
Résumés Are Starting to Look Like Instagram, and Sometimes Even Tinder - DanBC
https://www.wsj.com/articles/resumes-are-starting-to-look-like-instagramand-sometimes-even-tinder-11565707364?mod=rsswn
======
ken
I'd be fine with a resume that included some modern design elements,
especially if it were a position which might involve some design work. A "by
the numbers" summary could make it easier to see the points a candidate thinks
are important.

But a photograph would make me immediately pass. There's no way for me to be
sure I can avoid prejudice. I already hate that resumes include
names/addresses in such a prominent place. Those should be off to the side, so
they can easily be removed before the resume even gets to me.

> The flashy résumés are colliding with efforts by employers to strip down CVs
> to their most basic elements—coding skills, college degrees, work
> histories—to reduce bias in hiring. Many companies run résumés through tools
> called applicant tracking systems that remove photos and other design
> embellishments. Others are looking for ways to blind out even names and
> addresses, which could reveal gender, race or socioeconomic status.

Exactly! We should be trying to _reduce_ bias in hiring, not add to it. This
is exactly what is meant by "privilege". Either they're hoping to get hired
based on how they look, or they don't realize or care that they're creating
more work for someone else to strip out all this junk before anyone can read
it.

~~~
auggierose
In countries like Germany it is normal to include your picture. Don't see what
the problem is, before you hire someone you are usually seeing them in person
anyway.

~~~
CydeWeys
In the United States it is definitely not normal to include your picture, and
doing so can lead to conscious or unconscious bias against someone because of
their race, gender, beauty, etc.

Germany has these problems too.

~~~
auggierose
These problems don't go away by not including a picture... In Germany a resume
without a picture looks odd.

~~~
tdfx
This reminds me of a funny conversation I had with a coworker: he's black and
was complaining that his sister named his nephew "Lashawn" (for those outside
the US: it's a very stereotypically African-American name). He remarked: "do
you want his resume to go directly to the trash bin every time?" Funny at the
time but kind of depressing in retrospect.

~~~
sooper
I have to add the obligatory reference to Freakonomics and the impact your
name has on "how a child performs in school and even her career
opportunities".

Great write up in either the first or second Freakonomics book about how
adversely impacting being called Jasmin is in the the US.

[0] [http://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-much-does-your-name-
matt...](http://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-much-does-your-name-matter-a-new-
freakonomics-radio-podcast/)

~~~
jonathankoren
Dr. Marijuana Pepsi, holds a doctorate in higher education leadership. Her
dissertation was entitled, “Black names in white classrooms: Teacher behaviors
and student perceptions."

[https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/columnists/jim-
stingl/20...](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/columnists/jim-
stingl/2019/06/18/stingl-her-name-marijuana-pepsi-and-she-just-got-her-
doctorate/1477709001/)

~~~
blaser-waffle
We call her Mary Jane Pepsi

~~~
jonathankoren
She goes as Marijuna, but in some situations, she goes as “M P”.

------
fecak
As a professional resume writer I'm seeing a lot of clients now asking for
more design on their resumes (including many senior clients with solid
accomplishments) and it's a disturbing trend. I think part of the blame can go
to the handful of companies that have gone viral with highly visualized 'mock'
resumes for tech celebrities (Elon Musk and Marissa Mayer - example
[https://enhancv.com/resume-examples/famous/marissa-
mayer/](https://enhancv.com/resume-examples/famous/marissa-mayer/)).

These resumes certainly "look good", but they aren't useful. Obviously, it
doesn't matter what your resume looks like if you're Elon Musk - you're
getting the interview anyway.

With visualized resumes, the user is sacrificing the ability to provide a more
robust list of accomplishments, or perhaps to provide additional details and
context for the accomplishments they have listed.

If you are junior level and don't have many accomplishments to mention, a
visualized resume might get their attention. For senior level candidates or
even mid-career folks who have already done a thing or two, these resumes look
like an ill-fitting suit.

