How To Make A Line For Resume In Word

Use Autoformat To Insert A Line In Word

You can quickly insert a line into a Word document with the AutoFormat feature. To create a line, place the cursor in the location that youd like to insert it, type the three characters for the desired line style, then press Enter.

To create the different types of lines, press the associated keys on the keyboard:

• Plain single line: Three hyphens
• Triple line with a thick center: Three number signs

Heres what each of these line types looks like in Word:

Email Marketing Resume Template

Red color never fails to stick out on a sheet of paper, especially if it’s included in small amounts. The resume template for email marketers, below, captures that balance.

In addition to the professional title in the top-righthand corner, this template also stands out with a thin sans-serif font, helping make a lot of text easier for a recruiter to digest and read through.

Download this template here.

What Dates Should Be Included In A Resume

Before we move on to how to align dates on a resume, it is worth determining which dates should be specified in your document. As you now know, dates can dramatically improve the presentation of your qualifications. And here are the places on your resume where you should include them:

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Write Away Right Away

Ok! So the resume is done! Can I send it?

Hang on! Formally speaking, you should never send a resume without a cover letter. Your resume is your personal brochure, but your cover letter is your introduction it states who you are and what you want. Like the resume, it should be tailored to the specific application you are writing, and the two documents should work hand-in-hand. Check the next article for a walkthrough on cover letters.

Also, dont forget to check the article on application emails to fine-tune the actual message you use when you send your resume to that dream company!

Want the template document developed throughout this article? Check at the end of the page.

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Start Editing Your Timeline With Our Smart Timeline Editor

Most of our templates are created with the simple drag-and-drop editor that lets you design in minutes, even if you have no design skills.

Were also rolling out new smart templates with the smart editor which makes it easy for you to add new nodes/branches to your timeline.

You can add, edit, delete or drag nodes, texts, icons around in one click, and the node will automatically adjust to whatever content you add to it as well.

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Summarize Your Work Experience

Your work experience section is the core of your resume, as it proves that you have the qualifications and skills to do the job. It will also take up the bulk of your resume.

To start, click on the section of your Microsoft Word document labeled Experience:

Then, list your work experience in reverse chronological order, meaning that your most recent job title is placed at the top of the experience section. Remember to only include experience that is relevant to the job that youre applying for.

For each job you list, provide the following basic information:

• Job title
• Company address
• Dates of employment

You should also write 3-5 bullet points describing your duties and achievements under each job title. Remember to use strong action verbs to show off your skills and accomplishments.

If your work experience is too thin to create a reverse-chronological resume, use a different format. For instance, you can emphasize your relevant skills with a functional resume or combination resume.

Heres an example that you can follow to write your own work experience section:

How To Use Resume Lines

When you apply for a job, it’s important to submit a resume that effectively highlights your qualifications and has a clean format. Adding resume lines can help you organize the various sections of your resume in a way that gets the recruiter to keep reading. Knowing how to do this improves your chances of your resume getting noticed by recruiters. In this article, we explain whether you should include resume lines, list the steps for adding resume lines and provide you with a resume template and example that feature resume lines.

Related:How to Make a Resume

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Use Borders To Add Horizontal And Vertical Lines

The Borders option in the Paragraph group also gives you another way to insert a top or bottom border that resembles a horizontal line in the document.

1. Click on the paragraph of text where you want the line to appear.

2. Got to Home and the Paragraph group. Click on the Border button. The Bottom border is usually the default. This places a line below the text you have selected on the page or the paragraph if you havent selected any text.

3. For other options , you can click on the tiny dropdown arrow on the Borders button to access a list of options.

4. To change the look of any border, click on Borders and Shading. Use the dialog to adjust the style, color, and width of the border.

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Manual Timeline In Microsoft Word

As we said, creating a timeline manually in Microsoft Word by drawing a series of shapes and text blocks and then inserting icons will take considerably longer, but you will get a more custom and tweakable end result.

Heres the timeline template were going to create for Word :

COVID-19 refugee crisis timeline created in Microsoft Word

Step 1: Add title

Type and style the headline. In this case, we used one of the preset design themes in Word, but you dont have to do that.

Step 1: Add the title

Step 2: Draw timeline

Draw the center timeline by going to Insert and selecting one of the line shapes.

Step 2: Insert line shape

Step 3: Draw rectangle shapes

Populate the frame with your timeline entries. Go to Insert and add rectangle shapes. In this case, we chose to alternate above and below the line because thats what was in the original we were emulating. The biggest benefit of this is you can basically have twice the amount of content.

The default in Word is blue boxes with black borders, while text boxes default to white with black borders. So you need to change those under the Shape Format menu.

Step 3: Add shapes

The default in Word is blue boxes with black borders, while text boxes default to white with black borders. So you need to change those under the Shape Format menu.

Step 4: Add and style content

Insert text boxes, add the content, bold the date and part of the entry. Again, remember that youll need to change the default style of the text box.

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Avoid Photo Resume Templates

Shields has noticed template websites trending toward photo resumes, which are common in many countries around the world. However, U.S. job seekers should avoid including a headshot, Shields says, for the sake of both the ATS and the humans who might review your application.

On the tech side, an ATS wont be able to parse an image, so the best case is that itll simply get dropped when the system is creating your digital profile. But the more concerning scenario is one where the image causes formatting issues or parsing errors that could impact how a system reads the rest of your resume.

And aside from the ATS, weve heard firsthand from a lot of recruiters that wont even review applicants that submit a photo, Shields says. They just cant make themselves more vulnerable than they already are to any possible claims of discrimination. And you don’t want to open yourself up to actual discrimination, either.

The bottom line, Viviano says, is that unless youre a model or actor, your photo doesnt belong on your resume. In essence, youre taking up a lot of real estate on your resume that shouldnt have a part to play in who hires you.

