As a First Mate, your resume needs to be clean, professional, and ATS-friendly. A reverse-chronological layout works best—list your most recent ship roles first. This format pairs well with a simple, one-page template for entry-level seekers or a two-page version if you’ve spent decades at sea.
Use fonts like Georgia or Arial (11pt body, 14pt headers). Avoid fancy graphics or columns—ATS struggles with these. Leave enough white space so the document isn’t cramped. For sections, stick to Work Experience, Skills, and Certifications (like STCW).
Common pitfalls? Overusing bold/italics, which muddles ATS. Also, avoid split columns—Reichert once rejected a resume because their system couldn’t parse the layout. Keep everything in a single column for smooth sailing.