RESUME APPEARANCE 

The overall appearance of your resume is also important. A  sloppy looking resume will greatly lessen your chance of getting  a job interview. The first thing that an employer, or personnel  manager, evaluating your resume will notice is it's appearance.  There are several different things that can be easily done to  increase the overall appearance of your resume.

The first of these appearance factors is the paper that your  resume is printed on. There are many different kinds of paper  other than regular typing paper. You could make an improvement by using a colored paper. I suggest a subdued color like brown, off- white, or gray.

Next, you could use a better grade of paper. Go to a local  office supply store and examine the different types of writing  paper. You'll notice some big differences. Pick out a nice  looking, more expensive grade of paper for your resume. 

The next thing to consider is the quality of the material  that is typed onto the resume. Never use a low quality printer to type your resume. It's very important that you make sure the writing on your resume looks good. This means clean, crisp, and sharp looking letters.

A third aspect of your resume's appearance is more  subjective. It takes into account such things as the letter  spacing, how each section is arranged, and it's overall  appearance. Some resumes simply look better because of the way  they have been designed. At the end of this report, you'll see an example of a properly prepared resume.

Never overcrowd the resume. Leave some "white space" so that  important points can appear to pop out. Never submit a resume  with handwritten corrections. You can highlight sections of a  resume by using a different typeface or size or by using  "bullets." If possible, use larger letters for the headings used in the separate sections of the resume.

Never try to be too fancy by using wild colors, cute  graphics, and so forth. Don't be overly creative. A simple,  straightforward, factual resume will do nicely. Make it stand  out, but stay conservative.

Another phase of your resume's appearance is it's accuracy.  Make sure there are no misspelled words! Mistakes will create the wrong image.

Make sure that the punctuation is correct. And make sure  that all of your columns line up. See that all of your facts are  correct. Don't say you attended 3 years of college, but only show two years worth of grades. Potential employers will note all  inaccuracies and wonder why they appear in your resume.

RESUME BASICS - RESUME APPEARANCE  
RESUME STYLES - WRITING YOUR RESUME - UNCOVERING JOBS
THE JOB INTERVIEW - SAMPLE RESUME - BACK TO MAIN PAGE