My what a pretty resume you have…
Posted on March 31, 2008
Filed Under Gen X, Gen Y, Job Search
A good friend of Career Waymark sent the following link and asked what I thought. My first reaction was that I had somehow traveled back to 1988. Back to the days when candidates would try all sorts of ‘unique’ resume formats in the hopes of getting noticed. From different colored paper to crazy fonts to pictures to sending a shoe wrapped with a resume (to get your foot in the door…ugh) recruiters saw it all. Fast forward to the 21st century and it appears there’s a few diehards still out there. This site claims that using these techniques will make your resume ‘memorable’, but in my experience probably not in a good way.
With that said here’s my take of using graphics, pictures, or other techniques to get your resume noticed:
- It doesn’t work. Today’s companies use scanning and data extraction tools to field and parse your resume data into the companies database. All formatting generally is lost. Some systems store a pdf of the original, but recruiters don’t care, they use search tools to identify the best candidates, in most cases your ‘pretty’ resume will never be seen.
- It appears desperate. Getting cute to get noticed is just a tired technique. Recruiters are looking for talent, unless you’re applying in the field of graphic design or advertising, this type of creativity is likely to have a negative impact.
- It makes you look like you’re trying to hide something. Let’s face it, skills and experience are what gets you hired. Resumes with too much flash are distracting and make you appear that that’s all you have.
Having a great looking and properly formatted resume is key to finding your next job. Make sure your resume highlights your achievements, not just lists your experience and if you’ve been promoted while with the same company break out those roles to show your career growth. As for pictures and graphics? Leave those in the closet next to your stonewashed jeans and stirup pants.
Until next time…
LOL … “As for pictures and graphics? Leave those in the closet next to your stonewashed jeans and stirup pants.”…
Good post, thanks for sharing your points!
@ Cap’n -thanks for the tip. Good stuff.
Hi Scott, I just discovered your writeup now or I would have replied earlier.
I blogged my response:
http://jobmob.co.il/blog/why-you-need-a-beautiful-resume/
I Stumbled this for you:
http://jobmob.stumbleupon.com/review/24356177/
Jacob from JobMob’s last blog post..Why Immigrant Lawyers in Israel Must Watch TV
[…] after I posted 36 Beautiful Resume Ideas That Work, Scott blogged the following in a post called My what a pretty resume you have…: …here’s my take of using graphics, pictures, or other techniques to get your resume […]