BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — "Resumes are no good if nobody sees them," Cathy Lanzalaco, Inspire Careers Coach said. "You want to make sure it is engaging enough so that someone picks that up immediately."
Lanzalaco says resumes are not like they used to be. She says it's okay to add some color and even graphics to your professional list of accomplishments.
"Resumes are meant to be action oriented, accomplishment focused but they are meant to be visually appealing," Lanzalaco said. "You want to draw your reader into your brand."
Lanzalaco said people with more business oriented careers should stick with just adding some color, while more creative fields should think about adding some graphics, color, and other elements to make their resumes stand out from the crowd.
"Recruiters and hiring managers do not have the time to put the pieces together, you need to tell that story," Lanzalaco said.
Tips for resume design:
- Not all careers should have a creative resume. Cathy Lanzalaco says people in Nursing, Office work (Human Resources), Business (sales, banking) where it's more focused on metrics and accomplishments.
- Creative Careers: you are going to want to reflect your talents and your personality more
- Only put a picture of yourself on your resume if you are a model or TV personality
- People are looking for information in quick-bits and graphic resumes have come out of people wanting the information in visual presentations.
- You can use platforms like Adobe, Canva, Microsoft Word, Google Docs
- Color is okay but not too much
Tips for resume writing:
- Make sure it is easy to understand, and do not be superficial
- Make sure your voice comes out
- Active verbs but tense depends on what you are talking about.
- Make sure to have your branding/summary statement
- Start out with branding statement
- You don't have to put every job you have ever had, needs to be focused on the jobs you want
- SPELLING AND GRAMMAR ARE THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES
