Does Resume Formatting Matter? In a word-Yes!

You are putting together your resume in the hopes that it will reflect the awesomeness that is you, your work experience and skill set. That's great!

Let's put the actual content aside and talk strictly about the nuts and bolts of formatting for a moment...

In today's job market if you are in a highly creative career field, the wildly unique is rightfully rewarded. If you are in a more standard line of business or job role, you will want to pull in the creativity just a bit. There is still room to be unique and catch the attention of Hiring Managers, but with the following best practices in mind.

It is good best practice to stay away from the following:

Text boxes with various icons and lots of changes in the fonts and colors.
Fonts that are difficult to read. Too many busy lines, cursive or being too small.
Graphics that over power the resume or distract. One simple line at the top to delineate your name if you must is sufficient.
Too many dots, dashes, roman numerals, and numbering. Bullet points are great for each listed position to highlight accomplishments.
There's no need to label your contact information such as typing out the words "email address". Simply type the email address itself. Applications like Microsoft Word will automatically format an email address if you hit the enter/return key at the end just like it did with this one: janedoe@yahoozi.com . Same with phone numbers. Format them in a standard way i.e. (999)555-1212 and it's clear.
It is good best practice to incorporate the following:

Include your name, address (city & state are sufficient) a contact phone number and email address. I have seen advice out there stating not to list your city and state. Please know that many national companies are looking to find candidates in geographic regions of the U.S. Listing your city and state will let them know where you are. Decide accordingly.
Choose a straightforward streamlined professional format with your contact information at the top. It’s a good idea to make the contact information a bit larger than the remaining resume content so it jumps out at your reader.
There is still plenty of room for individuality in choosing what font(s) you use, how you format the resume content and even how you lay out your contact information. Experiment with different looks and templates, being sure you stay in the guidelines of “clean, straightforward, and easy to read”
I realize some of this advice goes against the long standing “old school” accepted practice of resume design. There was a time when complicated formatting, with extensive and often “flowery” fonts were used. That was all before the introduction of current technology that now changes the way a resume is seen, evaluated and processed. Today, many HR Managers, Hiring Managers and Recruiters are using ATS (applicant tracking systems) so reducing the amount of formatting “fluff” will be greatly appreciated when they are viewing, and trying to upload your resume to their company’s data base.

Bear these things in mind when constructing your resume, and it will be the right reflection you are looking for.

Good Luck to You! Much Success in Your Endeavors!