While adding some color to your resume can make it more visually appealing and reader-friendly, garish design elements can be off-putting for a recruiter hiring for a more professional position. If you’re choosing a resume template with colors, be mindful of choosing brighter or louder colors. Let’s break down how to evaluate each of these elements. Are you more creative, serious, or professional - or somewhere in between? The font, design, and colors (or lack thereof) will all affect how a template is seen. The key is considering what message you want to send to the recruiter evaluating your resume. There’s no perfect one-size-fits-all resume template. This way, the recruiter won’t feel like you’re trying to hide something from them. Just bear in mind that if you’re using a format like to draw attention away from a gap in your work history, it’s better to simply explain the gap in a resume summary instead. This begins with sections focusing on your skills and achievements before including a standard chronological work history below. If you don’t want to abandon the traditional chronological format but still want to put greater emphasis on how your work experience and achievements relate to your skills, a combination format is the best choice. However, be aware that many recruiters are not fans of this approach so it’s always going to be somewhat risky to use. Functional resumes group work experience and achievements according to the skills they’re connected to instead of listing them in chronological order.
If you’d like to shift the emphasis of your resume away from your work history and towards your skills, a functional format may be a good option. It’s the ideal choice if you’ve had continuous employment in your industry over time and therefore want to focus largely on that work history. It lists your work experience beginning with your most recent job at the top and details your accomplishments in each role. You can also learn how to write a perfect cover letter from scratch and check out some cover letter examples, in our How to Write Cover Letter guide.As noted above, this is the most popular and all-around best format for most job applicants. We can help you write a personalized cover letter you can easily edit with specific details in our Cover Letter Builder. It allows you to establish a personal connection to the role, i.e., if a current employee referred you to the job.It allows you to share your passion for your profession.You can provide context and details on how you achieved specific goals and accomplishments.You can share additional skills and qualifications you couldn’t fit into the resume.Pairing your resume with a cover letter is a great way to boost your chances of getting hired.įor example, 47% of employers said they wouldn’t hire a candidate who didn’t know about the company they were applying to.Ī cover letter is the perfect place to show you’ve researched a company and how you would fit into it.Ī cover letter can help you advance your career prospects in many ways: Simplifies the resume-writing process by being easy to customize.Īll of our resume templates meet these requirements, so check them out in our resume templates library.Has a healthy balance of text and white space it shouldn’t look cramped.
Offers clean, visually appealing designs this applies to both simple and creative templates.Includes all the five essential resume sections: contact information, summary, work experience, skills and education.If you want to pick the right resume template for you, ensure it meets the following criteria: However, not all resume templates out there are created by professionals. You can also download our resume templates in Google Docs or Microsoft Word. You can use a resume template on our Resume Builder and get personalized content for all your sections, effectively reducing the time and effort it takes to write a resume. How do I use resume templates? And how do I pick the right resume template?Ī resume template simplifies the writing process by providing a pre-formatted document where all you have do is type in your information.