Design for quick reading
A resume may be scanned before it is read closely. That is a strong reason to use clear headings, predictable sections, ordinary fonts, and enough white space to separate ideas. The reader should be able to find experience, skills, education, and contact details without solving a layout puzzle.
Start with the information that best supports the role. For most experienced candidates, that is recent work experience; for others, skills or education may need more prominence.
Avoid decoration that hides the content
Columns, charts, images, and elaborate templates can make a page look distinctive, but they can also make the content harder to read or parse. A restrained document lets the relevant words do the differentiating.
If you work in a creative field, your portfolio is often the better place to show visual range. Keep the resume itself legible enough that no one has to guess where the information lives.
Choose consistency over cleverness
Use the same date style, capitalization, spacing, and bullet treatment throughout. List entries within a section in reverse chronological order when that helps the reader understand the progression of your experience.
Export and review the PDF before sending it. Small formatting shifts can turn a clean document into a distracted one.
Sources consulted
This guide is an original synthesis of the following career guidance. Read the source material for its full context.