Best Resume / CV Format

How to identify the best Resume / CV format for you

Your Resume / CV must be easy to read.

Simple black font on white background - proven to be the easiest for humans to read.

No graphics - Proven to mark your CV down - it's the words that sell!

Photograph - Attaching a photo has a negative effect in general.

Therefore be very careful.

The content (personal details, career history, and education for example) needs to be grouped cleanly and logically.

The reader will decide in the first 20 seconds whether to discard or continuing reading your CV / Resume.

Therefore ensure your reader sees what THEY want to see when they FIRST look at your CV.

Your CV will need to be easily modified - to add experience as well tailoring for specific applications you may make.

A Curriculum Vitae are not a one size fits all document. It should always be tailored to the readers needs.

A simple professional CV format not only works for the reader, but will enable you easily convert your document should you need to upload it onto job boards (many want ASCII or plain text) or convert it to PDF or HTML for web posting.

Simple is best when it comes to CV Templates - it's the content that sells not the formatting.

Resume Formats

Functional Resume, Chronological Resume or Combination Resume

Next - decide on the type of layout that best promotes your strengths for your target role.

Chronological Resume Template - Traditional format, the one to use if you have good career continuity with no major gaps, and you are looking to continue your career in a similar field.

Functional Resume Template - Enables you to promote your skills above your experience. A good format if you have career breaks or if you are looking to move in a new career direction where you don't have experience.

Combination Resume Template - Enables a best of both type approach, where you tailor specific functional skills and experience for your target role as well as demonstrating your career continuity and progression.

Having already stated that simple works best I would suggest that you don't even need a pre-built template.

Type your content into your word-processor of choice, in the critical order previously discussed.

If you don't have a good word processor you can download Open Office from Sun, it's a complete suite of great office applications, no advertising or spyware, and completely up to date and free.

Download Open Office here.

Font style simple like Arial size 10 -12 for body content, headings two sizes bigger and bold.

Very basic, very clean; but it works.

You can add a bit to it if you like, but not much;

It's the words that count!