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- The Resume Writer's Handbook
Table of Contents
Introduction
You’ve probably heard at least one or two people say that the resume is on its way out. Well, I can tell you that this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
I am a former recruiter and as of writing this guide, have spent 14 years in the field of talent acquisition. I can tell you confidently that for the time being, resumes aren’t going anywhere and having a well-written resume is still your best bet at landing the job you love.
In this guide, I’m going to break down all of the components of a solid resume. By the end of the guide, you’ll be ready to create your own head-turning resume – you can even come back and refer to various sections as needed!
Your Resume Has Only One Goal - Can You Guess What It Is?
Have you ever asked yourself what the purpose of your resume is? It’s simple, your resume is there to help land you interviews – that’s it!
Every component of your resume, whether a summary, job, or skill, needs to contribute, and not detract from this fact. So, whenever you’re contemplating adding a certain experience, ask yourself: “How will this addition convince recruiters that I’m the person for the job?”.
To answer this question, you’ll need to carefully consider some important pieces of information, such as:
What types of roles are you looking for?
What industry are you seeking?
What kind of companies are you targeting?
This information will influence how your resume should be structured and which information should be emphasized.
The fact of the matter is that you have a limited amount of space to play with and so some information will necessarily take precedence over others.
On top of that, recruiters often have little time to read through every facet of your resume, so your goal shouldn’t be to make it a comprehensive repository of every job, task, or skill you’ve ever had – rather, think of it more like a marketing document that presents only the information that the recruiter will want to know and see.
The way you structure and write your resume, and the information you include, will impact how successful you are.
Generally, information is broken down into the sections; below is an example of some of the sections you’d typically see on a resume. Which ones you include will depend on your experience level, industry, and target role to name a few.
Sections
Name and Contact Information
Career Summary
Core Competencies
Selected Achievements
Qualifications & Certifications
Experience
Education
Volunteer Experience
Interests
Technical Skills
Personal Information
Each of the above sections will be detailed further below. I’ll also detail how to best format your resume and what to know about ATS near the end.
Name and Contact Information
Both your name and contact information should go at the top of your resume. As a recruiter, there is nothing more frustrating than reading a good resume but not being able to get in touch with the candidate.
DO THIS ✅ | NOT THAT ❌ |
|---|---|
Include your name, email address, telephone number, and if you have one, a LinkedIn handle. If you do include your LinkedIn, make sure your profile is polished and up to date. | Don’t list a middle name (it can sometimes confuse applicant tracking systems). Don’t include a credential, unless you’re a doctor, lawyer, or PhD. Don’t use an unprofessional email address. Try to limit the email to your first and last name only. Don't include your full address. It takes up too much space and it’s highly unlikely they’re going to be posting you mail. | |
Your Professional Brand
Your personal brand is how you promote yourself. It is the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want the world to see you. It is the telling of your story, and how it reflects your conduct, behavior, spoken and unspoken words, and attitudes.
As you prepare to write your resume, consider the following questions:
What do I want to be known for?
How do I want to position myself?
What differentiates me from the competition?
The answers to these questions will form the foundation of your personal brand and you can incorporate this into your resume to help set you apart from the competition and illustrate that you’re a great match for the position.
Below are some examples of how to incorporate personal branding into your resume:
Below your contact information and branding statement, you’ll place a short career summary – this is your sales pitch. Don’t worry, I’m going to show you how to write a stellar sales pitch, every time!
DO THIS ✅ | NOT THAT ❌ |
|---|---|
Use this section to bring attention to your top qualifications. | Don't write generic statements that could appear to be about anybody. Instead, Don't write an essay. This section should be a summary of your resume and is best kept within 60 - 100 words. Don’t use an Objective Statement, which makes it about what you want, rather than showcasing what you can bring to the employer. |
The Purpose of Your Professional Summary
In elementary school, I remember being given assignments consisting of reading a book and then summarizing it in a book report. I’m sure many people can relate to this and have probably done it at one point or another. While the goal was to teach kids reading comprehension and writing, the summary itself was supposed to recap the book’s contents in a genuinely helpful way.
If you step into a library and pick up any book, on the back, you’ll also see a summary of the book’s contents, written in a manner designed to pull you in.
In both examples, the summary is a short recap of a much larger piece designed to engage the reader by providing the most interesting tidbits of information.
Your professional summary is very similar. You’ve probably heard of the elevator pitch idea (you have 15 seconds to pique the recruiter’s interest). That is still very much the case!
