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How to Make Your Resume Stand Out Visually

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Make your resume stand out

To stand out from other job applicants and to bring attention to your skills and experience it helps to make your resume visually stand out and appealing.

Here are few tips on how to make your resume stand out and how to add a little flavor to your resume but still keep it professional.

Use legible fonts

Use an easy to read fonts that are not too big.

Keep the font size around 10-12pt depending of the font of course.

You can use some of the basic fonts on your resume such as Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial and Helvetica.

All of these fonts are easy to read and they suit resume perfectly.

Be original

Your resume can be viewed as a important marketing tool.

Try to make your resume visually appealing by adding your personality in to it.

There is nothing wrong to use resume templates but they are meant to be modified as well, add color, change font and move things around a bit.

To add or not to add a photo

If you are unsure whether you should add a photo in to your resume, take in to consideration the type of job you are applying for (for actors and models appearance is a legitimate consideration for employment) and if you are asked to provide one.

There are also differences between countries: in Germany, France and majority of Asian countries you would include a photo on your resume when in US, UK and Australia it’s not recommended.

If you wonder why do so many professional resume templates have photos on them is simply that they are fully editable and if you don’t want to include a photo you simply hit delete, there for giving you the option.

Make some important details bold

Bold or italicize your texts in areas which you want to emphasize.

Recruiters spent 80% of their time looking at six data points: Name, Current title and company, Previous title and company, Current start and end dates, Previous start and end dates, Education so you might want to emphasize these

Send your hard copies on colored or textured paper

If you are still mailing your resumes you can add some flavor by printing a simple resume design on a slightly colored paper or choosing a textured paper.

If you have several pages on your resume, your resume should be printed on one side only.

Additionally you can choose to print on the back of the resume to give your resume a nice personal touch when opening the envelope.

The file name should be your own name

Instead of naming your resume something simple like resume.pdf the name should be your own name such as jane-harrison-resume.pdf.

When sending your resume digitally it recommended to use PDF format, this way the formatting stays same on all computers and gadgets.

Make use of resume templates

Another way to make the whole resume process easier is to make use of resume templates.

Though many believe that creating a visually attractive resume is easy and that it’s the best way to make it unique, however chances are that if you are not a graphic designer you might need some help in making a good resume and not to mention save time.

A resume template will guide you with the design and you can easily unify it and make it yours.

Now you know how to make your resume stand out visually and can use some of these tips on your next resume!

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