A Great Resume Design – Is it Important?
Your resume is your key to a successful future. There are many things that will win you an interview. However, while the resume design may be important for you if you are in an industry where creativity is your industry – such as these amazing concepts – even if you are in IT, teaching, mining or nursing, the science behind your resume design can be the difference between rejection and the interview shortlist.
The schools of thought about resume layout and design seem to change with the seasons. Do you go with a minimalist approach? Use a head-shot? Include your date of birth? Make it two pages maximum? The truth is, there is no hard and fast rule. In fact, you are performing a sales pitch without being present, with potentially hundreds of candidates in the same boat. So, you need to grab the recruiter’s attention.
A recruiter spends just six seconds looking at a resume
Obviously, great content is vitally important. Your resume must not only be a record of you as an individual along with your professional achievements and experience; it must have this information clearly expressed, easily read and with certain key information up front. But with everyone doing precisely that, how are you going stand out?
The amount of time a recruiter spends looking at your resume is roughly six seconds — the length of a Vine video. Figuring out how to be noticeable in the job market is vital for those who are unemployed or thinking of moving on. You feel you are endlessly overlooked in favour of someone with equal qualifications despite discovering job opportunities that fit your experience and needs. Many job seekers have realised that they need to be smart.
The Psychology of the Resume Design Template
Getting you noticed in the crowd will be helped by an eye-catching resume design template. You know your resume is terrific; it just needs to look the part. We find that setting yourself apart from the hundreds of applications that follow a job advertisement will put you in pole position.
Our in-house graphic design experts have spent years perfecting a large selection of designs in consultation with the very recruiters whose job it is to pick candidates for a position. The truth is, our designs get you noticed for all the right reasons. Furthermore, we showcase your skills and experience in such a way that your resume will pass the ‘six-second-scan’ test. We have literally hundreds of resume design templates to choose from, and if you are not sure what will work for you, we will help you with your selection.
The Science of Colour
The Psychology of Colour
Our designs fall into two categories – industry-specific and generic. Carefully chosen colour schemes are the one thing that unites them. The recruiter’s emotions and idea of you and your experience can be influenced by colour. Certain colours will call up feelings of trust, confidence, and energy. For example, Yellow is associated with intelligence, whilst green suggests growth and harmony. Stability is connected with the colour blue, and so on.
These emotional suggestions, combined with suitable images, often have a powerful effect on the decision-making process. And this is in addition to the fact that the majority of resumes will just be straightforward text.
The Science of the Design
Indeed, our designs are not just about colour and images. For example, carefully designed text helps to avoid reader-fatigue. This is very important when considering resumes with lengthy job histories.
The science is to keep important information clear and separate. At Select Resumes we recommend an order of that is easy to find and navigate, with clear bullet points, short paragraphs and those all-important keywords and phrases that are vital to use. The graphic design principles that we use ensure the recruiter will stay on track in the correct order of information.
So, is your resume design important? The answer is a definite yes! However, it is that design plus the vocabulary used that will push you to the front of the queue.
Contact us today for an informal chat about how we can help you up the career ladder.
Are you seeking a resume writing service? Select Resumes can provide this service to you at the highest standard. Select Resumes also offers dedicated selection criteria writers to give you the help that you need for even the most complex government job applications. Once you have secured your interview, talk to us about our experienced and passionate interview skills coaches so that you can feel more confident at your next job interview.