Don't distract your reader with fancy formatting. Using a simple format allows
the reader to focus entirely on what is important (your body of work) without
being distracted.

~~~
joegahona
Do you ever recommend that the resume writer puts his/her picture on the
resume? It struck me as really odd when Linkedin started to encourage this, as
I was told ages ago that a photo on your resume will get it thrown out
instantly because it opens up the potential employer to discrimination.

~~~
jgtrosh
Depends on the accepted practices. For example in France it's always welcome
(AFAIK).

~~~
walshemj
That is Problematic on so many grounds. I am surprised the EU hasn't banned
that on discrimination grounds.

~~~
jaclaz
As a matter of fact the "standard" EU CV (so called Europass) has the photo
"field" :

[https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/about-
europass](https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/about-europass)

(with a recommendation to check whether it is allowed in the specific
destination country):

>Add your photo only if required. Check local provisions in the country where
you intend to send your CV.

------
wy35
As a current Gen Z applying to jobs, I think this trend is very minor and
depends on the industry. Anecdotally, in all the tech career fairs and
networking events/resume drops I've been to, 95% of resumes follow the
traditional format without a hint of color. The other 5% are people who
downloaded a flashy template for the first time and don't know what they're
doing. For designers, I think it's reasonable to have a "unique" resume
design, but for other non-visual jobs it's just in poor taste.

~~~
nkrisc
As a designer, if I was given a resume that looked what was described in the
article I'd Mark them down a point. Knowing your audience and the appropriate
time and place is an important part of design.

If they send their resume somewhere that likes that, then good for them.

~~~
realshowbiz
Yeah knowing the audience is key. But an eye catching resume can also be very
valuable.

In this field a design with something like familiar grey/white fixed-width
type on a matte black background, ascii table outlines, and “syntax”
highlighting, etc, etc, would probably get some more attention (good or bad)

------
sdinsn
> ...received a résumé for a finance job earlier this year that included an
> avatar of the applicant sweating.

> “That was to show they hustle like no one else,” says John Lowe, the
> company’s chief executive. “That is an important attribute that we prize.”

That has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've heard

~~~
mv4
The whole premise reminds me of the infamous "impossible is nothing" resume
submitted to UBS back in 2006. Sadly, the author died. For those unfamiliar,
it included:

* Cover letter

* Resume: one and a half pages

* Writing sample: eight pages

* A glamour shot of Vayner

* Seven-minute video that features the following feats by Vayner:

* Interview: gives advice for achieving life goals

* Bench press: 495 pounds (225 kilograms)

* Downhill skiing with jumps

* Tennis serve: 140 miles per hour (225 km/h or 63 m/s)

* Ballroom dancing with a female dancer

* Karate chop: seven bricks broken

Source:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Is_Nothing_(video_r...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Is_Nothing_\(video_r%C3%A9sum%C3%A9\))

~~~
Rebelgecko
Wow, what an interesting video and backstory. From watching the video, I think
it's debatable whether or not he's actually doing some of those things.
Especially after reading the New Yorker article in which he comes across as a
pathological liar. [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/23/aleksey-the-
gr...](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/23/aleksey-the-great)

~~~
mv4
he’d taught tennis to Jerry Seinfeld and Harrison Ford!

Thanks for the link.

------
jon-wood
I’m not sure which trend I dislike more, this one, or the general throwing out
of the “two pages or fewer” guideline. I regularly get CVs which are four or
five pages long, listing everything the person has ever done back to high
school. Learn to tailor your CV people, I don’t care that you worked at Subway
for six weeks when you were nineteen. I would however love to hear more than a
list of technologies used about the three years you spent working in a similar
sector.

~~~
Aloha
For someone mid career I'd expect a resume to cover the last 10 years of
employment, which of you've done lots of contracting might take upwards of
three pages to cover.

