• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Resume Formats

deadly7

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
2,983
Reaction score
174
I'm looking at redoing my resume based on some discussions I've had. My current format makes heavy use of MS Word user-defined margins and bullets. What format do you guys all use?

Also, here are categories I have, all with recent (<5 years) relevance:
Education, work experiences, volunteering, academic honors, organization leadership/extracurricular activities.

If it would help I can post a sample of how my resume is currently formatted.
 

BC2012

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
287
Reaction score
0
Originally Posted by deadly7
I'm looking at redoing my resume based on some discussions I've had. My current format makes heavy use of MS Word user-defined margins and bullets. What format do you guys all use?

Also, here are categories I have, all with recent (<5 years) relevance:
Education, work experiences, volunteering, academic honors, organization leadership/extracurricular activities.

If it would help I can post a sample of how my resume is currently formatted.


Sure, post away. What field are you in?

Some general format tips:

Use a font that is easy to read, commonly accepted, but is not Times New Roman or Arial (too common). Sans Serif fonts are a good choice. Trebuchet, Verdana, or Lucida Sans works well. Calibri is probably okay, but since it's the new Office font I'd probably steer clear.

Stick to a size 11 or 12 font.

Make sure your entire resume is in the same font and is the same size. I've heard over and over that most people hate seeing the size 20 name and a size 12 resume body (I agree, too. I'd hate seeing that).

Bullets are fine.

I'm iffy on an objectives statement on a resume. A lot of people swear by them.

Same goes for activities/fun things I like to do. I don't like it, a lot of people love it (golf, sexual predator catching, etc.)
 

alliswell

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Messages
3,954
Reaction score
18
Originally Posted by deadly7
I'm looking at redoing my resume based on some discussions I've had. My current format makes heavy use of MS Word user-defined margins and bullets. What format do you guys all use?

Also, here are categories I have, all with recent (<5 years) relevance:
Education, work experiences, volunteering, academic honors, organization leadership/extracurricular activities.

If it would help I can post a sample of how my resume is currently formatted.


Reorder - work experience, education with honors, leadership. Forget volunteering unless you've only had one job.

Originally Posted by BC2012
Sure, post away. What field are you in?

Some general format tips:

Use a font that is easy to read, commonly accepted, but is not Times New Roman or Arial (too common). Sans Serif fonts are a good choice. Trebuchet, Verdana, or Lucida Sans works well. Calibri is probably okay, but since it's the new Office font I'd probably steer clear.

Stick to a size 11 or 12 font.

Make sure your entire resume is in the same font and is the same size. I've heard over and over that most people hate seeing the size 20 name and a size 12 resume body (I agree, too. I'd hate seeing that).

Bullets are fine.

I'm iffy on an objectives statement on a resume. A lot of people swear by them.

Same goes for activities/fun things I like to do. I don't like it, a lot of people love it (golf, sexual predator catching, etc.)


Stick with Arial. Any attempt to look different by varying font will make you look insecure. Omit the objective statement. Omit your hobbies too.
 

BC2012

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
287
Reaction score
0
Originally Posted by alliswell
Reorder - work experience, education with honors, leadership. Forget volunteering unless you've only had one job.



Stick with Arial. Any attempt to look different by varying font will make you look insecure. Omit the objective statement. Omit your hobbies too.


I disagree, obviously. I've heard from many recruiters that after reading a hundred Arial/TNR font resumes that seeing a different one catches their eye. I've never once heard someone think it was because the person was insecure.
 

imageWIS

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Apr 19, 2004
Messages
19,716
Reaction score
106
Originally Posted by BC2012
I disagree, obviously. I've heard from many recruiters that after reading a hundred Arial/TNR font resumes that seeing a different one catches their eye. I've never once heard someone think it was because the person was insecure.

Is Centaur too odd for a resume? (I haven't tired it)

http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/agfa/centaur/
 

alliswell

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Messages
3,954
Reaction score
18
I review resumes, interview and hire for my firm. The first question I ask is 'Why would you think that this is an appropriate font for a professional document'. Don't fail that question. If you're not aiming for a white-collar job with a professional firm, feel free to disregard.
 

BC2012

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
287
Reaction score
0
Originally Posted by alliswell
I review resumes, interview and hire for my firm. The first question I ask is 'Why would you think that this is an appropriate font for a professional document'. Don't fail that question. If you're not aiming for a white-collar job with a professional firm, feel free to disregard.

I do all of mine in Playbill and print it on papyrus. You'd love it.
 

deadly7

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
2,983
Reaction score
174
Originally Posted by BC2012
Sure, post away. What field are you in?
Nothing field specific -- I was just looking for general formatting tips.

