Winning Resume Format for a Job Interview
Learn what to do differently if your resume will appear during your job interview.
It is already a difficult challenge to format a resume correctly, but if you know yours will come up in your job interview, it adds another tricky twist to formatting. The format of your resume is incredibly important to making a good impression. Many employers will not even bother to read this document if it is clear at a glance that it is not formatted correctly.
However, if you know what you are doing, you do not need to worry about this. The standard and expected resume format is simple to understand and easy to implement. Take a look at this guide to understand the appropriate resume format for a job interview.
Resume Format for a Job Interview
George Smith
Columbia, South Carolina 11111
P: 555-555-5555 E: gsmith1@anymail.com
Columbia, South Carolina 11111
P: 555-555-5555 E: gsmith1@anymail.com
Professional Summary
Dedicated and talented professional with nearly 10 years of working experience in the sales, management, and administrative fields. Prioritize communication abilities, including written and oral, to interact with customers, encourage better performance from employees, and facilitate administrative improvements. A candidate with extensive leadership knowledge and abilities as well as analytical capabilities.
Core Qualifications
• Management and leadership skills
• Analysis, evaluation, and critical thinking
• Written and oral communication, both interpersonal and professional
• Negotiation techniques
• Strong attention to small details
• Excellent research abilities
• Proficient with standard sales technology
Working Experience
Sales Manager – October 2015 to present
Atlantic Sales, Columbia, South Carolina
• Oversee all sales activity, making adjustments where necessary to improve sales
• Interact with sales representatives, ensuring employees meet corporate expectations at all times
• Compile sales information into accessible reports that include all information from the sales team
• Present sales reports at quarterly executive board meetings, making recommendations for improvement
• Complete market research to develop new strategies and techniques and to understand new relevant technology
• Implement new corporate policies and methods, ensuring employees fully understand changes
• Create and lead training sessions to establish expectations for sales representatives
• Improve sales numbers department-wide by 15% over 2 years
Account Manager – May 2013 to October 2015
Atlantic Sales, Columbia, South Carolina
• Managed multiple sales accounts simultaneously
• Oversaw all interaction with assigned sales accounts, ensuring sales representatives correctly followed corporate policies
• Resolved conflicts with customers, employing negotiation techniques to relieve disagreements
• Interacted with clients, encouraging lifelong relationships
• Worked with sales representatives to improve performances and sales numbers
• Reduced customer conflicts by 10% for my accounts
Sales Representative – June 2009 to May 2013
Johnson Sales, Columbia, South Carolina
• Interacted with clients, closing sales and making efforts to improve sales numbers as much as possible
• Provided information to customers, explaining product information and making recommendations for purchases
• Resolved conflicts with customers without involving management whenever possible
• Positioned in the top 10% of sales representatives for 4 years
Education
Master of Science in Business Administration
University of Columbia – 2015
Bachelor of Science in Communication
University of Columbia – 2013
Is This a Good Resume Format for a Job Interview? Let’s Check
1. Does this resume include the right sections?
It does. When writing a resume, it is always important to include the standard sections, but if your resume will appear in your job interview, this is even more important. Not only does this help you in keeping your own writing straight, but an employer needs to see that you have represented each of the standard sections at a glance.
The sections that every resume should include are a summary, skills section, experience section, and education section. You can optionally include a section detailing achievements or awards.
2. Does this resume look good at a glance?
It sure does, and this is vital in having the right resume format for a job interview. During an interview, the employer will likely not be reading your resume carefully but instead be glancing at or skimming it. This means it needs to look good just as much as it needs to read well.
To accomplish this, your resume should avoid having large blocks of unbroken text. This is intimidating and can hurt your chances. Additionally, there should be no big gaps of empty space. This tends to make it look like you are less qualified or struggled to think of your strong aspects.
3. How is the formatting of the experience section?
It is strong. The experience section is the most important part of your resume, so its formatting should be perfect. Notice that each bullet point begins with a powerful action verb and only relevant positions appear. Your positions should be in reverse order, with current positions being first and in present tense, and older positions following in past tense.
4. Are real metrics included in this resume?
They are. Using real numbers in your resume not only makes it more credible, but it gives employers a better understanding of what kind of employee you would be if they hired you. You will most likely be explaining these metrics to your interviewer yourself, so know where they are in your resume and prepare yourself to back them up with explanations or stories.
5. Is this resume well-organized?
It absolutely is. Of course a disorganized resume looks bad, but it also makes it hard for you to use it to explain your points. With each section neatly laid out, it is easy to point to specific information during the interview.
The Most Important Resume Format for a Job Interview Takeaways
When considering the appropriate resume format for a job interview, the primary thing to remember is that visuals are even more critical than they normally are. Also, while the content of your resume is important, it will likely be you who explains the concepts on your resume to an employer in a job interview, so you should have a strong understanding of everything you include in your document.
Do not forget to employ the standard resume format as well. If you follow these strategies and implement each writing technique discussed, your resume should be a great tool when you are in a job interview.