Is this unreasonable?

~~~
whatshisface
You could adjust the level of detail, maybe covering many clients in a
sentence like "developed software systems for Drexler (1956-1957) NASA
(1957-1958), Scranton Paper Products (1958-1959)..."

~~~
Aloha
Normally I'd want to include some level of detail about what I worked on at
each position, technologies, technical accomplishments, etc

~~~
seattle_spring
You may want to include it, but most employers won't want to read it. A brief
summary should be more than sufficient.

------
leftyted
I think the source of this is professional "career adviser" types.

When applying for jobs out of school, I was told:

1\. I needed to "tell stories" about myself (doesn't matter if they're true)

2\. I needed to boast in my resume about my "accomplishments" using buzzwords

3\. I needed to have some kind of catchy elevator pitch describing myself

4\. I needed at least one "playful" descriptor (e.g. "semicolon enthusiast" or
something like that)

5\. Lying on your resume is expected and totally fine

6\. I needed to apply for ~10 positions a week

All of these things made me deeply uncomfortable. I don't think self-
description is possible. We reveal ourselves through our actions and nothing
matters less than "how you view yourself". When people attempt to describe
themselves they tend to list things that they want other people to believe
about them but have no correspondence in reality.

I disregarded all of this advice and worked really hard on my projects. I
didn't do any "coding interview prep" and during my interviews I admitted when
I didn't know something and explained what I thought I knew about it. This
worked well for me; I didn't have any trouble finding a job.

~~~
buboard
Or just, people are unemployed and have a lot of time to fiddle about with
their resumes

------
vultour
> “spin aficionado, dog lover, foodie, outdoor enthusiast.”

I don't know about marketing, but if I received a CV with this I'd most likely
throw it straight in the trash. I don't want CVs to be unique, I judge people
based on merit. The more basic the CV the better in my opinion. Just the other
day I was slightly upset when someone showed me a candidates LinkedIn profile
containing quite a non-professional picture because it immediately put me off
a bit.

~~~
jakear
The people who are writing resumes like this are doing it to avoid working at
a place like yours. It’s a resume for people who want their company to care
about its employees’ interests.

~~~
ajross
Exactly!

Hiring is a two-way negotiation, and while I'm sure the grandparent doesn't
see it that way, assertive declarations like " _I don 't want CVs to be
unique, I judge people based on merit._" are a workplace smell that some
people don't want in _exactly_ the same way that photos in a CV are.

It makes the boss sound like someone who values conformance and hates
diversity. Maybe unfairly, but impressions are everything at this stage of a
relationship.

To wit: if you _really_ want to hire good people "based on merit", you need to
stop being so judgy about the oddballs.

~~~
wallace_f
I don't really follow you. How is hiring based on merit a signal for valuing
conformity and intolerance? It sounds like you are the one being judgmental.

Personally, I'd prefer to just be valued based on my skills and work product.
The alternatives risk being possibly very bad in my experience: possibly
valuing politics, nepotism, etc., which obviously gets toxic and unfair very
quickly.

~~~
ajross
"Hiring based on merit" is obviously not. Declaring that you don't like fluffy
CV's (which obviously has nothing to do with merit) _BECAUSE_ you "hire based
on merit" certainly can be.

I'm not saying people need to hire based on who's got a better photo on their
resume. I'm saying that you shouldn't be surprised when people take your
rhetoric about that stuff as a signal that you aren't going to be as fair a
boss as you might think you are.

And maybe that's unfair. I've certainly never worked for you. But you need to
be willing to market to free spirits if you actually want to hire the best
people.

~~~
wallace_f
I am not the grandparent.

However, I really am a free spirit, having an exceptionally non-traditional
path than most, and that is actually a good reason to want to work for someone
who values skills and results foremost.

~~~
ajross
You're still arguing against a strawman. I'm NOT saying that you need to
"value" fluffy junk on a CV. I'm saying that IF YOU PUBLICLY DISAPPROVE of
that stuff (which we both agree is irrelevant to qualifications, right?) that
you're driving away employees you might want, if you really valued skills and
results foremost.

