Two-column and designed resumes: what is safe and what to avoid

A designed resume is tempting. It looks distinctive, and when you have spent time on your career, it is natural to want the page to look as good as the work. Plain layouts can feel dull by comparison.

But a resume has two kinds of readers. People respond to design. Software only reads text. The best choice depends on where your resume is going and what kind of job you want. This guide helps you weigh the two without guessing.

What a designed layout can do for you

A well made layout can:

• Make a page look professional and memorable
• Give clear visual order to a lot of information
• Show care and taste, which matters in design, marketing, media and other visual fields
• Use a sidebar for contact details, skills and languages, leaving the main column for experience

Those are real benefits. If you are applying to a small team in a creative field and your resume will be read by a person, a considered layout may help.

What can go wrong

The risks come from how the file is built, not from how it looks.

Reading order. Software usually reads text in the order it sits in the file, which may not match the order your eye follows. In a two column layout, a program might read across the page, joining a line from the left column to a line from the right. Your job titles and your skills end up mixed together.

Text in the wrong places. Boxes, shapes, tables and text frames are sometimes skipped or read out of order. A skills chart drawn with bars may contain no readable text at all.

Missing information. If your contact details sit in a decorative header area or an image, some programs miss them.

Symbols and icons. Little pictures of a phone or an envelope can turn into odd characters or blank space.

Odd section names. A heading such as "My story" may not be recognized as work history.

None of this makes a designed resume wrong. It means the design should sit on top of clean, sensible text, not replace it.

Two columns: when they are fine

A two column layout can be safe if:

• The reading order in the file is correct, with the main column first and the sidebar after or before it in a way that still makes sense
• The sidebar holds supporting details, such as skills, languages and certifications, not the core of your work history
• Everything is real text, not an image
• The text still reads in a logical order when you paste it into a plain editor

If your work history sits in the narrow side column, or the order scrambles when you copy the text, choose a single column instead.

How to test any template

You do not need to guess. Run three checks.

1. Select and copy. Select the text in your exported file and paste it into a plain text editor. Read it from the top. Is your name first? Are the jobs, titles and dates still together? Do the sections appear in a sensible order?
2. Look for lost text. Is anything missing, such as a phone number, a link or a skill?
3. Run a free check. The ATS check shows how your file reads and points out problems.

If the pasted text is a mess, a program will probably see a mess too, whatever the page looks like on screen.

Match the layout to the job

Think about who will read it and how.

• Applying through a large company's online form: the system will extract your text and drop it into fields. Choose a clean, single column layout with standard headings.
• Applying to a small team or sending it by email to a person: a lightly designed layout is usually fine, as long as the text underneath is clean.
• Creative portfolios: keep a plain version for forms and a designed one for the person, or let your portfolio carry the visual work.

If you are not sure, take the safer option. A plain layout rarely loses a job, and a broken one sometimes does.

Ways to get a good look without the risk

• Use color in a thin line or in headings, not as large blocks behind text.
• Choose a clear typeface and size, then use space and weight to build order.
• Put your name large at the top, in the main body of the page.
• Keep the main content in one column, and use a narrow second area for short, supporting details.
• Use simple, round bullets.
• Keep photos, icons and charts out of the parts that carry key information.

A note on templates

Templates are starting points. A good one has already thought about reading order and spacing. But no template can guarantee that every system reads it perfectly, so always test your own file.

If a template includes elements you do not want, such as a photo, skill bars or a decorative header, remove them. A good layout still works when you take the ornaments away. Formatting basics covers the rest of the page.