Résumé Formatting

Page Length

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

Screenshot of Margins Under Page Setup

Headers & Footers

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

Screenshot of Header Formatting

Unless you specify “Different first page”, this text will appear on every subsequent page. You might want to just include your name and a page number on the top of subsequent pages:

Truman T. Tiger 2 of 2

Screenshot showing Different First Page under Page SetupBullets & 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.

Screenshot of Buttons for Formatting Bullets and Indent

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

Avoid using artwork, images (.jpegs, .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .tif, etc.), bullets such as
Inappropriate Bullets
that do not convey a professional document.

Tables

Tables can also easily separate lots of information. Insert tables by selecting “table” under the insert menu. You can remove your table borders by highlighting your table and then selecting which borders to include in the borders menu.

Screenshot of Table Insertion Menu

Headings

In order to separate your résumé 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 résumé formatted four different ways.