Resumes: Appearance and Formatting Suggestions

Appearance is the key to a good resume. If upon first glance, it appears wordy, cluttered, and hard to read, it will probably not be read. The following mechanics enhance readability:

• Avoid using a commercial resume template as they are difficult to edit.
• Do no use photos, logos, or monograms in your document.
• Resumes should ordinarily be limited to one page. If you must go to a second page to cover pertinent information, be sure that you can justify each entry and the second page is a full page of text. Include your full name and page number on the second page and always staple the pages to insure that they are not separated once they reach the employer. Do not print your resume on two sides of the same sheet of paper.
• Avoid a cluttered appearance by leaving equal right, left, top, and bottom margins.
• Use action verbs and phrases in the past tense instead of sentences.  For example, "drafted memoranda," "supervised staff of two," "organized mailings," "proofed text."
• Do not use personal pronouns on your resume (i.e., "I, me, my," etc.).
• Do not abbreviate.
• A certain amount of white space is good on a resume because it improves the overall appearance and readability of a resume.
• At a minimum, a resume should be printed on a letter-quality printer, with individual copies reproduced by a laser printer or a good quick print establishment.  Use good quality white, cream, or beige paper.
• Make sure you have no typographical errors or misspelled words.
• Use italics, boldface, and underlining for emphasis but don't overdo their usage.
• Use a standard professional font such as Calibri or Times New Roman.
• Try to use no smaller than 11 point type for text.
• Use appropriate section headings to separate information, such as:
• Education
• Experience
• Honors and Scholarships
• Legal Skills and Training
• Legal Training
• Licensure
• Memberships
• Military Service
• Publications
• Relevant Experience
• Work Experience
• Use bullets to separate job tasks and responsibilities.  When describing tasks and responsibilities, be as concise as possible keeping items parallel.  Use sentence fragments with no subjects. Describe your tasks and responsibilities with active verbs maintaining the correct tense: present tense for current jobs, past tense for prior jobs.  Examples:
• Assist
• Conduct
• Consult
• Counsel
• Create
• Develop
• Draft
• Establish
• Gather
• Help
• Instruct
• Investigate
• Manage
• Participate
• Research
• Review
• Supervise
• Synthesize
• Train
• When using active verbs, be sure to maintain the correct tense: present tense for current jobs, past tense for prior jobs.
• Select a layout that makes the resume easy to read and highlights important content.  Format should be internally consistent.
• Be sure that all information on your resume is correct and up to date, especially your phone number and email address
• Have the resume reviewed by the Office of Professional Development.