Don't be judgy about irrelevant stuff, is my point. Some people don't want to
work for judgy conservatives, basically.

~~~
scrungus
1\. societies before us have seen the consequences of nepotism and corruption.

2\. it is critical to remove subconscious bias in the hiring process.

3\. the only effective means to do so as a society is to handicap those who
take advantage of subconscious biases.

marketing in itself is less than a zero-sum game; it's players are parasites
on the working class. we should all do our part to reduce it's effects.

~~~
ajross
Those are fine opinions. And if you hire based on them, you're going to annoy
and drive away otherwise talented folks who want to talk about their pets,
brag about their surfing habits, and stuff emojis into their resume. And
that's fine. You guys wouldn't like each other anyway.

"parasites on the working class" indeed.

------
vinceguidry
Were resumes ever really useful for more than sending very specific signals? I
suspect they probably never were. Hiring managers just put them all into
buckets "Ivy League, good college, has professional experience," and unless
there were obvious red flags, just called everyone on the list that they
wanted to hire and let the interview process sort them out.

If you needed more vetting on the inbound, then it's easier to just source
candidates another way than to try to read the resume tea leaves.

~~~
avip
I factually know that’s not the case as multiple times I’ve sent cvs to
positions I’m a perfect fit for and never heard a thing. I’m quite confident
reading resumes is old school habit of apatosaurusish generation.

~~~
vinceguidry
Maybe you just didn't send the right signals?

~~~
avip
Give me an A/B to test that and I’m in.

~~~
daveFNbuck
It's pretty simple to set up a scientific test for resume content. You can
find examples of reports of studies on names pretty easily. You just set up a
template and send out hundreds of resumes with the thing you're testing
tweaked. If sending multiple resumes to the same company, also vary the things
you're not testing in ways that you think will be insignificant (e.g. use
different names like Jack, John, Joe but don't use names that indicate a
difference in possibly salient factors like gender or ethnicity).

People do this sort of thing to test hiring biases all the time. Ideally you'd
be doing it from a university and have an ethics board and people experienced
with experiment design overseeing what you're doing to help ensure you're
doing it right.

------
pseingatl
A resumé is advertising. A resumé is marketing. A few thoughts:

A resumé is not a biography. It' a pitch. When was the last time anyone tried
to sell you a product or service with a white sheet of paper and black ink?
Exactly.

The six page--or ten page--credentials document is for the interview.

For a recent project management position, Facebook received 10,000 resumés.
That's too many for the HR department ro review. FB, like many others, use
automated systems to weed through these. Graphic and marketing details,
innovations, are lost.

You can try to game the system: post the job requirements in a white font on
white so all the keywords are there. But this is an inexact science.

For a small to medium size business, the "new" c.v. has as good or better
chance than the traditional c.v.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
If you get an internal rec, you can bypass HR looking at your resume all
together at Facebook. I’m sure that’s how 80-90% of the people get hire there.

~~~
pseingatl
Not correct. They have a three or four-tiered hiring process and by the second
tier, everyone is looking at your resumé.

------
forgingahead
I'll admit, the headline and the general comments here biased me to waving my
fist at the clouds and shouting "hell yeah! These youngsters don't appreciate
tradition no more!", BUT, the examples in the article are actually reasonable.

As mentioned elsewhere in the comments here, hiring is a two-way street.
Certain industries and professions don't appreciate this creative approach,
however young folks entering the workforce are fighting to be seen above the
crowds. If your company is particular about specific information and
formatting, use an applicant tracking system and/or job board that forces your
applicants to apply your way. But if you ask for resumes to an email account,
or if colleges are still requesting "resume drops" for firms looking to hire
on-campus, then folks are going to try grab attention to move the process
forward in any way they can.

------
ggm
End of (work) life stage with 37 years continuous employment in two economies
and 7-10 employees under my belt, I do not believe I could cope in this hiring
market, at these behaviours.

I do not envy the cohorts surviving in this market/model. I feel we screwed
things up, allowing HR to drive to this, and I feel we overplay "selling" in
hiring, instead of letting people reach out and find like minds. I realize its
a highly competitive market, but I think we've allowed the distortions to
overtake the real intent.

I do not believe this is a good model. I do not want to participate or
facilitate this model of resume/CV and hiring.

------
chadash
You know what kind of resume stands out? A traditional one with nice
formatting, nothing extraneous (if you have a college degree I don't care
where you went to high school), and no typos.

Maybe 25% of resumes that I see hit all of these criteria. If you can't pay
attention to detail on a one-page resume that you update every year or two and
send out to every job that you apply to, then how can I possibly expect that
you are going to pay attention to detail in the code that you write?

