Visual Appeal
In the corporate world, résumés are scanned for only about fifteen seconds. As a result, you have an extremely short amount of time to convey information and to sell your skills and experiences. Your résumé must be very organized, concise, and easy to read; if it is not, it may be discarded.
Most documents are scanned from top to bottom and from left to right; therefore, design your résumé strategically to physically emphasize the most important information. List positions and titles first, then list the corresponding dates. Choose an effective format for each of your sections and be certain to be consistent within these sections. Strategically use bolds, italics, underlines, and capitalization to draw attention to aspects you wish to emphasize.
Use a simple, balanced layout with plenty of white space. A résumé should never look flashy or gimmicky; it should always be professional. Use fonts that are easy-to-read and print your résumé on high-quality (20-pound or greater) white or ivory paper.
Eliminate excess words from your résumé and minimize jargon and technical terms. Try to translate past experiences into language that can be understood by your audience.
Proofread your résumé carefully, and ask others to review it for you. Even one grammatical or spelling error will invalidate your résumé to most employers, so pay close attention to all details. Keep in mind that the spelling and grammar checking capabilities of your word-processing programs will not always catch words that are incorrect.
It is best to try to keep your résumé to one page unless you have many years of full-time work experience. Nonacademic employers do not have the time to read through multi-page résumés and will appreciate a concise, well-organized résumé.