Resume design: rules and examples

Each specialist must draw up a document that is mandatory for professional life and career growth - a resume. First of all, it will come in handy when applying for a job. When writing this document, the main focus should be on the meaning and content. However, the registration of the document is no less important.

What are the rules and requirements for writing and formatting a resume? What mistakes should young and inexperienced professionals avoid? In the article you will find answers to these questions. We will also present to your attention examples of document preparation for applying for a job.

To get a job, you need to correctly draw up and execute a resume. There are several features of the resume design, which we will consider in our article.

• Clear and understandable structure... You cannot write a resume in continuous text (such as an essay). This format is more suitable for a document such as a cover letter. As for the resume, it must contain strictly defined sections and columns: full name and contact information, education, work experience, professional skills and abilities, achievements, hobbies, personal qualities, recommendations, additional information.

Depending on the field of your activity, as well as the requirements of the employer, the number and content of the blocks may vary. One way or another, all information should be clearly structured so that it can be easily perceived.

• Business style. Currently, many companies and professionals are abandoning the classic resume and choosing more modern options for its design. This is not prohibited, and in some cases even encouraged.One way or another, but even if you show your creativity and creative possibilities, it is worth remembering that a resume is a business document, on the basis of which the employer evaluates you as a professional, so you should not use inappropriate pictures or symbols in its design.

• Uniformity. When writing a resume, you need to adhere to a single design style: the same font and indentation, alignment style, and so on. If you use too many elements, you create a resume that will not be perceived as a single neat document, but as a chaotic combination of facts about you and your professional life.

• Color combination... Traditionally, it is not customary to use colors other than black and white in a resume. However, you can deviate from this rule and show your artistic skills and abilities. But even so, you should make sure that all the shades you use are combined with each other. Otherwise, your creative will be perceived negatively. A good move is to use colors that match the shades of the photo you attach to your resume. This will create a consistent, individual style for your resume.

• The advantage of meaning over design... Despite the fact that the design of the resume can make your document stand out among the large number of resumes from other applicants, it is still important to remember that the semantic content of the document is more important. In this regard, one should not hide the lack of work experience or relevant education behind bright pictures and flowcharts.

When hiring a particular specialist, the employer pays special attention to the applicant's resume. That's why it is important to correctly compose it, not only from a semantic point of view. The document should also be beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, therefore, it is important to take care of its design. Today, HR specialists, as well as employers, divide all resumes submitted to them into 2 large categories. Let's consider each of them in more detail.

This is an option that has been used for quite some time and is suitable for almost any application. At its core, this type of resume is a strictly defined form, sections, blocks and columns of which the applicant has to fill out.

The most important rule of writing a classic resume is correctness and correctness (that is, the absence of grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors). The classic version of the resume consists of a photo and standard sections, which were mentioned above. This option does not allow the use of additional colors, as well as any graphic images.

Many employers will give preference not to the specialist who strictly and accurately fills in the columns of a classic resume, but to the person who sent a stylish and non-standard resume. Moreover, there are a huge number of options for drawing up such a document. For example, the so-called video resume is becoming more and more popular. They are especially relevant for the media professions, for those positions where your appearance, ability to behave, style, speech are important.

Often employers ask for video resumes of actresses, journalists, models, and so on. but even if you decide to choose a similar option, then a small printed document should also be attached to your video.

Even the applicant who has correctly drawn up a resume and beautifully designed it, will not get the desired position if he makes one or more mistakes.

• Grammar and Punctuation Errors... Before sending your resume to an employer, it is important to make sure that it is absolutely linguistically correct. In this sense, there should be no typos, misspelled words, or missing commas. All these shortcomings negatively affect the overall perception of the document.
• Large volume... Brevity is the sister of talent, and good should be in moderation. It is these principles that should be followed when writing a document for recruitment. Often, job seekers try to fit in the document as much information about themselves as possible (and this applies to both personal data and data on education and work experience). As a result, rather detailed documents on many sheets are obtained.

Remember that no matter how beautiful and stylish your resume is, if it is very large, then no one will read it. A standard resume should contain no more than two pages (or better - one).

• Inconsistency with the chosen area... Creativity and creativity are traits that are inherent in every person. Many of us try to manifest them in all areas of our life. However, this approach is not always correct and even more necessary. In this regard, when filling out a resume, it is worth starting from the specific area in which you are looking for a job. For example, it is inappropriate for a doctor, lawyer, or politician to use multi-colored emoticons or pictures when writing a resume.

But a document drawn up with excessive rigor will not play into the hands of an artist, designer or musician.

In order to efficiently compose your professional resume, as well as to correctly design it, you should be guided by the samples and templates of the resumes of experienced professionals. Let's look at a few examples.

• Master of manicure and pedicure. This example is not a classic one, but at the same time the document is designed in a strict and businesslike style. There are no bright colors and patterns. The applicant's photograph is professional.

• Event manager. This example is similar to the previous one, but contains some expressive elements. For example, you may see checkboxes that help structure your text. In addition, there are graphical elements of the diagram in the "Programs" block, which makes the perception of the document more convenient and comfortable.

• Legal assistant... This summary differs from the options discussed above in the presence of a bright and unusual color. Traditionally, it is generally accepted that only traditional resumes are allowed for employment in large companies, without the use of bright colors or symbols. However, you can see for yourself that today this rule does not correspond to reality.

• Account Manager... Dividing a resume into 2 parts using color is a profitable move when writing a resume. Thus, you correctly distribute and focus the employer's attention on the most important points. In this example, the name, contact information, as well as personal information and photos are located on the left side, while information that is directly related to professional activity takes up much more space on the right side of the resume.

• Designer. This example is the most classic in terms of design compared to all the options that were described above. You can make sure that the resume is well structured, so the information is fairly easy to visualize.