~~~
davidhyde
A lot of errors you see in resumes are as a result of change. This is a
document that gets re-compressed into its original length every time you add
content to it. It is important to have an error free resume because it gives a
good first impression but that's where it ends. Just because a second language
English speaker doesn't understand the nuances of the language does not make
them a poor coder. Furthermore, who says that making coding mistakes makes for
a poor developer anyway? You should work in an environment that is forgiving
to mistakes. For example, using unit tests, integration tests and code
reviews. What I look for is perseverance, creativity and the ability to get on
with other developers.

~~~
chadash
I hear what you are saying and I think it's only fair to be more lax for
foreign applicants although I actually find that they usually have fewer to
typos, perhaps because they'll ask someone to proofread their resume. As to
mistakes in code, yeah process is important, but so is attention to detail.
Unit tests can only take you so far, so it's important that coders read over
their code and make sure the logic is sound before merging.

------
ravenstine
Gen Z is smart. If you can look good, which isn't hard to do when most resumes
have no photo, I have no doubt you'll get ahead.

20/20 episode on "lookism":
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTfRRmFC4-c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTfRRmFC4-c)

TL;DR of the video: Good looks will get you hired, make you more money, and
make people think you're smarter.

~~~
Aloha
The privilege of beauty.

It's a thing I've reckoned with my entire life, though I only really realized
what it was in the last 5 years.

~~~
ravenstine
We all understand it, but many of us aren't as conscious about its extent. I
only became truly cognizant of the privilege of beauty when I lost weight; I
don't think people who have been skinny their whole lives can fathom just how
different people treat you if you're overweight.

------
notus
This could be done tastefully, but the examples they are showing seem rather
extreme and not tasteful at all. I'd probably not even read a resume that had
a "By The Numbers" section. It's such a useless metric to try to highlight.

------
sundayedition
I include a very brief summary (< 1 line) that details most of my professional
work history (not always tech related, but illustrates progressive
responsibility), so I'm probably one of the people whose resume gets thrown
out (per some of the posters) on the regular. I'm OK taking that kind of risk
because I'm looking for a manager/team who understands a team member is more
than the sum of what's on their targeted 1 page resume. Although I'm sure
you're all great managers, I can appreciate being weeded out early.

------
scarmig
Next time I have to apply to a job with a resume, I swear, I'm just going to
use one formatted in raw markdown and limited to a page in readable font.

~~~
jakear
I started doing that a bit ago actually. I’ve been successful. One pages
document, all text, bullet points, font size/weight and document structure to
mark significance levels.

