First impressions count when attracting the interest of a hiring manager or recruiter, and an impactful visual resume can make thoughts of your application linger for that little bit longer.
A visual resume is essential in 2024.
The first thought of any job seeker is: "How do I make my resume impressive?"
Their career story will naturally play a leading role, and resume content is critical in a job search, but what if we told you there is something just as important for creating that job application wow factor?
Hiring managers will notice the nature of a visual resume 60,000 times faster than your words. The “look” of your resume format will make a vastly more immediate impact on a recruiter than you expect, but are visual resumes a good idea? What kind of resumes do employers prefer? What really stands out on a resume?
The visual impact of your resume matters just as much as the words. In this blog, we explore:
- What a visual resume is and why is it an increasingly important topic in 2024
- How to write a visual resume - tips and tricks
- The visual impact and data-driven design of a Resume.io resume
- Three extreme visual resume examples to avoid
- Who might benefit from an infographic resume?
- Should you use a text resume ever again?
Let's consider how to make a reader's eyes light up before their brain does.
What is a visual resume?
Put simply, a visual resume is a resume where its "look" contributes to the impact alongside the content.
This might involve the design of the resume sections, a splash of color to the document, icons to improve the visual impact or maybe some graphics to bring out skills or experience. The visual nature of the resume also takes into account the careful use of white space and the readability of the text. The most successful visual resumes lead the hiring manager to the most important aspects of a candidate's application.
As we spend more time on our devices and on social media, our brains are being conditioned to process visuals and pictures more readily than blocks of text. A movement to more visual resume styles has been gathering momentum, so it is worth exploring some of the issues. But first, a couple of basic questions:
Do employers like colorful resumes?
Everyone likes a splash of color in their day, and when you are sifting through a pile of 60 resumes, a visually colorful resume (if tastefully done) can cause your eye to linger that little bit longer. It won't seem childish and you definitely won't be the only one seeking to stand out.
Do employers like creative resumes?
The design of a resume mirrors the mind of the resume writer. There are few professions where creativity is not useful, so as long as you don't get "too" creative, a visual resume will only conjure up good thoughts in a prospective employer's mind.
In the competitive job market of 2024, a suitably-designed visual resume is a great way to stand out.
Are visual resumes a good idea?
Surely your career history should speak for itself — won't a visually appealing resume detract from some of the amazing stories that you have to tell? As mentioned above, you are doing your brain a disservice. We are perfectly capable of processing multiple streams of information simultaneously. While the hiring manager is immersing themselves in your career story, their eyes will still be stimulated by the visuals. Ninety percent of information transmitted to our brain is visual, after all.
How do you write a visual resume?
For the most part, job seekers don't "write" a visual resume themselves. Millions do, however, decide to choose a resume from an online resume builder. As you have chosen to visit Resume.io, here is our visual resume philosophy:
When we started, we leaned heavily into a couple of visual resume elements that have been explored by several leading UX companies like Cakeresume.com for example. Chunking content means breaking it up into small and distinct units of information. This allows our brain to process each part and pause before the next one.
The “negative” white space in a well-designed visual resume, therefore, takes on a new meaning. While the page should not be half-empty, think twice about filling up each line with extra words. That white space will be spent taking in what precious words have already been written. As most resumes are used as memory aids in a job interview situation, you don’t want them to be too “busy.” The best visual resumes help job seekers to pack their information into meaningful chunks.
Secondly, when a hiring manager has minimal time to ascertain whether a resume is of interest, you can be sure that the mechanics of how they scan the document are important. Eye tracking studies have been a staple of the marketing industry and social media for decades, and we have designed our visual resumes to take advantage of these tendencies. Researching gaze patterns has shown us the folly of the solid text block in any sort of persuasive text. Our resumes incorporate scientifically optimized design elements to suit how hiring managers read.
Most of all, we have learned and iterated as we have gone along. A resume with a wall of text is a thing of the past.
How can I make my resume stand out visually?
One idea is to choose a visual resume that fits the essence of your career. If you particularly want to highlight a list of skills, pick graphics that will make it stand out. If your career accomplishments are particularly varied, think about using bullet points to accentuate them in a list. If you are in a creative profession, think carefully about use of margins, color, font and text size.
The visual impact and data-driven design of a Resume.io resume
When you have millions of people downloading your visual resumes, it is not difficult to see which ones are popular, but we drill down to reveal far more specific insights. At Resume.io, we take a rigorous data-driven approach to our work, in this case using industry and web data to inform the ongoing design of our free visual resumes. By looking at global profession and recruitment preferences, we are able to understand which professions prefer which resume “look.”
