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So I'm trying to update my resume as I look for a new job (I'm in the non-profit sector, but am also going to be looking into more profitable opportunities).

Anyway, I've realized that my resume format looks boring/terrible. Which makes sense, as I made it about 8 years ago. Anyone have a good resume-formatting tool they use?

As a person who’s seen a lot of them, I’ll offer my opinion on yours.

I like having a "highlights" bar at the top that basically has 5 or so of my greatest professional Achievements in no particular order. I also don't believe in the "one page or less" philosophy. Get those greatest hits at the top and then lay the rest out on 1 or 2 pages. Usually they quit reading after the first half a page anyway, so if they stick it out, more than one page is good, at least for engineering from everyone I've talked to.

Also, don't mess around with lame "kooky" color schemes or weird funsies bubbles or some shit either. It's irritating and makes you look like you're applying for clown college.

I'll look at it too. I just graduated in June and have applied for like 20 jobs. I got interviews at approx. 7, plus I got an offer.

As a reader of resumes, it’s really easy to tell when you’re trying to sugar coat something

1 Page or less? Maybe. Where you worked in high school doesn’t need to be on there. Or the fact that you did a mission trip with your church in 1998

I like a layout where i have room to make notes. NO WALL OF TEXT

A thing a lot of people forget is CONTACT INFO. Also get a professional email address. Dopesmoker42069@soyboiz.com isn’t ideal. Plus that ones already taken.

JonnyAngle wrote:As a reader of resumes, it’s really easy to tell when you’re trying to sugar coat something

1 Page or less? Maybe. Where you worked in high school doesn’t need to be on there. Or the fact that you did a mission trip with your church in 1998

I like a layout where i have room to make notes. NO WALL OF TEXT

A thing a lot of people forget is CONTACT INFO. Also get a professional email address. Dopesmoker42069@soyboiz.com isn’t ideal. Plus that ones already taken.

Really don’t appreciate you public ally ridiculing my email address.

You owe me a verns.

JonnyAngle wrote:As a reader of resumes, it’s really easy to tell when you’re trying to sugar coat something

1 Page or less? Maybe. Where you worked in high school doesn’t need to be on there. Or the fact that you did a mission trip with your church in 1998

I like a layout where i have room to make notes. NO WALL OF TEXT

A thing a lot of people forget is CONTACT INFO. Also get a professional email address. Dopesmoker42069@soyboiz.com isn’t ideal. Plus that ones already taken.

All valid points. I had contact info on a resume I was reviewing once that was like "Rebelflag420@yahoo.com" ..

That one went in the "round file" .

If you haven't done anything, then sometimes you have to get creative with your experience, but like Johnny said, it's pretty obvious when people are bullshitting .. "oh word you cured AIDS and Zika.. while wrestling a bear and tiger to save a school bus full of nuns and babies??" When I've had a gap in my experience and skill set vs what they're looking for, I try to point out how trainable I am, and how well I adapt to change.

Employers love that shit

Just print it out on rainbow paper and you'll be set.

I've got significant education and experience to the point where I'm cutting less-notable things out entirely.

I think right now I'm trying to decide on formatting of the thing. I used to have a cover letter with a picture, etc, etc, then a third page with references. It was all very boring.

Here are the things I'm currently deciding on: 1) Moving everything to one page; 2) Including a professional quality headshot close to my name and contact info (My wife's a photographer, so this will be a professional quality photo); 3) Whether to use bullet points or a paragraph in the experience section; 4) (Also in Experience) Whether to focus on responsibilities or how those work experiences have prepared me for a new venture.

Also, did you know that people sell one-page resume templates? https://www.etsy.com/market/one_page_resume I scoffed at that for a second, then remembered that I'm crowd-sourcing ideas on line, so I guess I'm the idiot here.

BetterOffShred wrote:I like having a "highlights" bar at the top that basically has 5 or so of my greatest professional Achievements in no particular order. I also don't believe in the "one page or less" philosophy. Get those greatest hits at the top and then lay the rest out on 1 or 2 pages. Usually they quit reading after the first half a page anyway, so if they stick it out, more than one page is good, at least for engineering from everyone I've talked to.