Some general format tips:

Use a font that is easy to read, commonly accepted, but is not Times New Roman or Arial (too common). Sans Serif fonts are a good choice. Trebuchet, Verdana, or Lucida Sans works well. Calibri is probably okay, but since it's the new Office font I'd probably steer clear.

Stick to a size 11 or 12 font.

Make sure your entire resume is in the same font and is the same size. I've heard over and over that most people hate seeing the size 20 name and a size 12 resume body (I agree, too. I'd hate seeing that).
Hadn't considered the above (with exception of size) -- will have to revisit this.

Bullets are fine.

I'm iffy on an objectives statement on a resume. A lot of people swear by them.
I don't do objective statements. Typically I've either done a cover letter or done nothing (depending on the position).

Same goes for activities/fun things I like to do. I don't like it, a lot of people love it (golf, sexual predator catching, etc.)
I don't include hobbies -- I include professional or social organizations in which I was [or am still] a part and if I had leadership roles on them.

Originally Posted by alliswell
Reorder - work experience, education with honors, leadership. Forget volunteering unless you've only had one job.
What about research done during college, if it's irrelevant to my field?


Stick with Arial. Any attempt to look different by varying font will make you look insecure. Omit the objective statement. Omit your hobbies too.
Oh no conflicting viewpoints! What about Times New Roman? I personally don't like Arial but I do like TNR.

Originally Posted by imageWIS
I can see why. I sometimes have it, sometimes I don't, depends on the job, really.
Pretty much. I just like cover letters more than obj statements.

Originally Posted by BC2012
I disagree, obviously. I've heard from many recruiters that after reading a hundred Arial/TNR font resumes that seeing a different one catches their eye. I've never once heard someone think it was because the person was insecure.
I always got compliments on my formatting from employers (haven't dealt with many recruiters) so I don't think it's necessarily font face that is the key factor.
 

HelloIDistance

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
679
Reaction score
30
Originally Posted by alliswell
I review resumes, interview and hire for my firm. The first question I ask is 'Why would you think that this is an appropriate font for a professional document'. Don't fail that question. If you're not aiming for a white-collar job with a professional firm, feel free to disregard.

I can see the font type mattering, but I don't understand omitting volunteer experience. Granted it related somehow to your position. IE volunteer tax assistance for an accounting job.
 

HelloIDistance

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
679
Reaction score
30
I wouldn't put your High School or any info related to that. What is the point if you graduated college?

I would also take out the &quot;provide references upon request&quot;. I've never understood that on resumes. Of course you would provide references upon request.
 

Rugger

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
1,543
Reaction score
881
My tip is to remember that the resume should just get you in the door, your interview is what they will hire you on. Remember that when writing your resume, it can be pretty thin, don't need an objective or summary, it should(in my mind) show that you are well qualified and that's really it. You should have a second 'mental resume' in your head for the interview....&quot;i did xxx with yyy, I led xxx to yyyy, my weiner is xxx big. etc etc.

It might just be me but I don't like the interviewers having an idea of ME before the interview, I just want them to know my qualifications. Makes for a better WOW moment, at least in my mind.
 

suited

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2008
Messages
7,642
Reaction score
3,562
Resumes are over-thought and always over-complicated. When it's all said and done, assuming you follow a sensible format and you don't hand in something with grammatical errors or grease stains, it's going to come down to what's actually written on the resume in terms of experiencing and education.
 

Milpool

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
900
Reaction score
0
Strangely, despite reviewing resumes and such, I still think I'm bad at writing them.

Some general points from my experience reviewing:

1) I don't give a **** about font. I'm not some pop-psychologist that thinks I can read into your personality based on your font. As long as you didn't do something really insane like use 24 point font the whole way or italics the whole way, etc I don't give a damn.

2) Skip the objective statement. Your cover letter is your objective statement. Usually the objectives people list on their resumes are lame and do nothing for me; e.g. "I want to advance my career". Ok, great, I want you to advance your career too. . . but that tells me nothing about why you are the best candidate.

3) Put the most relevant section first. I browse resumes quickly until I find a few that look good. Make sure I spot the good stuff immediately after your name. If you graduated university 10 years ago in something unrelated, put it at the bottom, I don't care about that. Make it easy for me to notice you are the right person for the job.

4) The other information debate. . . if it is relevant include it. Professional societies, sitting on the board for the local art museum, publications, etc are all good things to include. That your hobby is posting on a men's clothing forum is not a good thing to include (unless you are trying to get a men's clothing forum job I guess).
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 36.2%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 59 38.8%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.2%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 26 17.1%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 26 17.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,158
Messages
10,578,901
Members
223,882
Latest member
anykadaimeni
Top