Here's a resume format I love, font included

Episode lucky number 13. Maybe Taylor Swift would appreciate that.

This week I want to talk about a topic that has no one singular correct approach. Resumes; love them or hate them, if you want a job, you gotta have one. I come at this from a corporate standpoint, where resumes are basically a non-negotiable.

I want to share a resume format I like a lot; perhaps it will inspire you to think about your own resume and whether or not this format fits what you’re looking for. If there’s one thing that everyone has an opinion on, it’s this. Resumes.

Let’s jump in.

First, my philosophy on resumes. They aren’t your life story. Think of them as the movie trailer, not the movie.

Joining the academic world at the beginning of my career, all I saw were multi-page CVs. I knew I didn’t want to do research or teach (though teaching would have been right up my alley!). My goal was to be part of the administration side of highered, and that’s what I did, so my resume reflected a very ‘typical’ resume, one that you would see more so in the corporate world.

Another part of my philosophy; the more basic, bland, and straightforward, the better. White paper, black font, reading across the paper, not up and down. This is especially useful for Applicant Tracking Systems, or ATS. They do a better job at scanning someone’s profile/resume if it’s more of the ‘typical’ and straightforward layout.

Here are some more thoughts:

• No objective statement / summary. They’re antiquated and useless.

• Yes to a tagline about yourself (under your name, as a subheader)

• Work experience section first, not education

• No dates/years on the education section. Sadly, age discrimination exists.

• Make your Linkedin profile URL clickable, not just a plain text link.

• No colors, designs, shapes, photos, none of that

• Technology/software/platform section is a must

• Quantitative-first statements (in work experience section)

So let’s talk about the format I like most. See image below. Very basic, but readable, scannable, clear, and not too crowded. Good for ATS too.

I like the tagline because it gives the recruiter a sense of who you are, professionally (or personally, that’s cool too) before they start diving in. They only scan for an average of about 6-8 seconds, so make yourself standout in that 1 tagline. It’s good real estate on a resume. Sell yourself.

And the font, one of my favorite topics. If you know me, you know I love fonts. This one is Spectral. It’s a Google font. I love the simplicity of it. Feels classic and timeless, but also makes for easy readability. That’s exactly what you want in a resume. I also just love a Garamond-y typeface. This one reminds me of Garamond.

Hopefully this has helped spark some inspiration or given you a new perspective on resumes. Again, it’s just my own POV. You might agree or disagree with me, and that’s cool! Do you.

Thanks for reading and for being here. I don’t take for granted that you care what I have to say. Or even if you don’t care, and you’re still here; thanks for being a fan anyway. ❣️

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