What is an Infographic Resume?

WHAT IS AN INFOGRAPHIC RESUME?

The infographic resume, which uses images, charts, and colors rather than basic text to present your skills, experience, and value to an employer, has become more prevalent over the past three years. Is it right for you in your job search though? Here’s some more insight and some examples of infographic resumes:

Why Infographic Resumes Work

Look at these statistics:

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On average, 250 resumes are received for each job opening. The average resume is received within 200 seconds after a position is posted. Large career sites such as Monster.com have 427,000 resumes posted per week. Most recruiters will tell you they spend about five minutes reviewing a resume. An eye-tracking study performed by TheLadders found they actually spend six seconds.

Humans are visually oriented creatures. This is why it’s easy to immediately comprehend the data presented in the colored chart. A recruiter with only six seconds to spend on each resume appreciates a job seeker’s use of charts because it’s easy to quickly learn everything he or she wants to know about the candidate.

This is an infographic resume for a graphic designer. The skills an employer needs to see are bright and instantly understandable. Your eye is drawn to his contact info, skills, and specialties. Since he is a graphic designer, the resume itself is proof of his skills, creativity, and style.

Why Infographic Resumes Don’t Work

Not everyone is a graphic designer. Your choice of color or excessive pictures could make your history confusing. Infographic resumes are generally great for PR, marketing, and graphic design jobs but generally not for industries such as banking or law. One must also take into account corporate culture. Companies like Google and Apple have a reputation for cutting-edge creativity, and they seek employees that possess this trait. Government organizations and companies that utilize online forms require that you follow their content requirements. Lastly, finding an experienced designer who is also a certified resume writer and knowledgeable in your field is challenging and will be more costly than hiring a traditional professional resume writer.

Where to Get Help

Consult first with an experienced career specialist to see if infographic resumes would be appropriate for you. Try contacting employees at the company you are targeting (via LinkedIn) and ask to see their resumes. You do know one fact about their resumes—they worked.

WANT TO LEARN MORE? I would love to speak with you about your current career goals and the type of resume that will get the results YOU want. Please check out our professional resume writing services at www.greatresumesfast.com or contact me for more information if you have any questions.