This for sure. Mine is three pages with a quick summary/highlights at the start followed by the standard headers: education, relevant experience, specialised skills, and extracurricular. Also, when I was writing mine, I met with an adviser at my school and they recommended adding a link to my LinkedIn account.

weebles wrote:I've got significant education and experience to the point where I'm cutting less-notable things out entirely.

I think right now I'm trying to decide on formatting of the thing. I used to have a cover letter with a picture, etc, etc, then a third page with references. It was all very boring.

Here are the things I'm currently deciding on: 1) Moving everything to one page; 2) Including a professional quality headshot close to my name and contact info (My wife's a photographer, so this will be a professional quality photo); 3) Whether to use bullet points or a paragraph in the experience section; 4) (Also in Experience) Whether to focus on responsibilities or how those work experiences have prepared me for a new venture.

Also, did you know that people sell one-page resume templates? https://www.etsy.com/market/one_page_resume I scoffed at that for a second, then remembered that I'm crowd-sourcing ideas on line, so I guess I'm the idiot here.

Can you have the first page as bullet points and have the paragraphs on the second or third page?

in terms of software to make CVs, You can get very nice LaTeX templates for free. Just google "latex resume template". Even if you don't know how to code in LaTeX (basically a simple markup language used in professional publishing) you can just fill in/replace the sample paragraphs that come with the template with yours and it will probably work out.

This next part is only my opinion and comes from my own job searching and also from when i have hired people to work directly for me, although i admittedly i have very little formal hr training so, a grain of salt if you will on that end of things:
Personally i am a huge fan of the 1 page CV. If you cannot fit everything on one page just get rid of the least relevant items for the position which you are applying to (which you said you are already doing, so i totally agree you should do this) . I understand some people think differently but im firmly in the 1 page camp. Read the job description carefully and put only what will really impress the employer based on what they have stated they are looking for. Make even a multipage master CV on your computer then delete the least relevant items for each of the positions you are applying to so you can deliver tailored 1 pagers to each job. There is some phrase someone in HR told me once which i may butcher here, but it's something to the tune of "What's so important that you need to put it on the _second_ page of your resume?". I feel that if the first page does not wow them, they are not going to dig to the second page anyways. If they read a one page and want to know more, they will call you for an interview.

The downside is that trying to fit everything on one page can lead to the wall of text thing some people mentioned which i also agree is bad. I am admittedly guilty of doing this sometimes even though i love 1 page so much. You can see the attached, it's a bit outdated for me now but it is a resume i used at some point . My own critique is that it is maybe a bit too dense and also the profile/statement is pretty cheesy, but this is sort of the generic template i would use before tailoring it to the position in question, ie work in instead keywords relevant to the employer. (Made with a free latex template).

I agree Links to professional related sites or linked in are a very good idea id say if you have them, even links to documentation/information of projects/events you may have worked on if relevant, it can save space too.

anyway here is a sample of a resume i handed out a few years ago when i finished grad school with moderate success, so don;t feel i am saying "THIS RESUME IS SO SICK = INSTANT DREAM JOB OMG SICK WHERE DO I PLUG IN BRO" but it is an example of a one page from a latex template if you were so intrigued:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwlfmE ... sp=sharing

That's a pretty sleek looking resume and it probably has just as much info as my 3 page resume. Kind of makes me want to update/reformat mine, but I have no real need

Dude where do I plug in bro?

I don't like reading resumes that are 5-6-8 pages long (because the relevant stuff in there could fit in half or a third of the space). People who make these tend to overcompensate for something... But I have no issue with 2-3 pages, as long as the details are relevant,

Mine still fits in one page but if I had to update it with my current position and the relevant details it would be tricky without having the font at an uncomfortable size (that's with 15+ years of experience though). One thing I did to manage to stay in one page is to have my personal info in a column on the left. It's actually super readable, looks better and gives more space for the rest of the content.

Also, in my field (games industry), LinkedIn is really used a lot (and not just by spamming recruiters, I get a lot of interesting legitimate things too). A real resume can have info that you can't put in a public LinkedIn page, though, but my resume and LinkedIn page are still very similar.

Also, about multi_s' resume : having these well-defined sections is really helpful (profile, experience, skills).
I also have a somehow similar layout with two columns and it really improves readability I think.

Ah, and don't bullshit about anything in a resume, people can smell that and if it only comes out during an interview you'll just have wasted everybody's time .