Find Formatting Faux Pas on Your Resume

Writing your resume can be nerve wracking when you’re on the job hunt. Once you’re finally finished sorting out the sordid details of your employment history it’s tempting to hit print and be done with it.



But don’t make the mistake of sending it off without a second glance. If you don’t have anyone else to help you edit it peruse the paper one more time. See if you can spy any of these potential problems that spell check won’t detect.



Fix the font – If you’ve copied and pasted from several sources you may have a plethora of fonts pieced together like patchwork. Ctrl +A on a PC or Command+A on a Mac to “select all” of the document and pick one font to make the whole thing match. Make sure you use a type that is professional and easy to read.



Bye bye bullet boo boos – The number one rule of a bulleted list is to make at least 3 points or don’t make any at all. Don’t just bullet 2 job duties from a previous employer, think of one more detail to add. If you’re stumped, search your job title online and use part of the description that fits. Bullets can be complete sentences or fragments; you just have to keep it consistent and don’t switch back and forth.



Alignment assignment – Most resume templates have the alignment for the basic elements embedded. However things start to sneak out of place when you add your own information and as you customize your content different sections go their own way. Remember to double check that everything is perfectly aligned. Hold a ruler to the screen to make sure all of your dots are in a row.



Don’t trust your future to a template. Make sure you’re on top of any formatting errors before making a less than perfect first impression.







By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer with experience in web, film, photography and animation as well as traditional fine arts like painting and sculpting. In addition to writing for CommunicationsJobsBlog.net, she is co-founder of design and promotion company. Heather’s spare time consists of making puppets, teaching Sunday School, building Legos and doing science experiments with her children.