A strong summary recaps your career and outlines your top qualifications. It should be tailored to the role or roles you’re targeting. If you were applying to a position as a car salesperson, you wouldn’t try to convince the hiring manager that you’re a great fit by highlighting your prior experience as a fast-food attendant. Relevance matters.
Essentially, the question your summary should answer is “Who are you and why should I hire you?”
A good summary should be:
Concise: Generally, best kept at three to four bullets, or three lines in a paragraph.
Factual: It should contain data-driven statements on your experience, strengths, or qualifications rather than opinion-based statements. Avoid using flowering language like detail-oriented, problem-solving, or other terms like this that have become so overused that they no longer mean anything at all. Instead, use facts and hard data. See the example below:
“Project Manager with a proven record of leading projects, teams and operations. I am always looking to continuously refine business process, keep up with industry trends, and be an early adopter of new technologies. I am a passionate learner and have keen interest to continue my life-long endeavor to develop myself by completing my MBA in the mid-term future.”
OR
“Project manager and Project Management Professional (PMP) with 11 years of experience managing multimillion-dollar mechanical infrastructure projects in the renewable energy industry.”
Which one do you think provides more useful information? Number two of course! It’s to-the-point and avoids personal opinion statements.
Positioning Your Summary
Your summary should always be located near the top of your resume, underneath your name and contact information. Placing it in this section of your resume will allow it to be quickly seen and read, giving recruiters a glimpse into what the rest of your resume will be like.
Should you include a section heading like ‘Career Summary’? You can, or you can provide a headline that matches your chosen position. Some examples that you can replace the section heading with include Executive Leader, Senior Director of IT, or Marketing Project Manager.
How Long Should Your Summary Be?
A good summary should be between 60 - 120 words. The more experienced you are, the longer your summary can be. Senior executives can go a bit beyond (up to 150 words).
How to Write an Engaging Profile?
Using a combination of present and past verb tenses will allow you to create an engaging profile and will allow you to narrate your story by telling the prospective employer who you are (present) and what you’ve achieved (past).
#1 THE PRESENT
Start off your summary in the present by telling the employer who you are and what you do. In the example I used earlier:
“Project manager and Project Management Professional (PMP) with 11 years of experience managing multimillion-dollar mechanical infrastructure projects.”
#2 THE PAST
Using the past tense is a great way of showcasing past accomplishments. Continuing from the example above:
“Project manager and Project Management Professional (PMP) with 11 years of experience managing multimillion-dollar mechanical infrastructure projects.
Successfully completed three plant maintenance projects in 2022 with an estimated value of $15MM.”
To create a solid list of accomplishments to draw from, consider the following questions:
What goals or targets did you achieve?
What improvements did you make?
Did you win any awards or recognition?
What do you do that made you proud?
Did you save the company time or money?
Before you add anything to this section though, remember to ensure it’s based in fact and not your opinion. As mentioned earlier, the qualifications/accomplishments you include will depend on the job you’re interested in and should be highly tailored to the role. Aim for one to three qualifications/accomplishments in your summary.
Testimonials
This a relatively new trend in resume writing and certain isn’t accepted by recruiters in all industries as it can rub off the wrong way. It should generally be reserved for professionals that are in the senior to executive levels of their career.
When you think about it though, it does make sense. After all, you don’t buy anything online without reading a few reviews, and LinkedIn recommendations quickly come to mind when it comes to leaving “professional” reviews.
Below is an example of how to place a testimonial into a professional summary section. LinkedIn is a great place to source your testimonials and if you don’t have any yet, the best way to get them is just to ask with full transparency! It also helps to give some in return!
Core Competencies
Including a ‘Core Competencies’ or ‘Key Skills’ section is a great way of showing off your domain expertise and matching up keywords with the job posting you’re targeting.
DO THIS ✅ | NOT THAT ❌ |
|---|---|
Include industry specific skills that show off your expertise in your field. | Don’t use generic phrases like ‘team-player', 'hardworking', and 'attention to detail’, which provide zero value. |
Example Key Skills Sections:
Qualifications
If you have a qualification or certification that is necessary for you to get the job, you’ll want to make sure you highlight it somewhere in your summary. For example, if you’re a nurse applying to roles that require an RN license (which you have), ensure Registered Nurse (RN) is featured prominently somewhere in your summary.
Experience
This will likely be one of the longest sections of your resume and is where you showcase the employers you were involved with, experiences you’ve had, and professional projects you’ve completed.