One other plus is that it makes the automatic resume importers work much
better.

~~~
cbanek
Totally agree. I do plain ASCII text, specifically to help the robots, and
it's easier to break down and paste into stupid application forms where they
want your resume, but they also want you to write in all the info from your
resume too.

------
Invictus0
It makes sense that resumes are becoming better designed: we have been told
for years now that recruiters only spend seconds looking at a resume, and many
people now have the tools to create a well designed resume. The irony here is
that employers are declining candidates on the basis of overdesigning their
resume, given that they are ostensibly advocating the position that only the
content is important.

------
buboard
Judging from the discussions here i get the sense that hiring is primarily an
exercise to avoid biases in the US. Which probably means that the bigger
problem is that most CVs look the same nowadays, with lots of people checking
all the points for a job. Which probably means CVs are not a good way to
source candidates , but what else is there out ther?

------
smsm42
I've seen some very beautifully designed resumes, some even looking more like
work of art than a primarily utilitarian document it essentially is (or
supposed to be). I can not deny I liked the beautiful ones, but only to the
point - if the content did not match what I needed, I rejected it without a
second thought, maybe with a slight sigh of "well, it was a beautiful resume,
too bad it's not going anywhere". Moreover, having to go through a pile of
literally hundreds, I didn't have much time to admire fine design points too
much, and by the time it comes to select candidates which get to the point of
in person interview and other considerations, everybody would forget how the
resume looked like. So for technical candidate it probably does not matter,
even if personally I like aesthetically pleasing ones - just it won't help any
on actual technical merits.

------
elicash
> The school ultimately felt the bitmoji résumé was inappropriate.

> “We’re not a lot of crotchety old people who don’t understand how bitmojis
> work,” says Ms. Posthuma, who is 41. “It looked very juvenile.”

Seems juvenile to overlook the substance of a resume just because the person
also shows their personality. It's unfortunate more people don't care about
the actual skills needed for the job and instead make hiring decisions on the
weirdest possible criteria. My favorite, very common, example: throwing out a
resume because it has a typo for positions where typos don't really matter
(most positions).

An approach where you stand out seems to make a lot of sense, nevertheless.
You can be an "average" candidate and literally never get the job because
they're only hiring one person for the position. An approach that turns some
off but gets the attention of a few makes sense in many scenarios.

~~~
duxup
It's hard to imagine the justification for "inappropriate" is for a bitmoji of
someone waving hi.

I can understand not caring for it or it not contributing to the resume but it
seems strange to see something like that so negatively.

The whole job application system seems like a meta game where the most absurd
things get focused on.

~~~
elicash
Another example: how people dress.

It's bizarre that for most employers in the U.S., if you don't dress
professionally enough in your interview you won't get a job. Even in jobs
where you have a uniform and can't choose your own clothing if you were chosen
for the position!

This can cut both ways for folks who gather on Hacker News I think, where for
some positions the way to signal you're the type of person who just cares
about results is to INTENTIONALLY dress less professionally, weirdly enough.
Dressing professionally shouldn't be seen as a negative, either.

And don't get me started on the "firm handshake" people...

------
Silhouette
These might be the most misunderstood, dogmatically constructed documents that
exist. In reality, a bit of common sense and a basic understanding of how
recruitment processes tend to work will go a long way. Hopefully for those new
to the job market who don't yet have that understanding, a careers advisor or
similar mentor will help them to acquire it quickly.

If you're applying somewhere big and you haven't established any prior
connection then chances are you're going to be screened by some sort of
automated system as a first step, so you need to provide sufficient
information in sufficiently recognisable terms to clear that hurdle. Sometimes
this is little better than a tedious keyword-matching exercise, but it's a
necessary first step if you're not in a position to reach a real person at
your potential employer from the start.

In any case, the first human being to read your CV/resume and make a real
decision on progressing your application or not is probably going to be
spending seconds, not minutes, reviewing it. Chances are they'll be looking
for your general area(s) of competence and approximate level of experience to
see if you fit the required profile, and any obvious red flags that would
disqualify you immediately. Anything else is a potentially damaging
distraction at this stage.

Subsequent human beings to read your CV/resume will hopefully be involved in
the in-person recruiting process, i.e., phone screens, on-site interviews,
etc. These people are probably going to spend a bit longer reading now you're
on a short(er) list, but they're probably looking for the opposite: what
particular qualities or specific accomplishments make you stand out from the
crowd as a better candidate?

It follows from the above that an effective CV/resume should probably include
just enough filler and buzzwords to get past an automated filter, just enough
overview material to show you're the right sort of candidate, and then a few
carefully selected highlights to intrigue the people making the real decisions
in the later stages and provide interesting interview topics. Anything else,
particularly a complete life history including the LOGO program you wrote at
age 10 to draw a circle, is wasting everyone's time and just gives more
opportunities to get rejected.

If you can't fit that on a single page _at any stage in your career_ then
improving your CV/resume writing skills will probably improve your chances of
landing that next job (barring certain fields like academia, where
expectations are often quite different to most recruitment processes).

------
tormeh
Obviously CV design depends on the position you apply for. If it's design,
marketing or something like that, then I'd say cool design is a big plus. For
a technical position it's just distracting and off-topic.

