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Is it bad to use a template for a resume? The first step of the hiring process is to impress the HR team, recruiter, or hiring manager through your resume. Content and demonstrating your skills are the absolute essential factors. Formatting and aesthetics of your resume are a completely secondary factor.
It is crucial to showcase your talent if you want to increase your hiring chances. But question most will ask is if a resume template can actually communicate the most important factors to an employer while making it easier on the job applicant. And the answer is a resounding yes. So no, it is not bad to use a good, high-quality template for a resume. Let's look at some of the driving reasons why you should use a resume template.
Is it good or bad to use a template for a resume?
When your resume reflects your experience, knowledge, education, and skills, it increases your hiring chances. Some people avoid templates because they think the document looks like too many others. This is getting caught up on a secondary factor. Getting hired as a software developer has nothing to do with how pretty your resume looks.
Conversely, not all resume templates are the best, you can find bundles or templates that use white space between headings and sections with poor instructions that make your resume difficult to read. I was very frustrated with a lot of the resume template options that exist so I decided to make my own that make your skills shine, have clear instructions, and that flow and read well to provide a professional aesthetic. I offer a bundle of resume templates with different formats to keep your resume relevant, simple, and professional. If you are interested, you can purchase that affordable bundle here.
But I do want to example a few reasons why you should considering using a good, high-quality template for your resume:
Save Time and Effort
Using a template for a resume can save you a lot of time. It is often a time-consuming and daunting task to design and builds a professional resume from the ground up if you have not built a resume before or if you are completely starting over with your resume. Most job-seekers do not know how to create a professional resume that fit will within Applicant Tracking Systems to get their resume moved to the top of the pile. Even if you know the process, you may not achieve a satisfactory final product that downplays your amazing skills and experience.
I get it, crafting a resume from scratch is a time-consuming process. I have done it so many times I don't even know how many I've done. And then compound that preparation time when you apply for multiple positions and you have now exponentially increased the time you have spent on each job application. When you use a template for a resume, you can submit numerous resumes in a single day while simultaneously tailoring them to each job where you are applying. On the other hand, crafting a resume from the ground up will hardly allow you to submit one resume in a single day.
Organization and Clarity
If your resume lacks organization and clarity, or if it is too difficult to read or follow, the recruiting manager will not even glance at it. A resume template already has an established, proven flow because it allows you to provide transparency because the organization of information is already done for you. You don’t need to think about the design and filling space.
All you need to do is focus on the most important thing: Your bullet points. This is literally the most important part of your resume. It is so important, I wrote an entire guide to show you how to craft bullet points to demonstrate your accomplishments. So a good resume template simply allows you to just edit the information. Not only does a template helps you focus on the essential details, but it also ensures you do not get caught up wasting your time on setting margins or formatting images. The goal of a good, high quality resume template is to help you craft a resume that looks like it was not created from a template to begin with.
And do not be intimidated: You do not need any specific skills to create a resume using a template. Again, a good, high quality resume template offer ease and convenience. You should be able to easily edit the information or fill out new info. The purpose is to design a resume that best suits your needs and ultimately helps in your journey to get hired.
Increased Hiring Chances
Using a template for a resume can be an essential tool for your job search. It offers an organized space to showcase your relevant experience and skills. When you use a high-quality template, it will help a potential employer make effective and informed hiring decisions.
Use a template for a resume to structure and organize the information according to your needs. Not only can a template-based resume make a great first impression, but it will also showcase your experience, skills, and education in an organized manner.
If you don’t want to use a resume template, you can design it yourself. Go for it. However, it will take time and effort, leading to reduced job search productivity. Additionally, creating the resume yourself will prevent you from focusing on other important tasks such as doin research on the right jobs where you should apply. If you don't like my templates, that's totally fine. Don't use them. But if you use a different resume template just make sure you use a high quality one that meets the above criteria.
Conclusion
Each employer or company has different expectations and demands. When you organize the information on your resume accordingly, you can actually increase your chances of getting hired. So instead of focusing on designing a resume yourself, you can really save yourself some time and focus on making the process as efficient as possible.
Some Of My Favorite Tools
Thank you again for reading my article. Writing this blog takes a lot of time, attention, and effort so I take care in using a very standard set of tools to deliver my blog to you. Maybe you will find these helpful if you have any similar interests along your career path.
Web Hosting: To get started with a website I recommend SiteGround. Their prices are great and they have free backups for my specific plan. (Here is a very good write up about utilizing their hosting platform that explains a lot of the benefits and walks you through the very easy sign up process.)
Outsourcing: I use Fiverr for many different tasks. My life is pretty busy and I try to use my time wisely. I utilize outsourcing services like Fiverr whenever possible to have people do various tasks that I'm just not good at – like graphic design. If interested, here is the person I specifically use to do graphical design for many of my images.
Online Privacy: I work hard and strive to keep confidential business details private. Therefore, I always want to keep my work viewable only by the correct people. One of the ways I protect myself online is by using a VPN and more specifically I personally use NordVPN. I use NordVPN specifically because it's fast, I can use it on any of my devices, and I can chose from any specific location. If you are looking to retain your privacy online, I highly recommend NordVPN to both my friends and family.
