9 Tips for Designing a Top-Notch Resume

When you need to compose a resume, you’d better use a free professional template. Or, you might want to stick to smart resume design recommendations from this article.

When applying for a position, it would be reasonable to think not only about the content of your resume but its design too. To save time and effort, many applicants rely on resume templates for Google Docs. Such templates should produce the most favorable impression on professionals from any industry. Plus, they can save you considerable time and effort. But if you prefer to compose the resume with your own hands, you might want to follow the tips from this article.

Select the Optimal Font

For a position in a traditional or old-school sector, you might want to opt for a serif font. In digital and creative spheres, feel free to choose sans serif. The size of the font might vary from 11 to 13 points. No matter whether the HR manager examines the document in digital or printed format, it should be easy for them to read it.

Make Your Contact Details Stand Out

Normally, you should provide your contact details at the top of the page. When submitting the resume in digital format, you should make sure your email address is clickable. For some positions and sectors, it might be wise to add clickable links to your social media profiles too.

Make the Content Easy to Skim

You can never know whether the HR manager will read every single line or just skim the text. The more comprehensively you structure the text, the better. It should take the manager only one second to find the part of the text they need.

Use Columns

Columns make the text more skimmable and increase the visual appeal of your document. You can make two columns of equal size. Or, you can use the wider column to list your previous descriptions and highlight your milestone achievements in the narrower one. Columns enable you to fit in a lot of information without making the page look overcrowded.

Format the Text

To format the resume, you should use the following elements:

• Headings
• Subheadings
• Bullet points

Make sure to leave enough white space. The more concise the text, the better.

Consider an Infographic

It should enable you to visually explain concepts that text fails to deliver. When applying for a graphic design role, your potential employer should appreciate your ability to create infographics. But this trick might fail to work if you’re trying to land an administrative position at an old-school organization.

Follow Industry Standards

The looks of your document should meet the standards of your industry. For instance, you might want to choose a classic font when looking for a position in publishing. Even if you work in a creative industry, you should avoid being too extravagant.

Add a Personal Design Touch

Here are the most common types of elements that you might use to customize the document:

• Custom typeface
• Borders
• Shading
• Tasteful pops of color

You can never know whether the HR manager will read the document in color or black-and-white version. To play safe, make the document equally legible in both variants.

Pick the Right File Type

The best file type is PDF because no one can edit it occasionally. Plus, PDF files look visually appealing on all devices. If you opt for some other format, the text might look fabulous on your computer — but get totally messed up when the manager opens it. That would seem extremely unprofessional…

The name of the file shouldn’t consist only of the word “Resume”. If dozens of other applicants do the same, how will the business representative be able to tell your resume from anyone else’s? The name of the file should feature your full name and maybe also the name of the company that you’re getting in touch with. Such an approach should accentuate your responsibility and eye for detail.

The Benefits of Using Resume Templates

Applicants from all spheres love templates for the following reasons:

• The templates are very well structured and you can easily customize them
• They feature the right fonts, columns, subheadings and other design elements
• You can find a template for any industry, from science to the restaurant business
• You don’t need to have any special skills to download and edit the template

And the best thing is that templates are available at no cost. Feel free to download as many of them as you need!

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, you found this article informative and now you better understand how to design a convincing resume. Select the optimal font, consider an infographic and make your contact details stand out from the rest of the text. Use columns, format the content and make it skimmable. Follow industry standards, add a personal design touch and pick the right file type. Yet the easiest way out is to rely on a template that looks highly professional and enables you to flexibly customize it.