Make your resume look great
A visually unappealing resume risks being immediately removed from further consideration by an employer, so make sure your resume passes its first test by making it look great.
Examine your resume and rate its performance in the following areas:
Contrast
Does your name stand out? Are section headings easily distinguished? Do they compliment – rather than clash with – the body text? Hold the page at arm’s length and squint at it. Do you notice winding “rivers of white” running through the text? These are created inadvertently by the particular placement of text on the page, but can distract the reader or detract from the page’s overall appearance. (Re-wording your resume in a couple of places eliminates the problem).
Neatness & Alignment
Is the text crisp, dark, free of streaking, of uniform weight and professional quality? Is the vertical alignment of indents, tabs, and bullets perfectly straight? Are there any missing (or extra) spaces between words or sentences?
Balance
Are there any large blank areas on the page? Are the spaces between sections equal? Are the contents centered vertically and horizontally?
Style
Are the fonts simple and easy to read? Are there any bullets, borders, ruled lines, or other visual enhancements? Is the overall look pleasing to the eye? Is the paper textured, of heavier weight, or some pale colour other than plain “photocopy” white?
Paper Condition
Is it perfect in every way? If not, discard it.
Handle your resume with care and protect it from damage. A single rain drop can ruin an otherwise immaculate page. If you submit a resume that is spotted, stained, discoloured, warped, creased, wrinkled, torn, or has a dog-eared corner, you are saying one thing about yourself: “I don’t care.” If you don’t care about yourself, you can’t care about an employer – and the employer won’t care to hire you.
In a nutshell, a great-looking resume competes against others of the same quality. Less-than-great-looking resumes fail to qualify for the competition.