Using Default Menu Option

The last option to insert divider on a Word document is using horizontal line menu option available under Paragraph group under Home tab. However, this option varies in Word 2016 onwards and earlier versions.

Word 2010 or Earlier

• If you want to insert a fancy divider, choose the menu option click on the Horizontal Line button. On the popup box, select the divider style you want to insert.

Word 2016 or Later

• If you use Word 2016 or later versions, click on the Border icon under Home tab Paragraph group.
• Choose Horizontal Line option to insert a grey color divider line.
• Double click on the divider to open the Format Horizontal Line pop-up.
• Choose the color, alignment, width and height for your divider.
• Unlike dividers inserted with shortcuts, you can move the horizontal lines by dragging.

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How Do I Insert A Vertical And Horizontal Line In Word

The following explains two ways to insert a vertical line in Word:

Draw the Vertical Line

1. From the document, select the Insert tab.

2. Select the Shapes icon, then select a line shape.

3. At the place you want your line to begin, click and hold down on your mouse button.

4. Drag your mouse to where the line should end, then release the mouse button.

Create Multiple Lines Using Tables

1. From the main menu, select Insert then Table

2. At Number of columns enter the number of vertical lines you need.

3. At Number of rows enter 1.

4. The table will be inserted.

5. Then from the Borders pull-down menu in Table Design, uncheck Outside Borders, leaving the inside vertical borders checked.

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How Do I Make My Resume Look Professional

How your resume should look so that you look good Use white space liberally. Create at least one-inch margins on your resume. Stick with two fonts at most. Use bolding and italics sparinglyand avoid underlining. Use bullet points to emphasize skills and accomplishments. Be consistent. Get a resume review.

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Use Automatic Margins Or Set Custom Ones

Set your pages margins to use all the space thats available to you. Your word processor should have the option to set your own margins, or you can leave what the program sets automatically. Generally, the top and bottom margins of the page should be no more than 0.5 inches. The side margins should be no less than 0.75 inches. This will ensure you have enough room to set your page for single-spaced or 1.5-point line spacing, keeping your text united and balanced.

Related:A Guide to Resume Margins

Make Sure Theres Enough Space

In some cases, a template looks really nice, but it doesnt actually give the space you need in order to properly give your previous experience the attention it deserves, Augustine says. Sure, you should be succinct, but you also want to have room to include your most important points without shrinking the font down to an illegible size.

At the same time, you want to pick a template thats clean and has some white space, says Viviano. You dont want to end up with a resume thats too jam packed with words.

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Give The File A Specific Name

Avoid submitting your resume with a generic file name such as resume.doc. If you upload your resume to a job search site or to an employers application software with this title, it will get lost in the other applicants. Rename your file so its easy to identify. Your full name or first initial followed by your last name is a good option. For example, MatthewValdez.doc.

And What Can I Do For You Today

Relevant to the company, that is. Telling the recruiter that the position is perfect for you is of limited use. You need to convince them that you are perfect for them. Relate every skill and experience to ways you can promote the company. Demonstrating your pro-active application of your abilities in this way will be far more persuasive than simply saying you are a hard worker or self-starter. Try always to show not tell by expressively phrasing your experiences rather than laundry-listing buzz words.

If you feel you gained dependability and multitasking competence from something like a serving job at a restaurant, dont write empty words. Give specifics and make connections between actions and values.

Server, Earlybird Diner Greeted, seated, served, and cashed out guests Maintained a full section of satisfied guests 6 days/week Built a positive rapport with guests, developing 4-5 regulars/week

First, you see above that the person took initiative for overseeing customer experience from start to finish , that they take some pride in competently handling a section at full capacity , and that they went beyond to address the human element of serving, actually gaining followers .

Likewise, if you had an office job, dont just jot down your duties, make them active responsibilities by briefly explaining your objectives. Compared to answered emails and recorded data, consider this:

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Change Your Line Spacing

If you need to fit more information into a section, consider adjusting your line spacing, which is the amount of space in between each line of text.

The easiest way to do this is to click the Line and Paragraph Spacing icon and choose Line Spacing Options:

You can then go to Spacing to change the size of the Before and After line breaks, and to Line Spacing to choose how much space there is between each line.

Insert A Horizontal Line From The Ribbon

If you find AutoCorrect annoying and disabled the option, there’s another quick way to add a horizontal line.

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the line.

2. Go to the Home tab and then click the dropdown arrow for the Borders option in the Paragraph group.

3. Select Horizontal Line from the menu.

4. To tweak the look of this horizontal line, double-click the line. The Format Horizontal Line dialog box enables you to modify the width, height, color, and alignment of the line.

5. To resize a line, select the line with a double click and then drag any of the resizing points to change the length or width.

6. To remove the line, select it and press Delete on your keyboard.

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Test How Itll Fare In An Ats

If you want to test how your new resume will hold up when it goes through an ATS, you can try one of two things:

How Not To Add Lines In Word

What you dont want to do when figuring out how to add lines in Word is to manually key in multiple underline symbols all the way across the page. Doing this is not only time consuming and prone to error, but is likely to come across as amateur, awkward, and unprofessional . . . which is definitely NOT how you want to portray yourself on your IT resume.

When you add horizontal lines the right way, potential employers will more likely regard your resume as a winning one worth a second look.

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Write A Convincing Introduction

Next, add a new section on your Microsoft Word template directly underneath your header for your resume introduction:

The best introduction for most job seekers is a resume summary. Thats because resume summaries can be modified for a wide variety of industries and experience-levels.

A good resume summary lists your main work-related achievements and skills in three sentences, and works as a sales pitch showing that youre the most qualified person for the job.

Heres an example of what a well-written summary looks like on a Microsoft Word resume: