Infographic CV’s – is it time to update and refresh your Resume?
Stand out from the crowd.
We live in an age where there is a significant amount of competition for almost every job opportunity that opens up; I have a friend who used to work in the Benefits Sector and although she recognised that she was in a reasonably good job, she was shocked to find that when she decided to move on to pastures new, more than 600 people applied for her job. This is the norm in many sectors now, and if you are looking for a new position it has become more important than ever to ensure that your CV leaps out at potential employers shrieking ‘Look how amazing I am!’ (obviously in a non-pretentious and professional way!)
So how can we make a CV stand out? I must admit that until now I had been unconvinced by the practice of attaching a headshot to a Curriculum Vitae, after all, shouldn’t our skills and experiences speak for themselves? I have realised, however, that a comprehensive list of qualifications alone doesn’t always grab the attention and recognition that you may deserve, particularly when there could be a number of highly qualified potential candidates putting themselves forward for the same role as you.
I’ve recently seen a lot of people raving about ‘Infographic CVs’ (see attached image as an example) and as you can see, they are a very striking way of stressing your key skills and experiences to a new audience. Imagine yourself in the position of an HR representative, flicking through a pile of paper CVs – you have to admit that you would stop and pause for a moment to take in the details of an aesthetically exciting CV. This extra moment could be all it takes to draw attention to the skills, qualifications, and experiences that you have worked hard to obtain, and be the difference between the ‘yes’ and ‘maybe’ piles of potential interviewees.
If you have spent time and effort developing your personal and professional skills to make you the perfect candidate for a new job role, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not trying to convey these skills and qualifications as clearly as possible. If you are interested in updating your CV to incorporate some eye-catching infographic features, I can strongly recommend the free tool www.canva.com; it has a number of useful graphic features (some free, some paid for) and templates that you could use to make your CV really visually appealing, so if you are updating your CV at the moment, why not give it a go? It could be all it takes to make it leap out of the pile of potential candidates and straight into the hands of an exciting new employer… let me know how it goes!