DO THIS ✅ | NOT THAT ❌ |
|---|---|
Use bullets to maximize skim value. | List most relevant responsibilities/bullets on top. | Don't list generic statements. Each bullet should be specific to you and the role, ideally with quantifiable metrics or data to back it up. At the very least, each bullet should provide context (i.e., if you led teams, how many? If you managed projects, what kind and how big?). Context is very important and differentiates between a run-of-the-mill copy paste resume and something unique to you. Avoid repeating bullets over and over. Try to make each bullet unique, covering a different aspect of the role, such as a unique project or accomplishment. Avoid exceeding 8 bullets per role. |
Using the C.A.R Technique
A useful way to write your bullet points is by using the C.A.R technique. This acronym stands for:
Challenge: What challenges did you face in your current or past roles?
Action: What action/s did you take?
Result: What was the result of your actions?
Considering these three elements when writing the bullet points for your experience section will help you to focus on including specific examples, instead of generic job responsibilities.
Where possible, front load the bullet point by starting with the result and then explaining how you achieved it.
Descriptive Paragraphs
You can make a better enable your readers to understand and appreciate the roles and accomplishments you outline in your bullets by providing a short introductory paragraph that gives the reader a quick overview of your role in a broad sense.
Where bullets dive into specific features or aspects of the role, the introductory paragraph should summarize the entire role in one or two sentences.
Action Verbs
Using action verbs helps to make your accomplishments and responsibilities more specific and tangible, which can make your resume more effective at demonstrating your qualifications for a job.
Action verbs also help to make your resume more active and dynamic, which can make it more engaging for a hiring manager to read. Additionally, action verbs can help to emphasize your key skills and achievements, making them more likely to be noticed by a hiring manager.
Below are 20 action verbs (with definitions) that will add some oomph to your new resume.
Achieved - To bring about a successful outcome through effort or action.
Acquired - To gain possession or control of something.
Adapted - To make something suitable for a new use or purpose.
Administered - To manage or oversee the implementation of something.
Analyzed - To study or examine something in detail in order to understand it.
Assessed - To evaluate or measure something.
Built - To construct something.
Coordinated - To bring different elements together in a harmonious or efficient way.
Created - To bring something into existence.
Developed - To make something grow or progress.
Directed - To guide or lead the progress or development of something.
Executed - To carry out a plan or task.
Facilitated - To make something easier or more likely to happen.
Implemented - To put something into effect.
Improved - To make something better.
Increased - To make something greater in amount or degree.
Led - To guide or direct the actions of a group of people.
Managed - To be in charge of or responsible for something.
Maximized - To make something as great as possible.
Streamlined - To make something more efficient or effective.
Example of Experience Sections
Below is an example of an experience section for an executive level professional in the energy industry.
You’ll notice that the section begins with the usual company name and title followed by a scope statement (as discussed above) and six bullets highlighting major responsibilities and/or accomplishments.
Notice that current responsibilities are written in the present tense, while accomplishments that occurred and concluded at definite points in the past are written in the past tense.
Education
This section is going to differ from one person to the next depending on where they are in their career, their background, and their career goals.
Generally, I tell folks to list ‘Education’ at the top if it’s a degree or program that is directly related to their target role/field or if they just recently graduated within the last year.
For those that don’t fall into these categories, don’t have a post-secondary degree, or only completed part of a degree, it’s generally best to list the ‘Education’ section below experience.
DO THIS ✅ | NOT THAT ❌ |
|---|---|
Include the name of the institution where you attained your degree, the year you attained it, and the name of the program. | Don’t include high school degrees or lesser degrees once you’ve obtained higher ones. As an example, if you’re a Ph.D., you would not include your bachelor’s degree. Don’t include a GPA if: (1) it’s less than 3.5/4 and (2) if it’s been over two years since you graduated. |
Volunteering
Including a ‘Volunteer’ section is a good way of adding personality to your resume and giving recruiters a glimpse into your personal life. However, keep in mind that in most cases, this section will take a backseat to the others I’ve already presented above, and it may even need to be removed if spacing is an issue.
Volunteer experience can be useful if it’s directly related to your target career. For example, if you’re looking for roles with non-profit organizations, including volunteer work with similar organizations is a great way of standing out from the crowd.
When writing out this section, use the ‘less is more’ approach. That means limiting the number of volunteer positions you include to five and limiting the space devoted to each to between one or two lines.
