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NCE
Career Development Series - Resume Writing Tip of the
Week
Sunday, July 30, 2006
By: Tyler Malin
Each week
NCE brings you a new tip for creating an effective
resume with the goal of getting you into the interview
for the job of your dreams. The process of creating a
resume in a long and arduous task which requires real
thought and effort to complete properly. We encourage
you to come back to us weekly for new ideas and tips and
be in the constant process of updating, changing,
reworking and rethinking your resume.
This week we will talk about basic style. In the
modern world of work most employers scan potential
employee resumes into their database, or get such
resumes through online services. There are a few simple
rules to follow in order to make sure that your resume
scans correctly and easily and that you are not removed
from consideration for reasons unrelated to your actual
skills and experience. As you will see each of these
tips relates to keeping your resume style simple. This
is because you do not want choices about style to
detract from what is really important on your resume
your skills and experience.
First, always use white or off white paper. Colored
paper scans poorly and any type on colored paper is
difficult to read. You should always also use basic
8-1/2 x 11 inch paper. Legal paper or any other
non-standard sizes will create scanning and faxing
difficulties. Make sure to print on only one side of the
paper and know that despite what others may tell you it
is ok for your resume to be over one page long, as long
as all of the information contained is essential to
telling your personal employment narrative.
Two sided printing creates scanning difficulties and
your back page could be missed altogether, always print
on only one side of the page. You will want to choose a
common, non-decretive font and use a font size no
smaller then 10 point and no larger then 14 points. NCE
recommends that all employees use 12 point Times New
Roman font. Use bold to make important titles or
accomplishments stand out if you must, but avoid using
underlining or italics. Finally, never staple or fold
your resume, it creates scanning problems and is
esthetically unpleasing.
If you follow these simple, common sense rules about
resume style you can be sure that your potential
employer will concentrate on your skills, education and
experience instead of being distracted by style choices.
You will also be sure that your resume will easily scan
into an employer’s system and not get lost in the
shuffle. |
