Page Length

We suggest a single page resume if you are a recent college graduate with a bachelor’s degree without significant work experience. Remember that you can have a different resume for each job that you apply for by paring down a multipage ‘master resume’ into a single page resume. If you have significant work experience, it is acceptable to have a two page resume as long as you fill the entire second page.

Margins

You should set your margins no wider than 1.15” (3.8cm) and no smaller than 0.5” (1.27cm). Margin settings can be found under your Page Setup Menu.

Headers & Footers

Headers and footers allow you to include repetitive text above your normal margins.

Bullets & Tabs (Indent)

You can use bullets and tabs to easily separate lots information. Note: Do not use the space bar to indent as it will not convert well into a PDF. Tabs align all text uniformly.

If you use bullets, use an ‘appropriate’ bullet such as

Avoid using artwork, images (.jpegs, .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .tif, etc.), bullets such as

that do not convey a professional document.

Tables

Example:

Communication Skills Collaboratively discussed tax policies and financial savings plans with a wide array of clients. Facilitated presentations to student and faculty groups regarding financial literacy. Communicated client feedback with office management to meet sales goals and improve services.

Financial Skills Calculated taxes for individuals and families and filed returns for over 300 clients. Generated quarterly reports on loan and investment rates and information. Recorded accounts receivable and maintained past due accounts.

Management Skills Managed financial portfolios of 75 clients totaling $6.76 million dollars. Supervised and mentor two financial representatives-in-training. Trained all new entry level financial representatives on corporate policies and sales techniques.

Headings

In order to separate your resume into sections (Education, Work Experience, Honors, Etc.)  you can use a variety of methods to add headings:

• Use a two column table (without borders). The column on the left can contain your section header and you can make it narrow and the right column wide to include your content
• Use a different font and style (bold, underline, italics), size, or alignment to set-off your headings. Here is the same resume formatted four different ways:

Tables

Double Underline Tabbed Out

Font

Font & Alignment

Resume Don’ts

You should not include:

• Color
• Graphics
• Personal Information – Social Security Number, Photos, Height Weight, Race, Religion, Date of Birth