Sandra Allison - Resume Services

Reach Higher

Resume Inspirations, Tips & Best Practices

All documents must be error-free! Mistakes convey a lack of attention to detail. Check, double check, and check again for mistakes and typos, poor grammar and spelling,  inconsistent formatting, tense and subject switches, run-on sentences, commas. 

  • Use branding consistency across your documents: color, font, header, justification.
  • Choose one justification (left, right, justified) and stick with it. 
  • White space is important! It tells the scanning eye where a new section begins and ends. 
  • Keep margins within .5 to 1.0.
  • Use sans serif fonts (Arial, Verdana, Calibri.)
  • Keep font to 10.5 if possible (10 min, 11 max). All font sizes are not created equal.
  • This sentence is in Calibri 11. (Sans Serif – no feet.)
  • This sentence is in Times New Roman 11. (Serif – has feet.) See how much smaller it looks.
  • Line spacing is single or up to 1.25.
  • Watch capitalization, italics, and bolding consistency. Avoid underlining for emphasis; it can be misconstrued as a quick link.
  • Do not use an all-bulleted format. If everything is important, nothing will stand out. When adding bullets, use standard ones. 
  • Color is acceptable.
  • High contrast between the background and the letters makes reading easy (best is black and white.)
  • Visual hierarchy arranges elements in the order of importance and leads the reader’s eye through the page. The most dominant color helps the recruiter see what they should read first. Secondary colors, or accents, help organize content on the page.
  • Conservative Industries (law, finance, government) prefer B&W. Tech, marketing, media like color. Blue is traditionally executive. Warm neutrals such as caramel and jade green are trending for 2026. Red is associated with negativity. Orange and dark brown are the world’s most disliked colors.
  • For a more polished look, use country code (+1 in the US ) and dots, not dashes, to separate phone number.
  • Do not include your street address.
  • Use all caps sparingly (Your name, goal, section dividers, Company name, Titles, Organizations.)
  • Avoid repeating words (Lead, supported, performed…) 
  • Check for widows (a single line of text consisting of one or more words that run the text to the next page or column)and orphans (a single word that sits at the bottom of a paragraph.)
  • All acronyms must be spelled out the first time they are used.
  • Invest in a current, professional headshot for your bio and LinkedIn profile.

Sandra Allison, SA Resume Services, LLC

Updated October 2025

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