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Developing the MBA Resume
Resume Layout
Visual Appeal
Employers will only know about you what the resume
tells them. That puts a heavy burden on the resume to visually communicate
desired qualities. A neat, well-organized resume indicates a neat, well-organized
candidate. A resume that is free of typographical and grammatical errors
indicates a careful and competent person. A clear, concise resume indicates
a clear thinker. Be careful when using your software's spell check program-you
may misspell a word but the program accepts it as correct (e.g., "too"
instead of "two"). Be aware that any error can land your resume
in the wastebasket. Always have someone else read your resume before accepting
it as the final version.
General Guidelines for Maximum Visual Appeal:
• Use plenty of white space between sections of
your resume.
• Try to keep one-inch margins around the page.
• Use indention to set off achievement statements.
• Use a 12-point, easy to read font such as Times Roman. Smaller
font sizes may not be picked up in the scanning process. Sometimes it
is necessary to use smaller font so that all information fits on one page.
In this case, be sure go no smaller than 10 points.
• Italics and underlining may be used if necessary, but keep in mind
that their overuse can make your resume difficult to read. It may also
be difficult for scanners to pick up key words that are italicized or
underlined.
• Put your section headings in all caps and bold type. You may either
center or align section headings at the left margin. Whichever you choose,
be consistent throughout the document.
• Keep your resume to one page. Employers rarely have time to read
more than one page per candidate.
• Use only a letter quality printer for your resume. Ideally, it
should be laser printed on white or off-white, 25% cotton bond paper.
Use the same paper for the cover letter when mailing your resume to an
employer. Avoid using linen or parchment paper and colors other than white
or off-white. It may be tempting to use colors or special paper to make
your resume stand out from the crowd, but these can all interfere with
the reading and scanning process.
• Use a chronological format rather than a skills or functional format.
Functional formats lead the reader to suspect that you have something
to hide.
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