Resume formatting guide
Bad formatting can get your resume rejected before anyone reads a word of it — by ATS software and by recruiters. This guide covers every formatting decision with specific numbers and clear reasoning.
Margins
Too cramped — looks like you're hiding content. Some ATS parsers also truncate text near the edge.
Sweet spot. Enough white space to be readable, tight enough to fit content.
Wastes too much space on the page, often forcing unnecessary page overflow.
Looks like padding. Recruiters notice and it signals poor judgment.
Font size
Should be the largest text on the page. Makes scanning the pile fast.
Slightly larger than body so the eye lands on them during a quick scan.
The readable minimum for most people. 10pt is standard for dense content.
Same as body or slightly smaller — these are secondary information.
Looks like you're hiding content. Flags the resume as suspicious.
Font choice
Safe choices
- Calibri (clean, modern)
- Georgia (elegant serif)
- Helvetica / Arial (crisp sans-serif)
- Garamond (traditional, readable)
- Lato / Source Sans (modern)
Avoid
- ✕Comic Sans (never)
- ✕Times New Roman (dated)
- ✕Papyrus, Curlz, Impact
- ✕Anything decorative or cursive
- ✕Multiple different fonts in one doc
Line spacing & whitespace
Tight enough to fit content, with enough air to be readable. Single spacing at 10pt is fine.
Visual separation between Work Experience and Education makes the structure obvious at a glance.
Bullets should feel like a list, not a wall of text.
A small gap before your contact info keeps the header from feeling cluttered.
Page length
Non-negotiable. Cut mercilessly if needed — drop old jobs, cut bullets to 2 per role.
One page is still ideal but two is acceptable if the content genuinely warrants it.
Even with deep experience, 2 pages is the ceiling for most industries. Academic CVs are different.
Single column vs. two columns
Single column ✓
- Parses correctly in every ATS
- Easy for recruiters to scan top-to-bottom
- Safe for any company size
- Works in PDF and Word export
Two columns ✗
- ✕Many ATS read left→right, garbling content
- ✕Tables used for columns often break parsing
- ✕Right column often skipped entirely
- ✕Only safe for companies you know don't use ATS
File format
Preserves formatting on any device, any OS, any screen. ATS systems handle modern PDFs correctly. Always your default choice.
Some companies and recruiters specifically request .docx. If the job posting asks for it, comply. Otherwise, PDF.
Permissions can be wrong, formatting can shift, and it signals you haven't thought about the submission.
Related guides
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