4 Simple Resume Formatting Tips

As you are probably aware formatting resumes can be a tricky business.  Most recruiters take your resume and put it on their letterhead before they send it over to their clients.  It should be easy right.  ctrl-A to select the resume, ctrl-C to copy and ctrl-V to paste.  Voila!!!.  Oops, there are spaces all over the resume, in the middle of the lines, large white spaces in the middle of paragraphs.  There is no justification, some lines start at the margin and some are spaced over.  Maybe the client wants to print it.  Again big "Oops" if you haven't used proper formatting.  Just because it printed OK on your computer at home, doesn't mean it will when it is opened and printed at your recruiter/clients office.  Depending on the size of your resume, reformatting it could take up to an hour of time.  An hour that could be the difference between you getting the job or not.  So try these simple formatting tips to help keep your resume looking good.

Enter/Return Key

• This key should only be used at the end of a paragraph.  NOT when your sentence gets to the end of the line.  It is amazing how many people force a new line to appear by using the enter/return key.  MS Office magically knows when you are approaching the right hand margin and will automatically move down to the next line for you.  Try it, just keep typing and amazing a new line will appear.  By the way the enter/return key is normally located on the right hand side of the keyboard, above the "shift" key.  

Tab Key

• The enter/return key helps format your right hand margin.  The tab key helps justify your left hand margin.  The tab key is located on the left hand side of your keyboard, usually just above the "caps loc" key.  Use it for new paragraphs.  Tab in the first line, if the second line doesn't automatically tab in, then take your cursor move it to the second line and hit the tab key again. From then on your whole paragraph will be tabbed in.  It will be stopped as soon as you hit the enter/return key.  So keep in mind they work in tandem with each other.

Bullets

• The Bullet Key is located on the top toolbar.  If you are doing a list use this key, it will automatically put in the bullet and set the margins so that all your points will line up the same.  It can be a little trickier than the other keys so practice.  Simple bullets are not hard to master.

Space Bar.

• Don't put in multiple spaces to line up your document/resume.  The space bar is used to tell MS Office what is happening.  It separates words, it appears after a comma, not before the comma.  When you put two spaces after a period it tells word that the sentence has ended and word will automatically capitalize the next word.  

Try these simple formatting tips.  Not only will it save you time, your resume will look more professional and be much easier to read.  If you still can't figure it out, then use a professional.  It is a worthwhile investment to have it done properly.