So you're an overachiever, huh? You juggle a full-time job, volunteer at the community center, and write short stories in your "spare time." With each opportunity, you build communication skills, learn to prioritize, and deepen your passions. But there's a problem: you can't find the space on your résumé.
Here are three tips on how to streamline your résumé, so that all your accomplishments fit to one page.
1. Keep your bullet points to one line.
There are two types of résumé writers: one who has painfully short bullet points because the description lacks detail and originality, and the other who strings together everything imaginable into a three-line bullet point. You must strike a balance between a concise description and sharing specific details that make the tasks you accomplished unique.
2. Change your font.
It's the oldest "millennial" trick in the book: when you're writing an essay and you're not quite at the minimum page requirement, you change the font and increase the size of your punctuation. Adjusting the font on your résumé can help restructure your CV and add space to include more of your accomplishments. Unless you're in a creative field, make sure that you choose a front that is professional and clean. A few of my favorites are Garamond, Times New Roman, and Arial Narrow.
3. Write separate résumés for each type of job.
No, this doesn't mean you have to start from scratch for each job. Draft a master résumé with all of your experience, which can be more than one page. Then, after fully understanding the job description for the position you're applying, cherry-pick past experience you would like to highlight that showcase skills applicable for your desired position. If you would like to take it one step further, highlight a couple key qualities the company uses to describe their ideal applicants, and use those same trigger words in your résumé as you prove why you're right for the job.
Sarah Sax is the Founder of Write For The Job.