Here at Always Brave Creative, we are big fans of the online program Canva for resume design. It’s intuitive, easy to follow and templates can be customized to suit you and the career you are looking for.
Now that you have your new resume in hand, here are a few tips and tricks for updating or editing the document for future job applications:
Psst – we made a video if you’d like to watch, otherwise, written instructions are below.
EDITING TEXT BOXES
To edit the various text boxes in your document, simply hover over the text you want to edit, and then double click. This should open the text box, and bring your cursor into the text. You can type in or paste in new text, or delete content.
To add in a new text box all together, click into the text tab in the left sidebar. You can pick to add in a heading, subheading or body text. Once the text box appears on the document, you can then go into the menu bar at the top of the webpage and adjust your font or font size, and make any adjustments like bolding, italicizing, underlining or making all of your text capitalized.
For your document, the fonts you’ve already used should appear at the top of the font list, making it easier for you to match content quickly to your document’s current appearance!
Adding in Bullets
Looking to add in previous job accomplishments with a bulleted list?
Create a new text box. The text box will show up, with highlighted filler text. Now, go in to the top menu, and you will see the bullet option just to the right of the text options.
LOCKING & UNLOCKING ELEMENTS OF YOUR DOCUMENT
Canva also allows for you to lock items on your document, ensuring they stay in place while you edit other elements.
Simply click on the element you want to stay in place, and then go into the right corner of the top menu where the lock icon is and click on it. Once the lock icon looks closed instead of open, you’ve successfully locked your element in place.
Locking items into place can always be undone if you need it. Simply click your element again, and then click the lock icon again until it’s unlocked.
CHANGING COLOURS
Changing the colours of your document is also a simple options in Canva.
For text:
Once you’ve clicked into a text box, you’ll see the letter A with a colour scale beneath it, just beside the font dropdown box in the top menu — that’s your text colour wheel! Click that icon.
In the options that appear, you should see a colour palette under the heading “DOCUMENT COLORS”. These are all the colours currently being used in your document — a quick choice if you are just looking to choose a colour that’s already present.
If you’d like to change your colours, simply click the colour wheel icon at the top of the options under “NEW COLOR”. This will open up a colour scale where you can play around to find a colour that works for you.
For elements:
You can also change the colour of elements like shapes and patterns in your document. Click on the element in your document that you’d like to change, and a little square with it’s colour will appear in the left corner of the top menu — that’s your element colour wheel!
In the options that appear, you should see a colour palette under the header “DOCUMENT COLORS”. As above with text, these are the colours currently being used in your document.
If you’d like to change your colours, simply click the colour wheel icon at the top of the options under “NEW COLOR”. This will open up a colour scale where you can play around to find a colour that works for you.
DOWNLOADING YOUR DOCUMENT
Once you’re happy with your documents edits, you can download the new version of your document. At the very top of the webpage, you will see a “Share” button and then a “Download” icon right beside it, in the top, right corner. Click the download icon, and a menu will appear to let you decide what type of file you want to download.
We recommend PDF Print for your document, to get the highest quality version of your document. If the file ends up being too big for an application you are trying to send through an online portal, simply redownload a new version under the PDF Standard format.
FINAL TIPS
- Before you start editing your document, make a copy! This will ensure that, no matter what happens while you are making changes, you still have an original document to go back to if needed.
- For previous Resume Shop clients, remember that the Resume Shop team also has a saved copy of your resume as well, and are happy to provide you a second copy if you need it!
~ written by Lucy Fox
We hope this little bit of advice helps you in your job search and application. If you would like to receive more resume tips as they’re written, please sign up for the monthly newsletter, feel free to bounce around the site in the Resume Tips category, or click here to learn more about the service.
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