Size Matters (On Resumes!)
Tip: Font Size
A big mistake a lot of resume writers make is that they shrink their font size when they add something new. Yes, you want to keep everything on one page, but never go under 11 point font to do so. By definition, if you have something "new and relevant" to add, something else has just become "more dated and less relevant", and can be minimized or deleted.
Tip: Resume Length
Generally, after about the 10th year of your career, you have enough relevant information to justify extending your resume to a second page. Mine is a page and a half.
Just make sure that you scrutinize your dated and less important information in the same way that you did when you were trying to fit things onto one page. If the details of one of these older sections have become fuzzy and unfamiliar--so that you cannot defend them during an interview--they should not be there.
A well-organized resume suggests a well-organized worker!
agree. never exceed a page. did that junior year. wow did i get shit on!
BCbanker,
Thanks for the post; hopefully no one here will have to go through the same thing!
What about resume margins? How wide can they be?
.50 x .50 are usually the smallest margins, but sometimes you can play with them like .4 x .4...just make sure that your resume looks dense without being unprofessional looking. (i.e. a page of solid text without noticeable margins)
Thanks Gekko. I was always under the impression that it is better to decrease font size rather than decrease the margins to fit everything. For instance, my resume right now is size 10 times new roman with 0.75" margins. I personally think this looks better than size 11 font with 0.5" borders. Is size 10 really not acceptable?
Size 10 for Times New Roman, Arial, or similarly sized fonts is a good size for the bullet points, and size 11 or 12 is good for section headers (Education, Work Experience, etc.). I also suggest bolding the company names and italicizing your job titles.
Adjust margins anywhere from 0.5" to 1.0" all around to make resume look clean. Agree with Gekko that you can play with it to like 0.4" but not less than that. If you want to fill the page symmetrically, you can also adjust the spacing between sections, and change the size of your name on top.
hm interesting. yeah i use size 9 arial and haven't had a problem with it. In fact, i think it looks a lot better than size 11... but maybe that's because the letters are slightly larger than times new roman.
Thanks. Appreciate the help.
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