~~~
jjeaff
I think there is some relation to caring about how things look and being a
good coder.

I like a well designed resume and I like beautifully written and formatted
code.

I've actually considered asking candidates to send me a screenshot of their
IDE.

Obviously not at the top of the list of most important data points, but a data
point nonetheless.

------
rayrrr
Young Mr. Bueno has a bright future ahead of him designing WeWork SEC filings.

------
lifeisstillgood
Swipe left to hire - now there is an enterprise HR app with viral potential

~~~
Spooky23
Having worked in big enterprises and government, it would probably be more
effective to do something like that or even random selection for some jobs.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Random selection is great for hiring people that are lucky.

------
_nhynes
In the examples the article presents, it looks like the pendulum has swung
from “dry” to “overdone” (c.f. 80s era web”). That being said, it’s a net
positive that richer media are now emerging as options. It’s like research
papers: from plain text to hyperref urls to full on promotional webpages (I’m
looking at _you_ Google AI).

Some might say that constraints force a pithy communication, but I’ll take a
tasteful GIF over a static diagram or dense prose any day.

------
tmaly
Outside of the US, many countries have photos on the resume.

I could recall the first time I saw one about a decade ago.

Not sure what I would do if I saw an info graphic on a resume.

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kevindong
Some of the examples shown were obviously bad, but others I (as a non-
recruiter) thought were pretty tasteful and honestly would be pretty good at
getting the candidate hired.

e.g. Valentino Bogliacino Bueno's highlights on his resume: recruiters are
going to skim through his resume and he's catering to that behavior by putting
the highlights of his resume prominently up front and center

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vikingcaffiene
What you know, what you’ve recently done. That’s literally all I want to know
when a resume comes to me. I could care less about the design.

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theshadowknows
My resume is a single page. Black and white text. It does have my name and
contact details. But that’s all. I did take the time to use proper formatting
though. Paragraph and heading spacing for example rather than just a bunch of
returns.

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ma2rten
I am surprised, I thought having a photo on your resume is an absolute no-go
in the US.

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peter303
This is where linkedin confuses me. No photo considerably lowers the attention
you het. On the other hand the photo should be professionally shot with you
wearing business attire. Professional socities sometimes offer free head
shoots.

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gdubs
Creativity that solves a problem can be a good signal. Creativity for
creativity’s sake is a mixed bag, and depends a lot on the role.

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mv4
How would I describe myself? Three words. Hard-working, Alpha male,
Jackhammer, Merciless, Insatiable.

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jbverschoor
Content is always king... Design follows

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randomdata
We're talking about advertising. _Getting noticed_ is king and the content is
essentially irrelevant. There is a reason why Apple buries the tech specs for
the iPhone deep in the website where most people will never find it. Most
people hiring care about your resume's "tech specs" about as much, but flash
gets you noticed.

Resumes have seen a trend towards more and more design because early adopters
of excess design had resumes that stood out, leading to greater success in
their job search. However, as more and more people do the same, the effects
quickly diminish.

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jakear
It’s fun to restart the process though. We’re currently in a race to the top
for “artful resumes as a means of being noticed”, which means if you submit a
“pure content, straight to the point” resume, it will actually be noticed more

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dymk
And it's a fad that will live and die quickly.

