Infographic resumes can help you stand out among hundreds or thousands of job applicants.
An infographic resume is exactly what it sounds like?a resume presented as an infographic, with colors, charts, pictures, graphics and text. They are a great way to make a traditional resume a bit more awesome. Although more and more job seekers are submitting such resumes, it?s still infrequent enough that you will certainly stand out. There are situations in which using one is a great idea, but keep a few things in mind.
Field doesn?t matter
While infographic resumes are more common in marketing, communications and data analysis, they can be just as successful in traditional, old-school fields such as accounting or nursing.
Keep your old-fashioned resume
Many companies use tracking systems that search for keywords and other elements deemed important by hiring managers. Infographic resumes don?t work for those programs, so definitely do keep your standby resume to submit as well. To ensure someone sees your infographic, find the name of the direct hiring manager and send it to that person as well. Better that than sending it to human resource personnel; they don?t have the personal stake in the matter that a direct hiring manager does. Naturally, you will want to make sure that your traditional resume is up-to-date and optimized for the position you are applying to.
Display the right information
If you have standout statistics to your name, show them. For example, boosting profits at ABC company by 25 percent in two years, or having earned 500 hours of intensive training on various software applications in the past year. Brainstorm your accomplishments, and a few notable numbers are sure to pop up.
Templates will help you
You don?t need to be a graphic design whiz or fork over valuable dollars to a designer. Use an infographic resume template from sites such as Kinzaa.com or Resumup.com, or pay $5 to $10 for a customized design at sites such as Fiverr.com.
