How to Create a Simple and Effective Resume

Resumes can be the key to a successful job application, so put your best foot forward. But with a million templates and formatting options, it can be difficult to figure out where to start. Here we explore how to perfect a resume in a visual and content-driven way.

By Lora Korpar

A resume is often the first impression you make on a potential employer. No pressure.

This short document can be a make-or-break in the job search, so having a clean and impactful resume is crucial.

“Everything in a resume is strategic,” said Heidi Scott Giusto , a resume writer and career consultant. “It's a strategic marketing document, not an archive of information… I want to design it in a way where the reader’s eye goes where I want it to go while still keeping with conventions.”

But how do we make our resumes simple, yet effective??

I spoke with Giusto, plus resume writers and career coaches Evalye Alexander and Meg Applegate to discuss the essential components of a successful resume, from formatting to content.

Resume Formatting

Creating an eye-catching, yet uncomplicated resume will help you stand out in the job search. Though thousands of resume templates exist online, Alexander, Giusto and Applegate recommend creating one. This gives you the most freedom to personalize the resume.

“I am a firm believer in letting the content drive the design,” Giusto said. “It's more difficult to retrofit or retro engineer your work history into a preset template.”

But using a template is also OK if the thought of building one from scratch is overwhelming. Alexander and Applegate say to choose a simple template because ones created by graphic designers might look nice but do not cater to applicant tracking systems (ATS). According to Alexander, Microsoft Word and Jobscan provide ATS-friendly templates.

“Be picky about which template you're choosing if you're using one,” Applegate said. “You want to make sure that you're positioning your skills to where you want them to go.”

Essential resume components include contact information, professional summary, work experience, education and skills. Sections like languages, and research or volunteer work , can be included if they pertain to the job you want.

Be intentional about color, bold text and spacing. The resume should be easy on the eyes, so stick to a consistent color scheme and utilize bullet points to create digestible information.

“You can use basic features like an accent color, shading, bolding, italics really strategically to help the reader experience because we always must write from the reader’s perspective,” Giusto said. “Research shows [a recruiter will look at a resume for] about six to 10 seconds before they will move on to the next candidate.”

“Try to get rid of the columns and stick to bullet points that are easily readable,” Alexander added. “And make sure that the bullet points you write are very to-the-point and specific in nature. I am a big believer in targeting and showcasing the things that make you stand out.”

Less is more with resumes. Alexander said this means avoiding flashy graphics because ATS can’t read them.

“Edit ruthlessly, say less with more, and keep it simple, whether that's the format, the color or the language,” Applegate added.

Though succinctness is important, Applegate says resume length should depend on the job you are applying for. Someone with decades of experience might need more space to showcase themselves than an entry-level candidate.

“We don't have to include every single thing that you've ever done,” Applegate said. “We're curating that information. We want it to be truthful, we want it to be accurate, but we're sharing that in a way that matters to where you're going.”

Resume Content

The first section an ATS or hiring manager will read in a resume is the professional summary, so making it stand out is essential.?

Applegate recommends creating a headline in this section with your job title. People who are changing careers and have never worked in that position before can write “poised for” before adding their preferred profession.

“The headline is showing ‘this is what I'm after,’” Applegate said. “And underneath that I like to put two keywords or descriptors, pulling those keywords from the job ad but also describing your experience.”

Alexander recommends keeping the summary to two or three sentences. Giusto added summaries can be longer for someone with a lengthy career or in an executive leadership position. The summary is an elevator pitch of who you are and what you bring to the table.

“If there was something [about you] that has stood out over the course of your career, this would be a great time to mention it up at the top,” Alexander said. “This is also a great time to target the roles that you're applying for and to specify those key skills and key features that make you a fit for the target role.”

Applegate also recommends adding a few bullet points under the summary describing past career achievements.

“That is previewing a career, so you’re showing, not telling, your wins and how you’ve brought value to an employer,” Applegate said.

Continue elaborating on these wins in the work experience section. Describe your duties, and accomplishments from past roles, without copying and pasting the job description.

Alexander, Applegate and Giusto suggest keeping the description to a sentence or two to describe the scope of the role. Then put bullet points highlighting achievements underneath. These should include quantifiable results that helped your previous organization.?

“I see a lot of people who will have bullet points, but full of tasks with no results. I know that you filed this type of paperwork, but what was the result of you filing it?” Alexander said. “Did you speed up the process? Did you help to automate the process? I would suggest really thinking about the results that you've made, even if it's on a granular level.”

Tailoring the Resume to the Job You Want

Making the resume fit the job you are applying for is key to a successful job search. Giusto has a nine-step process she recommends to her clients:

1. Read the job description and mine it for information.
2. Tweak the profile.
3. Swap verbs in the resume with ones that appear in the job description.
4. Swap key terms with ones that appear in the job description.
5. Edit or reorder the skills section.
6. Move the most important items in your bullet point lists to the top.
7. Delete irrelevant information.
8. Edit bullet points to emphasize the skills you most want to highlight.
9. Proofread.

The first step is determining which skills are most important to emphasize based on the job description. Applegate recommends searching through job postings and making a spreadsheet with words that appear most often. Giusto suggests color-coding the most common words. Use these words as a guideline for which skills to emphasize on the resume.

Alexander also recommends using a free online resume scanner and inputting keywords from different job postings to ensure optimizing the resume for an ATS. Then use the “plug-and-play method” when you have isolated some keywords that aren’t in the resume.

“Start taking some of those keywords from a job description, making sure that it fits with what you've done and where you've been, then add them in for a quick and easy adjustment,” Alexander said.

By understanding which keywords to emphasize, you can begin to change the wording to align more with the company’s language.

“There are some times we may be talking about essentially the same thing, but using different language than what our reader will be using,” Giusto said.

For example, Giusto said some companies will use the word “teaching” while others prefer to say “training.” If you have one term in your resume and the other is in the job description, switch the language to appeal to the company.

The skills section of a resume is one of the easiest places to add keywords about the position you are looking for. Then rearrange the bullet points to highlight what is most relevant to the company and omit anything irrelevant.

Tweaking bullet points could also involve changing the skill you are emphasizing. An example Giusto gave is changing the sentence “Edited dozens of papers each week by relying on a strong understanding of grammar and attention to detail” to “Edited dozens of papers each week while working in a deadline-driven, fast-paced environment.”?

This changes the emphasis from grammar skills to deadline work. Once satisfied with the resume’s wording, proofread your changes to ensure it is error-free.

“I should say there's a giant asterisk with this advice – never misrepresent,” Giusto said. “So you tailor according to what is truthful about you and what you're excited to talk about in an interview.”?

Applegate added that the most important part of job searching is clarity about your career goals. Applying to tons of jobs with no prior thought will show companies you are not serious about their job opening.

“I get a lot of calls that say, ‘I need a resume,’ and I'm like, ‘Great, what kinds of jobs are you looking for?’ and one of the big red flags is hearing ‘I could do anything’ or ‘I'm targeting a lot of different areas,’” Applegate said. “I think that clarity piece is the pre-work before you can create a high-performing resume.”

Top Takeaways

Creating a simple and effective resume

• Resume formatting should be pleasing to the eye, but still simple in its color scheme and layout. Less is more.
• If you use a template, choose one that accounts for the applicant tracking systems (ATS) that read the resume before a human does.
• The professional summary should include a headline, two to three sentences of summary, and some bullet points acknowledging past accomplishments.
• The work experience section should focus on how your actions improved the company, not just the job description.
• Note frequent keywords in job descriptions and tweak the resume to include as many as possible. Change some wording to speak the target company’s language.