Your resume is an important link in the recruitment chain. It is not only a selection tool for shortlisting applicants but also acts as a base document for your future employers. Recruiters find it easier to deal with a standardized format of submitting candidate data. Copies of your resume will be shared with multiple managers throughout the hiring process or sent as attachments over email. In physical sharing of copies, one page works better for hiring managers than stapling or holding multiple pages at once. For e-mail attachments, readers prefer to absorb the information from the very first page rather than scrolling down. Simply put, a one-page resume increases your chances of passing through the first step.

long first draft

For your first draft, write down everything to make one long master document. Once you’ve listed all of your achievements and experiences in detail, change from broad to relevant. Cut or compress sections that are not relevant Work You are applying for. All additional information may be part of your LinkedIn profile that the recruiter will refer to.

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make the most of the space

You have limited space in a one-page resume, so keep it crisp and readable. Have a minimum page margin of 0.5″, a minimum font size of 11 and a common font such as Georgia or Arial. Include your email and contact with your name in the header. An appropriate line spacing and bullet points that cover at least half of each line cover, give you a balance between content and white spaces.Save your resume as a PDF with your name as the file name to ensure standardization and searchability.

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rule of thirds

Print a copy of your one-page resume. Remove the top one third and check if it is enough to shortlist you. On average, a recruiter spends only six seconds per resume for initial screening or short-listing. This means that the top one-third of your one-page resume is all that the recruiter will read and absorb. Continue to rework your resume until you are satisfied with the impact in that limited space.

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cream on top

We are trained to read from top to bottom and expect a title and the most important material at the beginning. Similarly, your resume should follow the “cream on top” rule. Your professional experience should come before the academic section. Your recent experience is more important than the old ones. When you put your achievements in bullet points within a role, the reader will overestimate the bullet points you put above and ignore the bullet points below.

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left is right

As we read from left to right, the human brain overestimates the beginning of a line or sentence and ignores/guesses what comes after. So frame your bullet points in the format – “action-action”, “achievement”, “context”. Also, at the beginning of bullet points, avoid using words that the recruiter may not be aware of.

story in numbers

Your bullet points must contain metrics to make the desired impact. Using numbers helps you focus on highlighting achievements and gives the recruiter a useful metric to differentiate you from the rest. Finally, numbers without context are meaningless and a recruiter needs a benchmark to relate to. “Topper in a class of 54 students” is better than a simple “class topper”.

(Author A livelihood Coach, mentor and author of Yoursortinghat.com)