The process of picking up and starting again is challenging for everyone. No one enjoys the process of trying to break into a new field. The effort of reaching out and asking people to spare some of their time so that you can try and wow them is something neither side enjoys. And that's if they even give you the time of day to talk with them.
There are tons of time and tricks on how to land your first job with little experience, but most of it isn't helpful if they don't even let you start. A great place to start is always with your resume. There are tons of templates and Word is great, but it can really only get you so far. It's limited in what you can do and hard to customize. If you want to up your game with ease Latex where you will want to go.
Latex is a simple to learn programming language with one purpose, to write documents. I know not everyone wants to learn a whole programming language just to write one flimsy resume, but don't let that stop you. There are tons of ready to use templates that you can choose from.
I know what you are thinking, ‘If you are just going to use a template anyway why not just use Word?’ This is simply because you can customize it with ease. Just copy and paste one section of the template that you want from one area into a different spot. This simple trick will allow you so much freedom when creating your resume.
Just to show you what a difference Latex can make here is a side by side comparison for almost the same resume:
The image on the left is the original word doc and the image on the right is in Latex. Almost everything about the right one comes directly from a template. While the left one isn't terrible it isn't great either. It's forgettable. While the one on the right looks professional, clean, and feels like something you would want to pick up and read.
I am not suggesting learn all of the intricacies of Latex but just that next time you need to apply for a job try Latex.
