06/09/2015
7 seconds. That’s all the time an average recruiter is going to spend looking at each resume to make a call on qualifying a candidate to the next stage – detailed review. The traditional resume is a great format to convey all the relevant information through one single document. However in today’s age of information overload, it is smart to adapt to the shorter attention span of any hard working recruiter. Thankfully to our aid we have technology and graphics which can help us grab a larger share of the decision maker’s attention. Once you clear this hurdle, sure go ahead, email that bulky 4 page resume - you have their attention now, they will read it.
So infographics – the hot new tool that everyone is talking about (we have examples of infographics from the Egyptian Pyramids by the way) can surely show the recruiter the way. Here are some cool tips:
1. Customize the look and feel for the industry. For example if you are a Mechanical Engineer, you can use gear wheels for pie charts that describe your work experience break up. A Chef or Designer? Include a picture of a your work (we designers like to see pictures btw..). An analyst..? boy you can have a field day with the graphs..
2. Timeline – First thing recruiters look for is how long you have worked and where (from the section headings of a traditional resume). We can make that easy – choose simple timelines with years and achievements.
3. What are you made of? Make sure you highlight your skills in relative order of expertise. For example if apply for a marketing job, highlight Presentation Skills, Social Media Skills, Communication Skills, Etc. You could use a bar graph, spider chart or pie graphs to get this information out quickly.
4. Where have you been? Who are your friends? What kind of projects do you like? What languages you speak? – A recruiter is trying to visualize what kind of personality you might have and if you could be a good fit for this position. Feel free to use your creativity here (or ask an expert if that side of your brain is relatively dormant ;) ) and convey this information through infographics/ images or even crisp bullets.
5. What do you do for fun? – It is important not to go overboard on the fun section. But a crisp set of icons at the bottom of the resume might be a good idea.
Keep in mind some simple rules – keep it to one page, the KISS rule Keep it simple & short, no offensive content and definitely no exaggerations. Any suggestions to add to these tips, comments or success stories are welcome!
