: Large Bold, Bold, and Regular. This keeps the resume consistent and prevents it from looking cluttered.

Everyone is going to have their own style and preference when making their resume, but here are some basic tips:

Resume Design Tips

Remember that the content is most important, so highlight qualifications and organize the information to draw attention to your strengths

Use titles and headings

Draw attention to your name by setting the font slightly larger, using a different typeface for the name only, or using a very simple logo icon of your initials

Don’t use more than 3 typefaces or styles. This includes Bold, Italic, Caps, etc.

Use an appropriate font size. Many people make the body text too large or small. Set body text no smaller than 9 points for sans-serifed type and 10 points for serifed type and no larger than 11 pts.

Have plenty of white space. People are often tempted to fill up all the whole page and make the margins very small, but this makes a resume more difficult to read.

Organize your resume so that it is easy to read and skim through quickly

Be consistent in formatting the information

Use color sparingly. No more than one color (possibly two if used wisely) in addition to black

If you are making the text gray, don’t go lighter than 75% black

Use paper with a plain smooth finish or a neutral color (nothing too extravagant)

Once you are done drafting your resume, ask yourself if your resume is visually appealing

Print your resume using a laser printer.

Avoid unusual paper sizes

Avoid excessive decoration (yes this includes floral borders, rainbows, animal icons and hearts.)

Avoid centering everything. This can make a resume hard to read if there are very ragged edges because your eye doesn’t have clean lines to follow.

How does your resume look? What are your thoughts?

For other resume ideas/resources visit: