Use Word 2016 to Create Your Resume

Spring is a beautiful time of year. Longer days, warmer weather, and flowers blossoming. Even more exciting for many is the anticipation of receiving the long-awaited college degree, diploma, certificate, or one of the many other forms of recognition from hard work, dedication, and focus on higher education. With this accomplishment comes the prospect of a better job. And with the prospect of a better job comes the job search.

Job search requires a résumé–the document that summarizes everything about you in one little piece of paper. Since employers heavily rely on the résumé to determine interview candidates, it’s important to use a format that is up-to-date. Below I’ve summarized the process I used in creating a résumé for a soon-to-graduate college student. You can find more detailed information for the features discussed below in Microsoft Word 2016 In 90 Pages.

Document features:

• Standard 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper size
• Decide on a font that’s easy to read. For example, Calibri or Times New Roman.
• Click Layout > Columns > More Columns and set dialog box options similar to:
  
• Reduce margins slightly on all sides (you’ll have to experiment with what works without getting too narrow).
• Type Your Name into the header and center the text.
• Select all the header text (Your Name) and use the following steps to change the character spacing:
  1. On the Home tab, click the Font dialog box launcher.
  2. In the Font dialog box, click the  Advanced tab.
  3. Change the Spacing option to Expanded and then experiment with the By option to get the look you want. (I used 5 pt.)
• For the left column, you want a little space between lines. I changed the Spacing Before paragraph format to 6 pt.
• The Professional Profile paragraph should be brief and formatted as justified. If your statement is longer, you may want to include it as a centered paragraph under your name in the header.
• The remaining paragraphs in the left column have a right alignment.
• The section titles (Experience, Education, etc.) have a paragraph Shading format.
• The items under each job are a bulleted list. Each bullet point starts with an action word for good résumé style. I included several examples in the screenshot.

Good luck with your résumé!