Formatting
Resume formatting mistakes that make your experience harder to read
Your resume does not need to win a design award. It does need to let someone find your experience without zooming in like a crime-scene investigator.
By LaunchHire · Updated · Free guide
Give the reader a predictable route
Use recognizable headings such as Experience, Education and Skills. Keep job title, employer and dates visually connected. A reviewer should not have to guess which date belongs to which job.
Use consistent spacing and a clear hierarchy. A restrained single-column layout is a practical starting point when you want a straightforward reading order. More complex designs deserve extra checking, not an automatic rejection.
Test the exported file, not just the editor
An attractive document in your editor can export badly. Open the final PDF and inspect every page. Look for clipped lines, isolated headings and bullets split in awkward places.
Select and copy the text into a plain text editor. Check that headings, dates and experience remain in a useful order. This is a basic readability test, not a guarantee that every applicant tracking system will parse the file identically.
- Text is selectable, not just a photograph of a page.
- Your name and contact details copy correctly.
- Section headings remain next to the relevant content.
- No essential information is clipped or hidden.
Before
EXPERIENCE / skills / 2023 / company / another date / contact details hidden in an image
Clearer
Experience → Job title, company and dates → Relevant bullets → Education → Skills
Illustrative reading order, not a mandatory template or an ATS certification.
Make room without making everything tiny
If the page feels crowded, shorten repetitive sentences before shrinking the type. Keep enough spacing for individual jobs and bullets to be distinguishable.
There is no single page count that suits every background. Include relevant evidence and remove repetition. Do not erase meaningful experience just to reach an arbitrary length, and do not add filler to make a short career look longer.
Choose the format for the destination
Follow the employer’s upload instructions. If they ask for a particular format, use it. For LaunchHire analysis, upload a readable PDF with selectable text rather than an image-only scan.
The LaunchHire optimizer creates a new PDF, not an exact visual copy of your original. Review its layout and information before use. Better targeting and visual preference are different questions, and it is reasonable to care about both.