You should always send your resume as a Microsoft Word file UNLESS a company's career site says they accept PDFs.Įven if you send your resume to a hiring manager, recruiter or referrer directly, it's going to end up in their applicant tracking system. However, the issue with PDFs is that they don't work well with all applicant tracking systems (ATS). Yes, PDFs are superior in maintaining consistent formatting when sending your resume. So don't get carried away with those margins, OK? It’s as simple as not setting margins wider than the default/standard ones.
If you have set narrow margins on your document which are outside the printable area for the printer the recipients print driver is for, your document may have those margins automatically adjusted. To be clear, again, the resume doesn't need to be printed and the computer doesn't need to be attached to a network or printer for this to impact your resume format.
These drivers basically translate file contents so that they can be printed on whatever printer the driver is for (or for a "default" if none is set). The reason is this: we all have print drivers on our computers. However, the mere existence of printers can impact your resume formatting in Word, even if your resume is never printed. That very well may be the case we don't print resumes when we work on them here at Resume Insider. I'm going to talk about printers, but don't skim past this thinking that nobody is going to print your resume. UPDATE: you can accomplish the same thing by saving your resume in a. So use this information to evaluate the impact based on the version of Word you use, the format the document is saved in, and the implications of compatibility mode. What you want to ensure is that your document formatting stays intact, regardless of what version of Word the person opening it is running. As you read this, keep in mind that the loss of features won't be an issue, because the recipient of your resume isn't a collaborator they aren't making changes. Here is information on compatibility mode. This can happen automatically, or manually in the "save as" dialog and it can have negative effects on your resume formatting in Word.
If you are using an older version of Microsoft Word (2010 or earlier), you are probably sending your documents in compatibility mode. Better yet, don't use the set styles in your resume at all.Īdapt for different versions of Microsoft Word. Annoying.įor the sake of your own well-being and state of mind when you can't figure out what the hell is going on with your resume, turn this feature off now. That's probably because your document was originally set up using custom text styles and default styles were automatically applied when it was re-opened.
So think about saving your document and then opening it later to find that it looks different. The reason they are problematic for your resume format is that the “default” styles and the ones set in your template might be different and Word will automatically adjust them. I kind of hate these styles with a burning passion, but that's for another time. You can use these pre-set types to set formatting for any of the content on your page. In the home tab, you will see style settings. Doesn't it sometimes feel like some features in Word are Easter eggs? Watch your style settings.Īnother issue can be document styles. You want the first font listed in each respective stack. Not a great look for your resume formatting in Word.
But if your fancy resume comes through looking like a menu for a hot dog stand, it's not really doing you any good.
That font may take up a different amount of space, even if it's the same point-size.Īside from that, recruiters don't want to look at your fancy fonts. When you aren't using a universal font, the recipients computer will substitute another font they have installed.
Standard, universal fonts are those that come pre-installed on PC and Mac machines.