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The Salary Tutor:

5 Overlooked Design Tips to Set You Apart & Get You a Job

How to Show Potential Employers You're More Than Just Words on a Page

5. Spruce Up Your Resume

Does your Microsoft Word-templated resume have your name and address at the top, a summary of skills, and your work experience in chronological order? Congratulations, so does nearly every other job-seeker going for the same position as you. If there's one document that has survived the test of time, it's the chronological resume. And why not? For the vast majority of people, it's familiar and it works.

But in a competitive job market, sometimes you need to zig when everyone else is zagging. At minimum, for the love of Times New Roman, do SOMETHING that makes your resume stand out a bit. Change the typeface, play with different font sizes, and/or add a horizontal line or two. Going a little bit further, add some elements of color, reversed text, and even an icon or two. Taking it to the next level, re-envision the resume and give it a full design makeover. For $99, new website LoftResumes.com will take your blah resume and make it come alive.

The most radical transformation would be turning your resume into an infographic. You can do a Google search for inspiration, or head over to a site such as visualize.me or re.vu.

 

  • Jim Hopkinson

    Jim Hopkinson is an author, writer, and speaker living in New York City. His focus is on career development for the new economy, showing how new media, technology and branding are changing how people look at their career and lifestyle. Read more...