RESUME STYLE AND FORMAT
Your resume should have a clean, well-balanced and professional look. Keep it simple.
Regardless of chosen format, the contents should be organized in a way that makes the resume
easy to read. Margins should be even. The layout should be consistent. Make proper use of white
space, skipped lines and indentation. The catagories you choose should be appropriate for the
amount and type of experience you have. Use only one font, but vary treatment of that font
throughout the resume for emphasis (bold, italics, capitalization, size). Creating your own format
is better than borrowing a standard format, provided your format organizes your experience and
skills in a way that effectively and appropriately markets you to the employer. You may wish to
use this sample resume as a guide in producing your own unique resume.
PAPER:
Use Heavy Weight (24lb) Bond Paper. The colors that work best are
White, Ivory, Off-White, or Light Grey.
FONT:
Use fonts like "Times-Roman", "Garamond", "Galliard", "Charter
BT", "Baskerville Old Face", "Bookman Old Style". The sizes should
range from 12, 11, to 10 point.
TYPESETTING:
Use any computer software that you feel comfortable with. The most
popular is Microsoft Word. Have the document printed on a quality
laser printer. Note: Try to avoid using a resume template because
they can be restrictive on how you set-up your document.
LENGTH:
Most students just starting out will be fine with one (1) page.
However, there is nothing wrong with having a two (2) page resume
as long as the second page is full of relevant material and not just
fluff and filler.
FORMAT:
Use the "Bullet Point" (*) format rather than a paragraph to highlight
your accomplishments. Use Graphics like bolding, capital letters,
and italics, to highlight items that you want the reader to notice.
NOTES:
Remember that what works for you may not work for your neighbor.
Tailor the document to YOUR NEEDS.
A resume for someone going into the corporate/business world
should be a little more "conservative" while someone going into
graphic design can be a little more artistic.
Be as detailed as possible without being verbose. Do not ever
"assume" that the reader will "guess" at what you can do or have
accomplished. Tell them.
Do not ever lie!