The more experience you have, the more acceptable it is to include more positions. For example, if you’re a college graduate just starting out in the world, having one or two positions would be acceptable. On the other hand, if you’re a senior executive with over 30 years of experience, listing five volunteer positions is perfectly acceptable. I don’t recommend listing more than five because you’re then taking valuable space away from more important sections like the Summary, Experience, and Core Competencies.
Interests
Whenever I’m writing a resume, I ask myself a simple question to know whether the information I’m adding is worthwhile. That question is:
“Is what I’m about to include going to provide value to my resume and my candidacy?”
This is especially pertinent when it comes to including an ‘Interests’ section, the goal of which is to provide some personality, create a conversation starter, and hopefully provide something that the recruiter can relate to.
However, when deciding what to include, it’s important to ask yourself the question above. Is what you’re adding going to help your candidacy? If the answer is a ‘no’ to a ‘maybe’, then you’re probably better off omitting it altogether. If, however, you have some interests that directly tie into your target role, you could include them.
DO THIS ✅ | NOT THAT ❌ |
|---|---|
Include interests that raise no risk of being misconstrued or misinterpreted by the recruiter. If there’s a chance that an interest could reflect poorly on you, don’t include it. | Don’t include generic terms like ‘reading’. If you like to read, that’s great, but make it interesting by telling the recruiter what it is you enjoy reading (i.e., reading self-help books). |
Technical Skills
A ‘Technical Skills’ section is very important for professionals that are in…you guessed it, technical fields. Examples include most engineering fields, information technology (IT), or cybersecurity.
For this section, you want to include the tools and technologies that you’re proficient in and that are required for the job you’re targeting.
Not sure if you should include a particular skill? Read some job postings for the types of positions you’re interested in to see if it’s advertised as a requirement.
In this section, you can also include any language skills you may have (i.e., English, Spanish, Mandarin). If you’re not sure on whether or not to include you second or third language, consider whether it’s advertised as a ‘nice-to-have’ in the job posting, or if it’ll help you perform better at your target job. If the answer is ‘yes’, include it. If it’s ‘no’, you may still include it, but can remove it if you run into spacing limitations.
Examples of Technical Skills Sections:
Personal Information
In North America, including personal information other than your name, location, and contact information is not required.
If you’re applying for a role abroad, especially in parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, you may need to include certain personal information:
Nationality
Date of Birth
Visa Status
Marital Status
Avoid including Religion, Ethnicity or Passport details unless they have been requested. Include your driver's licence can be mentioned if it's relevant to the role.
If you’re not sure, check the resume writing best practices and requirements of the country you’re applying to.
References
Including references or ‘References available upon request’ is an obsolete practice that’s no longer required. If an employer is interested in you, they will ask you for references during the initial screen.
Formatting
The way you layout information in your resume is critical because it impacts readability. The style and layout should enhance the content of your resume and make it easier to see, not hinder it.
Accordingly, you don’t want to use messy layouts that have too much going on. You may think that you’re standing out from the crowd, but what you’re actually doing is making it more difficult to read.
Your goal should always be to make your resume as easy to read as possible.
There are a lot of really fancy, dual (or even triple) column layouts floating all around the web. While they may look really cool, they will more than likely hurt your chances of success because of how incompatible they are with applicant tracking systems (ATS – more on that later).
I generally recommend using a simple, single-column layout that’s been prepared in programs like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages, or LibreOffice. Avoid using LaTeX resumes because they too tend to cause trouble with ATS.
Below, I’m going to go into more detail on the various aspects of your resume’s formatting.
Resume Length
This is a very controversial topic in the world of resume writing. You’ve probably heard people tell you to “keep it to one page no matter what if you have less than X amount of experience”.
The rationale behind using a one-page resume is that your entire story can be viewed in one glance. However, the problem arises when you have a lot of valuable experience and accomplishments that you’re sure would benefit your candidacy. What do you do then?
My advice would be to use one to two pages, no matter your experience level, depending upon your needs. If you have five years of experience but have accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments that requires two pages, by all means use two.
On the other hand, maybe you’re a tradesperson that has been with the same company for 17 years, doing the same type of work. Using one page is totally fine in this case.
A few exceptions to watch for:
If you’re in academia, you’ll be using an academic CV, which can be anywhere from 3 to 15 pages long.
If you’re in IT, cybersecurity, or software engineering, two to three pages is considered standard.
If you’re a senior executive with an extensive work history, three pages is totally acceptable.
Fonts
The key with choosing any font is that it should be clean and easy to read.
The Same statement written in multiple fonts or colours can dramatically change how that statement is perceived by the reader.
The fonts below are my go-to when writing a resume. They’re well recognized, professional, and provide a little bit of variety.
Font Size
For body text, keep size to between 10 and 11. Too small and readability suffers, while too big will impact space and efficiency.
Heading Fonts
The text you use in your headings and for your name at the top don’t need to be the same font or size. For example:
The difference in font and size plays an important role and that is to help the reader distinguish the various sections and content in each.
Bold, Italic, and Capitalized Text
Bold, italics, all caps and small caps can all be used in moderation to draw attention to information on your resume.
Dividing Lines
Dividing lines are another useful tool to compartmentalize the various sections and provide a clear distinction between where one section ends, and another begins. To add a bottom border divider in Microsoft Word, see below:
Shading
I like to use shading in section headings to help that stand out. You can also use shading to distinguish other content in your resume, such as a testimonial. However, like bold, italics, and caps, this should be used sparingly. See below:
Alignment
I like to fully justify the body text of the resumes I write because I find it gives it a cleaner and more symmetrical look on both sides.
I like to fully justify the body text of the resumes I write because I find it gives it a cleaner and more symmetrical look on both sides.
To justify text, highlight all text then click here:
To set right alignment for text, first click here until the right alignment icon is selected.
Then drag the right alignment arrow across the ruler to the desired position.
Note: you will first need to go to ‘view’ and ensure the ‘ruler’ option is ticked.Note: You will first need to go to ‘view’ and ensure the ‘ruler’ option is ticked.
This is particularly useful for ensuring your dates are aligned to the right of your resume. To align information to the right, simply tab before the text you want to right align.
Margins
In the past, the resume’s margin, which is the space between the edge of the text and the edge of the document, needed to be a certain size (around 1 inch or around 2.5 cm) on the sides and the top/bottom. This is simply to make sure all of the stuff on a resume came out during printing.
In the past, the resume’s margin, which is the space between the edge of the text and the edge of the document, needed to be a certain size (around 1 inch or around 2.5 cm) on the sides and the top/bottom. This is simply to make sure all of the stuff on a resume came out during printing.
Nowadays, few recruiters actually print a resume and because of this, you can use a smaller margin for a more modern look. You also get the added bonus of being able to fit more text into the document.
To change margins in Microsoft Word, go to the ‘Layout’ tab and click on ‘Margins’ in the top left corner. I typically like to use margin of 1.5 cm or 0.6 inches for the sides and 2 cm or 0.8 inches on the top.
To change margins in Microsoft Word, go to the ‘Layout’ tab and click on ‘Margins’ in the top left corner. I typically like to use margin of 1.5 cm or 0.6 inches for the sides and 2 cm or 0.8 inches on the top.
Photos
As with personal information, photos are not typically included on a resume in North America. However, if you are applying in other countries around the world, including a photo may be standard practice.
To ensure you’re following the rules of the region you’re applying in, run a quick Google search or contact a recruiter in the area.
To ensure you’re following the rules of the region you’re applying in, run a quick Google search or contact a recruiter in the area.
Graphic Resumes
Graphic resumes have become more common over the last little while and a lot of websites have popped up offering an easy way to build your own graphic resume. You can also use tools like Canva or Adobe to create one.
I typically don’t recommend these types of resumes for anyone that will be applying mainly online, such as through job portals like Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, or through company websites that require you to upload your resume and/or fill out an application. This is simply because graphic resumes aren’t compatible with many ATS systems and oftentimes, the data in this type of resume will either be misread or skipped entirely.
You may use a graphic resume if:
You’re in a creative field like graphic design.
You’re sending your resume to a recruiter directly through email and want to be a bit more creative/unique.
I typically don’t recommend these types of resumes for anyone that will be applying mainly online, such as through job portals like Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, or through company websites that require you to upload your resume and/or fill out an application. This is simply because graphic resumes aren’t compatible with many ATS systems and oftentimes, the data in this type of resume will either be misread or skipped entirely.
You may use a graphic resume if:
You’re in a creative field like graphic design.
You’re sending your resume to a recruiter directly through email and want to be a bit more creative/unique.
Below is an example of a common template you can fine online (or create yourself).
Advantages of a graphic resume | Disadvantages of a graphic resume |
|---|---|
Produces an eye-catching design which might help you stand out. | These resumes are not compatible with ATS. If you’re applying online, use a traditional format. |
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
You’ve seen me mention ATS a few times throughout this guide. ATS refers to the automated applicant tracking systems that are used by employers to collect, store, organize, and search applicant information.
ATS doesn’t refer to any one system. Rather, there are many ‘makes and models’ by a number of different software vendors. Some common ATS include iCIMS, SAP Success Factors, Wordday, and SmartRecruiter.
You’ve seen me mention ATS a few times throughout this guide. ATS refers to the automated applicant tracking systems that are used by employers to collect, store, organize, and search applicant information.
ATS doesn’t refer to any one system. Rather, there are many ‘makes and models’ by a number of different software vendors. Some common ATS include iCIMS, SAP Success Factors, Workday, and Smart Recruiter.
Each one of these systems works using slightly different rules and algorithms, and this is made even more complex by the fact that companies can customize these systems to their needs. If you apply to two different companies that both use iCIMS, you may not get the same results because each company will have programmed different keywords and search criteria.
There’s also a common myth that ATS will “reject” your resume in certain cases, such as if you don’t meet the minimum qualifications or if you use certain formatting elements. This is not true. ATS will accept every resume it receives and the recruiter has the option to review every resume. However, an ATS may group resumes into certain categories based on the recruiter’s criteria. For example, if the job advertises that a degree in civil engineering is required, all resumes that don’t include that may be grouped into a separate category. The purpose of this is simply to make the recruiter’s job easier.
An ATS will allow the recruiter to conduct a search based on their specified criteria and resumes that contain more of the search terms that the recruiter is looking for will rank higher. This works in a very similar fashion to Google search.
DO THIS ✅ | NOT THAT ❌ |
|---|---|
Use commonly used section headers like ‘Work Experience’, ‘Summary’, or ‘Skills’. ATS are programmed to recognize these terms and will categorize the content in them as such. If you change the name of your sections, you risk the ATS mis-categorizing your data. | Don’t submit double-column resumes (like the one displayed a few pages back). Because ATS are programmed to read like a person does, from top to bottom and left to right, double-column resumes may be misread. Don’t submit double-column resumes (like the one displayed a few pages back). Because ATS are programmed to read like a person does, from top to bottom and left to right, double-column resumes may be misread. Don’t stuff your resume with hidden keywords. This is disingenuous and recruiters can see right through it. Don’t place text in text boxes, headers, or footers. Many ATS cannot read text within these parts of the document. |
If you want to know what your resume could look like in an ATS, copy and paste it into either Windows Notepad or Apple TextEdit.
One other thing to note is that ultimately, a human recruiter will be making the call on whether or not to call you. Don’t lose focus of that by writing your resume solely for the ATS.
An ATS will allow the recruiter to conduct a search based on their specified criteria and resumes that contain more of the search terms that the recruiter is looking for will rank higher. This works in a very similar fashion to Google search.
Submitting Your Resume
There are two primary methods of submitting applications:
Online Job Portals
If you’re applying through an online job portal such as through a company’s website, the first thing to do is check whether the employer has requested that you upload your resume in a particular format (i.e., PDF or Word).
If it’s not specified, it’s best to use Word (doc or docx) because most ATS systems are able to recognize these formats a bit better.
Email Applications
When you send your resume to an email address, you should send it as either a Microsoft Word document or a PDF after considering the following factors:
PDF is best when...
You want to preserve the formatting. It can look nicer when a resume is sent as a PDF, and you can be sure nothing will move around. This can be a great option when emailing a hiring manager.
Microsoft Word is best when...
You are emailing an agency recruiter as they may need to make small changes to your resume before sending it to their client. In fact, recruiters will often request Microsoft Word resumes on their job adverts for this reason.
You are emailing someone from HR at a large company. It is easier to search for keywords in a Word document and so your resume will stand a greater chance of being found this way.
Review and Proofreading
You’ve just completed your resume and are itching to send it out. Before you do that, I recommend sitting on it for a day or two and reviewing it afterwards. I find that when I return to my resumes after a rest period, I can better see mistakes I’ve made.
Items to check for include grammar, spelling, formatting, sentence structure. Ensure sure your content makes sense and is easy to follow. If you’re not sure, I recommend asking a friend or colleague to review it for you. Oftentimes, a fresh pair of eyes can spot mistakes that we can’t see ourselves.