Amy Lindgren

If you’ve written a résumé lately, you’ve undoubtedly struggled over the wording and content. Creating impact while summarizing years of experience is no easy task.

While these are important challenges to address, there’s another that might matter more: Formatting. That’s because formatting is the key to navigation and readability – and if your résumé isn’t readable, what’s the point of exquisite grammar and powerful content?

Last week’s column addressed the value of longer résumés, and the importance of not cramming your content to fit the one-page “ideal.” This week, it’s time to look at the do’s and don’ts of formatting your résumé, whatever its length.

Basic formatting guidelines

— Keep 1-inch margins when possible, to create a consistent look while leaving room for note-taking.

— Choose one font only. Times, Helvetica and Calibri are all good choices that are easily read by online systems and humans alike.

— Use two type sizes – one for the section headings and one for the content. A standard combination would be 10 or 11 point for the content and 11 or 12 point for the headings, with the headings being slightly larger than the content.

— Don’t over-emphasize headings. There are multiple ways to highlight section headings – bold or italic print, all caps, underlining, larger type, etc. To avoid visual cacophony, choose no more than two and apply the choice consistently to all section headings.

— Use consistent spacing. A good rule is to add one space between each entry in a section. That is, if you have two jobs in your Experience section, there should be one extra space between them. Then, add two spaces between each section. For example, if your Education section follows your Experience section, there should be two extra spaces between them.

— Use bullets sparingly. Or dashes, or whatever symbol you’ve chosen. These are meant for emphasis, so they lose their effectiveness if every line or entry is preceded with a bullet. If your bullet list is longer than five or six entries, it’s time to create subsections.

Advanced tips

— Don’t overuse lines or other graphic elements. Besides confusing some online systems, too much graphic input can distract the reader. Stick with one solid dark line near the top to separate your name and contact information from the résumé itself, to help the reader focus on the main content.

— Speaking of graphics – resist the temptation to add little telephones and other symbols to indicate the obvious. Trust that the reader can identify your email without a tiny envelope to point the way.

— Avoid tables and probably columns as well. These are excellent tools in the right hands but generally that’s not the case. Unfortunate results can include truncated information cramped into small boxes or unbalanced tables with one extra-long entry creating awkward spacing for the rest. Instead, use hand-set tabs and margin indents to create the horizontal spacing you’re seeking.

— Balance your white space. For example, one-word lists that run vertically will result in large pools of white space on the right side of the page. This can make the résumé feel disjointed. In these cases, try running the list horizontally, with items separated by bullets or extra spaces.

— Use color sparingly. One color, used as an accent, can be quite appealing – particularly when your résumé is read on a phone or computer screen. In this case, you might use color for the section headings, or for your name at the top of each page. But avoid using color for the content, as that can become tedious to read. Also, be sure the color you choose is dark enough to be easily visible if the résumé is printed.

— Photos? Probably not. Although readers already get clues about gender or race from a candidate’s name, photos can remove all doubt, opening the door for unconscious bias. Photos can also be space and data hogs, and sometimes gum up the works for electronic systems.

If this feels like a lot of rules, you might think the solution is to drop your information into a template and be done with it. Be careful! That can work, but it usually results in even more problems as you fight with the template’s pre-set formats.

Instead, just open a fresh page on your word processing software and type out each section without worrying about format. Then you (or a skilled friend) can go back and apply these guidelines to each section or to the entire document, as the case may be. It’s worth the trouble: Once you’ve created a clean, clear format, you’ll be surprised at how well your content stands out.

Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.