In the old days, many of us used to obsess about the formats of our resumes. We seemed to think that if we could only find that magic combination of fonts, font sizes, special features and layouts we would have the perfect resume and land the perfect job.
Thankfully in the last few years, we have learned that content, not format is king. (Unless of course we are looking for work in the graphic arts field or something similar where the display of artistic skills in your resume may be an advantage). That, however, is not the situation most of us face.
Even though we know that content is king, may of us still wonder whether our formatting and layout choices can help our resume stand out from the crowd. The answer is yes. But that can be good or bad news.
Certainly choosing an appropriate font and size, restraining our use of special features combined with a well thought out and consistent layout will give us points for organization, but it’s not enough by itself to give us an interview. On the other hand, choosing poor font and size choices, overusing special features and presenting a too-complex or inconsistent layout will make us stand out from the crowd, but we will be standing out for too many of the wrong reasons; such a presentation might well cause our resumes to be screened out.
In other words, our resume design can help to a limited extent if done right, but it can really hurt us if we get it wrong. So how can we make our presentation as strong as possible?
The good news is that there is only one rule. Everything we do in layout and formatting must draw our reader’s eyes to what is important, without becoming so obvious as to distract from the message we want to send. A few subtle changes to text or format will help a reader find what is important, but if our formatting and layout choices distract our readers from what we want them to know about us, we may be setting ourselves up for being passed over. We need to pick from a few key fonts, choose reasonable sizes, use a few special features to emphasize key points within a consistent and organized layout.
One easy way to help our readers is by using one kind of font for key headings and another for regular text. If we want to try this, our first step will be to choose our fonts. Because we will be using them for contrast, we need to pick two key fonts: one should be a serif font, like Times New Roman (this font) which has little strokes at the ends of most letters. Our other key font must be a sans serif font like Arial (this font), which does not have those little strokes. We also must make sure that our chosen fonts are easy to read and available on our recipients computers. To find out which fonts are most used, we can go to the Font Style survey at http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/sampler-CombinedResultsFull.shtml or we can choose from the following short list:
Garamond, Georgia, Palatino Linotype, or Times New Roman are serif fonts, while Arial, Tahoma or Verdana are sans serif fonts.
All these fonts are easy on the eyes and present on 90% or more of Windows based computers. Studies have shown that Times New Roman and Arial are the two fonts that are most easily readable. The same studies that show font dispersal also show font sizes. Anything from 10.5 point to 12 point is best for normal text. I generally use 12 point for short resumes or 11 point for longer ones, and either 14 or 16 point for my clients’ names.
Since these fonts are so often used, some people recommend against using them because they fear that our resumes could get lost in a pile of other resumes using the same font. But a subtle adjustment can solve that problem for us. Let me show you what I mean.
I generally use a sans serif font for my client’s name, section headings, job titles, university degrees and other diplomas, and I bold those items for additional emphasis. Then I use my regular serif font for the rest of the text. That one change alone draws emphasizes key components of the resume. If we check out the contact information in the following example, http://www.ffresume.com/files/1923869/uploaded/5p.pdf, we will find our eyes going right to the name.
Special features can be distracting so I try not to overuse them. In the header block of the above resume I have used three: a single line separating the client’s contact information from the rest of the resume and a bolded sans serif font in larger type for the client’s name. There is also another layout change here and I wonder how many of my readers will spot it?
Although the email address, the mailing address and the phone number are all in 11 point type, the blank line between them is only 8 point. If I adjust all my blank lines this way, I will subtly alert my readers that there is something different about this resume. Making this change gives me the benefit of using the most easily readable typefaces with the assurance that readers will not fall victim to “font overdose.”
Italicizing regular text is another feature I often use, usually for giving my reader some information about size of the organizations my client worked for and the kind of business it was in. This kind of information helps our readers put achievements into the proper context. Turn back to the previously mentioned resume. After our eye is drawn to the first bolded job title in the Relevant Experience section, the next thing we will notice is the italicized text in the following line. After reading that information, a hiring manager now knows the context in which my client worked – a pioneering planning department for one of North America’s major cities.
At this point, after no more than 3 or 4 lines describing the scope of the job, I add my last special feature, highlighting key accomplishments with bullet points to make them stand out.
- Vancouver General Hospital Precinct – satisfied competing and antagonistic stakeholders negotiated consensus for use of 35 acre site, achieving business, institutional, community and political goals including rationalized hospital plan, introduction of commercial uses, park and recreation space, pedestrian and bicycle improvements, and heritage designation.
These few tips are just one way to apply the principle of leading your readers’ eyes to what is important without being heavy handed. There are many other combinations of popular and widespread fonts in readable sizes, a subtle and consistent use of special features combined with an organized and consistent layout that will prove equally effective. So long as your choices follow this principle your resume will not be screened out because of formatting errors.
