Secrets of the Job Hunt

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Monday, August 27, 2007

Eye candy for resumes

The visual design of your resume - the layout, fonts, lines and flow - is something that few job seekers take into account when creating it. I have always stressed that the visual design is the most important factor of a resume getting noticed. Yes, it has to be written well, but in a pile of well-written but cookie-cutter resumes how will yours stand out?

The answer lies in its visual appearance. Career Journal recently covered this very subject.

So here are some tips to craft a great looking resume.

1. Use color. Don't go crazy but use 1 or two colors in a minimalistic way. Perhaps a color background for your header information, or color outlines around each section.

2. Use logos of the companies you worked for. They'll stand out.

3. Experiment with 2 or 3 column layouts. No said it has be to be vertical. Just make sure it flows well and is easy to read.

4. Use callouts. Quotes from past managers touting your abilities will go a long way.

5. Use the Table feature in MS Word to organize the sections of the resume.

And if you're out of ideas consider buying my own creative resume designs.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice post, Chris! I agree that a resume need not be outlandish, but attractive enough to make it easy on the reader's eye. Of your five tips, I'd agree most with the first, the fourth, and the fifth. A little color is fine, and the table function in Word can help make the resume look better organized. Some may debate the merits of a "callout quote," but in the interests of "marketing" yourself with the resume, it sure can't hurt.