Lesson 4: The Final Polish
Duration of Days: 6
Lesson Objective
Students will apply consistent formatting (margins, fonts, and spacing) to their digital resumes to ensure they are scannable by both humans and computer software.
Why does white space matter on a page?
Can a computer read my resume if I use a fancy font?
Alignment
Sans-serif vs. Serif
White Space
PDF
ATS (Applicant Tracking System)
Margins
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.12.6
W.12.5
Description: Students take their rough drafts and move into the Technical Design phase. They will learn why simple fonts (Arial/Times New Roman) are preferred and how to save their work as a PDF so the formatting doesn't break when sent to an employer
Purpose: To ensure the student's hard work isn't discarded by an employer simply because it is difficult to read or looks messy
DOK Level: 2
Provide a Checklist for Success with visual icons (ex. a picture of a magnifying glass for checking spelling).
Use a Before and After visual aid showing a cluttered resume versus a clean, formatted one.
Allow students to use a Resume Builder tool if manual formatting in Google Docs is too high a fine-motor or cognitive barrier.
A formatting scavenger hunt where students must find and fix 10 errors on a messy sample resume (ex. mismatched fonts, missing bolding, uneven margins).