Let’s start with the fact that the resume should indicate your advantages and distinguish you from other candidates. You must indicate the work experience and skills that are necessary for a particular position. Based on this information, a recruiter decides whether to invite you to a resume. To put it another way, your resume shows whether you are a suitable candidate.
Most people believe that you need to shove all your achievements and relevant experience into the resume. They think that the more advantages they indicate in the resume, the higher their chances of getting a job. However, in reality, more does not mean better. The page resume should be an excerpt from your experience and skills. It should highlight the strongest achievements, not everything.
The best way to impress a hiring manager is to send a one-page resume. This does not mean that you should remove the rest of the pages. On the contrary, your task is to highlight key information and make the resume more saturated. By shortening your resume to one page, you get these benefits:
However, you cannot take and shorten the resume to one page. Therefore, we compiled a step-by-step guide on creating a single page resume.
Usually, candidates choose 12 or 14 point font sizes, but that is not necessary. By reducing the font size by 2 points, you will fit 15% more information on one page. Most likely, the recruiter will consider a resume on a laptop. This means that the font size is not so important, because a person can increase the text. However, free space on page resume does not mean that you should put the first lines from the next page there.
Since school, we have been taught to make headlines more than the main text. Moreover, more often than not, we skip one line after the previous section and leave one more line before the next. Now imagine that you could use the occupied space to describe strong skills. If you still want to highlight the name of the sections, increase this by 1 point or change the font color.
Do not make your name larger than the rest of the text. You must place it in the section with personal information. You can also choose a different color for the name to make it more visible. However, making the name 2-3 points bigger, you not only take up space but also show a bad tone.
You have only one page to convince the manager of his toughness. This should encourage you to forget about limitations. Write concisely and accurately point out your strong suits. Start with extensive experience or extra skills that distinguish you from other candidates.
Do not be afraid to be too confident. Do not think that you are boasting or exaggerating. Instead, they consistently highlight your benefits. Choose 4-5 skills that are critical and write them down.
Most managers admit that they do not read further than the first page. Firstly, it takes too much time. Secondly, the first page is enough to evaluate the candidate. Therefore, adhere to the one-page structure is beneficial.
Consider decreasing spacing between lines. If you shorten the spacing on 1-2 millimeters, you can save space for a few more lines. In most cases, it is hard to notice that spacing became smaller.
Do not indent large before or after the text. Visually, this is almost imperceptible but steals space for additional text. Indent a few centimeters is ridiculous.
To use the space more efficiently, divide the page into sections. It does not take up space, but it optimizes your resume. Devote one section to education, work experience, hard and soft skills. This will help a recruiter to better remember your resume.
If you use a bulleted list or divide the page with lines, make those elements smaller. It directly influences the occupied space.
It is enough to mention work experience or participation in a volunteer project once. No matter how you are proud of some experience, do not repeat it. It is easy to notice if your resume is one-page.
Do not waste space on irrelevant data. Even if you have ten years of experience, but this does not apply to this work, do not specify it. You will have an opportunity to tell you about that during the job interview. Manage your page resume with intelligence.
A page resume is needed to assess how suitable you are for a particular job. Since the manager is not familiar with you, it doesn’t matter how many times you changed school or faculty at the university. Focus on facts that matter to the company and the job.
A quality photo takes at least 10% of the page. It makes no sense to add too small photo because your facial features cannot be recognized.
You can use the resume constructor to find a good structure and style. This way, you can fit more text. Also, ready-made templates help to break up a summary of non-sections and find the right sequence.
Make a bulleted list and fill each item with hard skills. Do not waste the space on your soft skills. Again, you can tell about it on the job interview. Moreover, the manager can browse through your LinkedIn profile to gather more information.
Devote one section to your professional achievements. It will be enough to highlight 3-4 awards that are relevant to the job requirements. We recommend indicating achievements next to the education section. Furthermore, you can place each item in parallel with the training period, if you received an award in this period.
We recommend restricting your email to your LinkedIn profile. This will be enough to be reached for further steps. Do not include a phone number or other social networks, as this can be found on LinkedIn.
Indicate the leadership programs in which you participated. Add experience organizing events or team management. This data will make a positive impression on the recruiter.
Consider how to place each section. Start with education, work experience, and hard skills, then indicate your achievements and leadership experience. By making a list, put items from the strongest. Sort your work or education experience from the most recent to the older ones.
Try to fit each item in one line. This not only saves space but also looks more attractive. Do not use a lot of adjectives or dashes. Focus on important facts and experience to remain impassive and reserved.