By J.M. Auron, Expert IT Resume Writer—Providing Professional IT Resume Writing Services for More than 15 Years.
"You're finally getting to IT resume formatting, JM?No more endless discussions of verb tenses?"
Yes, I'm finally getting to formatting—and I hear the sighs of relief. I've waited to address formatting, because, too often, there's more emphasis on formatting than on the details of the IT resume. That's like being concerned about beautiful garnish without worrying about whether a meal is nutritious—or actually tastes good.
And, unfortunately, there are some who focus more on making IT resumes into works of art than into readable career documents that get calls back.
My Approach To Formatting IT Resumes
There are many philosophies on IT resume formatting—and I'm not going to say that my way is the only way. But I can say that my approach has helped my clients get interviews at Meta, Google, Microsoft, Siemens, Nvidia, and many other companies big and small. So my view on best resume formats—and the one that I use to help my clients—is an approach that has enabled Quantum Tech Resumes to become one of the best IT resume writing services in the US and globally.
So in this article I'll focus on what I use and what works for my clients—while presenting alternate opinions to a couple of approaches that I often see discussed.
Best Resume Formats: The Main Elements
As you've gathered, I work to keep formatting clear and simple to support the reader—both in the initial scan and then in the subsequent, deeper readings that are critical as the interview process progresses.
I believe that the best resume formats should give visual queues to what is most critical and what is supporting information—without hitting the reader over the head with anything too fancy—and without getting in the way of clarity or readability.
So here's the approach I take:
1) Contact information
I put this at the top of both pages and include name, phone, email, and LinkedIn. I rarely include addresses both for reasons of privacy and because—even with return to office—location is simply less important than it once was.
I generally put the name in bold caps and a larger font—I think it's important that the name be clear, and that it's reinforced so the reader will remember the name. I also box the name for the same reason. We want the hiring authority to remember your name, and not have to think, "That resume looked fantastic. What was the candidate's name?"
2) Headline / Branding Statement.
This is one or two lines, and in many ways replaces the now archaic objective statement.
I keep branding statements simple. Usually, I'll give the general domain, and then three consecutive titles:
"Technology Executive Leadership: CTO • VP • Senior Director"
There are times I'll get more complex, and include deeper information on the domain if needed. But again, I want this to be short, clear, and impactful.
HR isn't known for imagination. So I believe it's best to be absolutely clear on the goal you're working towards.
I generally use three titles because I think three looks well on the page (though I've been told that this another of mythical DEAD GIVEAWAYS OF AI!). The three titles are to show flexibility, but also different levels at different organizations—CTO in a smaller business, VP in a medium business, Director in a large enterprise.
If I'm working with a technical client, I'll more often give related titles:
"Infrastructure Architect • Cloud Systems Architect • Principal Engineer." There's a lot of overlap here, but I think it's a good idea to hit a few of the major titles for clarity.
I generally use a larger font for this for impact and underline—but less forcefully than name and contact information.
3) Professional Experience
I do include the section title; it wastes space, but it may make it easier for the ATS to parse the resume.
For each job my heading is usually in the form, "XYZ Corporation, Senior DevOps Engineer, 2021-Present." I rarely include location; it's not terribly relevant and can throw things to another line—and in a tightly formatted resume, every line matters.
I'll then put in a paragraph on duties and responsibilities, followed by paragraphs on major initiatives with bullets for key accomplishments. I'll use bold italics for the first sentence in each paragraph.
This approach accomplishes a number of things. It gives a clear distinction between duties, initiatives, and accomplishments—which is critical for readability. And the judicious use of bolding, italicizing, and bulleting makes the resume scannable on a first pass—while providing the depth and detail that a hiring manager looks for on a deeper read.
4) Education, Certifications, Technologies, and Miscellaneous
The final sections of your IT resume will vary based on your own experience. Education is critical; if you don't have a degree, "Studies in Computer Science at XYZ University..." can be an option.
Certifications can add value, but it's important to include them in a way that doesn't use too much space.
Technologies and tools are important if you're in a hands-on role, but again, make sure the formatting is clear and not a data dump. One simple way to do that is to organize the tools by tool or technology type:
Core Frontend Stack: JavaScript • TypeScript • React / Next.js
Testing & Quality: Jest / React Testing Library • Cypress • MSW (Mock Service Worker)
Backend Integration / API: Node.js / Express • Python • OpenAPI / Orval • OAuth 2.0 / JWT / Cookies • Stripe / PayPal • WebSockets
DevOps & CI/CD: Git / GitHub / GitLab
I rarely include volunteer experience or hobbies unless there's space, and unless they add very considerable value.
That's a broad overview. If you'd like to see these strategies in more detail, here are several IT resume examples.
A Couple of Debates About Best Resume Formats
Having discussed my own approach, I'd like to talk about a couple of different ideas on how to format your IT resume.
1) eye-Catching Resumes
One debate revolves around whether an IT resume should be "eye-catching" or whether the best resume formats keep things simple, as I do.
There are a number of very good resume writers who use complex formats—several colors, tables, charts, columns—and clearly these approaches can, I'm sure, work. These resumes do get interviews.
But here are the reasons that—based on my 16 years leading one of the best IT resume writing services globally—I don't focus on "visual appeal" when I write an IT resume.
1) I saw a lot of complex resumes back when I was a headhunter. I found them hard to read, hard to analyze, and hard to get a quick sense of the candidate's experience and accomplishments. Yes, the "eye-catching" quality stood out, there's no doubt about that, but fundamentally, the visually complex resumes were just harder to read. For me, that defeats the purpose. There's no benefit if the resume is scanned earlier because of visual appeal—but quickly put down because it's just too difficult to extract the relevant information.
That's why I believe that the best resume format is one that doesn't get in the way of the content.
Because no matter how good the resume looks, if it doesn't tell a compelling story, I think it's unlikely that it will get a call for an interview.
2) How Important is White Space?
This is something else that you'll see a lot in internet forums. "Adequate white space" is one of the must haves (so we're told) for any effective IT resume. The problem, though, is that "adequate" is never very clearly defined.
Don't get me wrong. White space is important; an IT resume in which everything just runs together is usually ugly as sin—and mighty difficult to read.
But it's a question of degree.
I believe that an IT resume has to have enough solid content to merit a call back. Because how ever many times you read that "RECRUITERS ONLY READ A RESUME FOR .00000000001 SECONDS!" (another myth I'll address in a future article), recruiters actually put a lot of time into a second, third, or fourth reading of a resume—when they're interested in a candidate.
So, personally, I think that solid, deep content outweighs a tighter format. And there are effective ways to keep an IT resume readable while still keeping the white space (relatively) tight.
Bottom line? Don't sacrifice important content for more white space. No one has ever gotten an interview for what's not on the IT resume.
3) Fonts
This is something else on which people have very strong opinions. Personally, I believe that if fonts are standard and readable, the choice isn't make or break.
That said, I usually avoid Arial and Times New Roman. They're fine fonts, but they're also used in a huge number of resumes. I usually use Cambria for headings and Calibri for the body of the IT resume. The two fonts work well together, are readable, and aren't as common as Arial.
Best Resume Formats: Final Thoughts
There is no one best resume format. There are different opinions, and different one IT resume may need a different approach than another.
That said, my own experience over 16 years as an IT resume writer has proven to me that a simple, clear, clean approach works—and is less potentially risky than other, more visually complex formats.
If you'd like to learn more about my approach to writing IT resumes