It is indisputable that visual preferences vary by profession and industry. Our visual resumes have been extensively tested and sampled by the wider HR community. Understanding the visual impact of resumes on the people who really matter can make all the difference for our candidates.We have created four separate resume categories:
Professional visual resume template
Do you have a formal dress code at work? Are you considered a white-collar worker? Those are signs that your application might require a professional resume. If the role requires an advanced degree, you will probably find this resume example suitable. In a corporate world that errs on the side of professionalism, this template should be your default choice.
Simple visual resume template
The versatility of simple resume templates makes them a solid pick for a variety of fields and job titles. These cleaner versions may well be preferred by those hiring managers who just want to get into the information rather than be impressed by the design. If you work in an industry where your work can speak for itself, the simple examples are a great option.
Modern visual resume template
In the fast-moving modern economy, resume design can sometimes seem rather old-fashioned. If you want to stand out as a sleek candidate who isn’t afraid to present themselves as fresh and innovative, a modern resume would be a great fit. Make sure that the visuals of your application are as cutting-edge as your career content.
Creative visual resume template
Creative resumes are ideal for artistic fields and contemporary companies. In creative professions, where everyone wants to showcase their originality, making a bold choice about the design of your resume is to be expected. You can't photoshop yourself the perfect resume, but you can create a visual resume format that wouldn't look out of place in your creative portfolio.
The visual resume that you choose is a reflection of who you are.
Three extreme visual resume examples to avoid
While Resume.io uses a text layer over our graphics and guarantees that any ATS system will be able to scan the content, most visual resumes will not offer this benefit. Much as the following three visual resume examples look awesome, unless you are certain that you are emailing your resume straight to the hiring manager, you should think long and hard before using them. As you do not know the hiring manager, are you sure that your tastes will align?
Vincenzo Castro’s “Curriculum Vitae” visual resume example could not look much different from its namesake. While designers and creatives might love the look, this might not turn out so attractive when printed out. Every interviewer will print out your resume at the interview. Even creative ones.
This visually arresting visual resume example is high on impact but sadly low on text. When creating a visual resume, you have to remember that every resume should contain some impressive conversation starters for an interview. Job titles and lists of skills just won’t be enough.
While a classic visual resume has a balance of text and graphics, a visual resume example can get so busy that you are unsure what to look at first. Aron Ramesan’s “Curriculm Vitae” project is a fantastic work of art resume, but you can't help but wonder which bit you should be looking at first.
Who might benefit from an infographic resume?
In a visually-driven world, there is still a place for the extremes of an infographic resume that is heavy on visuals and low on text. If you are sure that the ATS system of the employer will be able to pick up on enough text to register you in the system, then for creatives, freelancers and tech professionals the visuals of an infographic can tell a story.
There will have to be a number of compromises as you will not be able to tell every aspect of your career story via graphics and icons, but as long as the color palette is harmonious and the data easy to understand, this format will continue to play a valid part in the modern recruitment world.
Infographics look great as visual elements in an online portfolio, but when you want the hiring manager to read your core messages, they will only genuinely work for a select few.
Why do many job seekers still use a text CV?
Job seekers still end up creating a text CV because it is difficult to make a visual resume in Word, and this is still entirely acceptable. However, if a text CV is created in one version of Word and viewed in another formatting errors can sometimes take place. That will get your CV noticed, but for the wrong reasons.
The idea of creating a visual CV in PDF format is that you know what you see will be what a hiring manager sees. If you agree that a hiring manager is impressed by visuals as well as content, why wouldn't you want to ensure that your visual CV comes out exactly as planned?
You’ve invested too much in your career not to invest in a great visual resume
Your entire job search risks being compromised if you are not careful in your choice of visual resume.
Ask yourself if you are willing to use a second-rate visual resume that may not display as intended on every operating system. It might not even open at all. You have invested so much in your career – surely it is sensible to invest in producing a cutting-edge resume?
Alongside the multitude of unreliable online options, even commonly used programs such as Microsoft Word can surface issues with formatting that looks different in other programs and header/footer information that could be missed by applicant tracking system software. A resume that doesn’t do its job hints at a person who doesn’t take care of the details.
Alternatively, you might choose to be a little too "unique" and come up with an infographic to include in your own resume or even an infographic resume. While this isn't so hard to do on Canva, and software like Adobe makes it easy to manipulate, it is likely that your design skills will be lacking and it comes off as an amateurish attempt.
- Don't take the risk.
- Effective job searches start with visually striking, technically functional and content-optimized visual resumes and cover letters from Resume.io.
- Hiring managers certainly find them a pleasure to read.
- We are grateful that 5 million job seekers would agree.
