Like it or not, people hire people they like.  Being liked means you first have to get invited for an interview. What you put down on paper speaks volumes about you.  Are you clean and neat?  Do you care about details?  Are you straightforward?  Can you hold you own in a difficult conversation?  What really matters on a resume is whether or not you are able to clearly articulate your understanding of the required skills as noted in the job posting.  Paying attention to details has never been so important.

Wondering about the details and what might get you noticed . . . typos will certainly get you noticed for all the wrong reasons.  What about white space?  Do you have any?  Do you know what white space is?  For those who don't white space is the unused areas on your resume that allow an interviewer to make a note or flag a question.  Good use of white space includes having clean margins that leave a minimum of ½ inch and no more than 1.5 inch around the border.  ALWAYS sacrifice a little white space rather than having one or two sentences on the next page. 

Formatting is important too.  We could talk all day about formatting.  Use an easy to read and easily transferable font.  All the glitz and glam on a resume make for really bad copies.  Try not to use tables and a bunch of tabs - they don't always look the same when they bounce over to someone else's pc or applicant tracking system.

Let's close with consistency - consistency of language.  Utilize as much as possible active verbs in the past tense - meaning you accomplishED something.  Managed, led, oversaw, revisited, authored, arranged, coordinated, provided, divided, improved, achieved, decreased . . . you get the idea.  Consistency of language will demonstrate your writing skills, which will absolutely be tested at some point during the interview process.

Leanne King
President, SeeKing HR