Technical resumes must be readable quickly, especially given the depth of career data a jobseeker needs to provide in response to complex job postings. Therefore, to make the content digestible for recruiters and hiring managers, follow these best practices: * Use standard fonts to ensure your resume looks on your reader's screen the way you intend it to; fancy fonts can be beautiful, but your future hiring manager might not see your design if they don't have the font installed. My favorite serif font is Garamond, and my favorite sans serif font is Corbel. Both are widely compatible, offer a modern, fresh look. * Go with 11pt font size, dropping down to 10.5pt if you must to fit your content to the end of a page. Never go below 10pt, as your reader will not be excited to review a resume they need to squint at to see. * A strategic use of color can be helpful, both for headings and for rules. Shades of dark blue, dark gray, and dark green can work quite well; reds, oranges, and yellows will be more difficult to read. * Margins at 0.5" to 0.75" give you enough room while ensuring that the content can be printed easily. * For overall format, make sure that you refrain from using tables, shapes, and text boxes, as these, as well as headers and footers, are likely to fall away when you upload your PDF or Word document to the job posting / applicant tracking software (ATS) system. Not sure what will be readable when you apply? Copy your entire resume (ctrl-A, ctrl-C), then paste (ctrl-V) into a text document. What you see there is the readable content. You can create a well-designed resume to email or hand deliver during your interview, although, your resume is at risk of not being in an ATS. Some good rules of thumb: * Don't use a table for your entire resume. * Don't use multiple columns. * Don't use an image file (e.g., jpg or png) for your entire resume * Don't use complex design software; even though the designs are visually appealing, they do not translate well, if at all, to ATS-readable documents. ------------------------------------------- Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about design for technical resumes. I am a Certified Master Resume Writer and Certified Executive Resume Master (both through Career Directors International) and have been writing resumes for 15+ years. Should you require any additional data or content, please do not hesitate to reach back out to me at aadler@fivestrengths.com or (801) 810-5627 (ph/txt). Thank you!
For a technical resume, it's essential to prioritize readability and professionalism. Use clean, sans-serif fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica, with a font size of 10 to 12 points for the body and 14 to 16 points for headings. Set margins to 0.5 to 1 inch on all sides to ensure a well-framed layout that avoids a cramped appearance. To enhance visual appeal, maintain consistent formatting by using bold for section headings and job titles, and utilize bullet points for responsibilities and achievements. Consider 1.15 to 1.5 line spacing for clarity, and feel free to incorporate subtle colors for headings, ensuring they remain professional. Following these guidelines will help create an effective resume that showcases your skills and experiences clearly.