Pick a clean, professional layout for a Pressman. Use reverse-chronological order so your press and binding experience shows first.
Keep your resume to one page if you have under 10-15 years of direct pressroom work. Use two pages only when you have long, relevant track records of machine maintenance or supervision.
Choose ATS-friendly fonts like Calibri, Arial, Georgia, or Garamond. Use 10-12pt for body text and 14-16pt for headings. That makes your headings clear and your duties readable.
Give generous white space around each section. Use consistent line spacing and margins. Simple formatting beats decorative layouts for both humans and ATS.
Use standard headings: Contact, Summary, Experience, Skills, Certifications, Education, and Tools. Put press models, ink systems, and safety certifications in Skills or Tools for quick scanning.
Avoid complex templates with many columns or images. Don’t use unusual fonts or heavy color blocks. Those elements can break ATS parsing and look messy on printed copies.
Watch these common mistakes: long paragraphs for each job, lack of measurable results, and mixed date formats. Also avoid inserting scanned certificates as images instead of listing them as text.
Keep bullet points short and active. Start each bullet with a strong verb like operated, maintained, reduced, or trained. Quantify impact where you can, for example run rate improvements or scrap reductions.