Resumes: conservative use of color?

[BeeR]

It's always been that (with very rare exception) resumes are strictly black n white only. ie don't get "cute" and stay professional. Which I always have and generally makes sense. But I've been tinkering w/my resume and found that if I use just a very little color - like one conservative color for my job headings - it makes it easier to scroll through, esp since I have parts of my job desc's bold-faced, just as the titles are, which muddles it a little.

 

Bad idea? Or have we come far enough w/online resumes that this might be viable for those reasons and wouldn't freak out headhunters and/or employers?

[cliaz]

I don't think that's a bad idea. Remember, you are trying to stand out from a stack of like thousands so one conservative color may catch the eye of HR.

[detlef]

I don't think that's a bad idea. Remember, you are trying to stand out from a stack of like thousands so one conservative color may catch the eye of HR.

I agree. I don't like cute resumes but think I would appreciate if one came in on nice, off-white stock with dark burgundy for Section titles. Not sure I would go all the way and use anything but black for the specific job listing. Rather just use it for "Experience", "Education", "Relevant Skills"... that sort of thing. And, I suppose your Name and contact info would be cool as well.

[Savage Beatings]

What are your thoughts on hard copies of resumes being mailed in vs. an electronic copy (ie. an online reply from Monster.com or something like that)?

[BeeR]

Oh sure, the wine guy would pick burgundy.

 

 

I've only done soft copies for a long time now. In IT at least I think it's rare people do otherwise.

[bpwallace49]

The more color the better.

 

BeeR for you I recommend hot pink with a lot of rainbows and unicorns. It will really help the recruiter learn more about you and your "other" hobbies when applying.

[whoopazz]

I don't care about color and hardly ever see it. I don't see a problem with this if you don't overdo it. I look for easy to read formatting and easy to find skills. I can't stand poor grammar and spelling errors. Do that and your out with me (I get plenty that aren't what I consider sloppy). Oh, and I prefer soft copies.

[detlef]

What are your thoughts on hard copies of resumes being mailed in vs. an electronic copy (ie. an online reply from Monster.com or something like that)?

My only issue with soft copies is that they so often come in all jacked up, so I don't know if the guy didn't care about making his resume nice or whether google docs or whatever messed it up. Needless to say, if I was hiring for something like IT, I'd expect the person to understand computers enough to save it in whatever format is least likely to get messed up. However, I can't expect a bartender or what-have-you to be up on that stuff so it takes away one discerning element between candidates because one guy could have actually bothered to put something nice together and the other was a slob but, by the time the documents make it to me, they both look like crap.

[gilthorp]

Color makes no difference. It would be more professional to bold the areas you are looking to stand out. Anything more than a 2 page resume is not something that keeps my attention either. I prefer to work with professionals that can keep it simple, and then have an additional form of project history that is more in depth if necessary. The 3+ page resume always makes me think the person is too scatterbrain and can't emphasize the major importance of what they've done. If someone has done 7 different things in two years, IMO, they should detail the few that are of most importance, and then summarize the rest quickly. Making every single task seem like equal importance and time spent is not the right way to present yourself.

 

Back on point, color is irrelevant in my IT profession.

 

The other thing that I've seen before that is a major no no is putting a picture on a resume. Tacky.

[BeeR]

The more color the better.

 

BeeR for you I recommend hot pink with a lot of rainbows and unicorns. It will really help the recruiter learn more about you and your "other" hobbies when applying.

And I will SO stand out!

[bpwallace49]

And I will SO stand out!

 

It is all about getting noticed . . . .

 

I had a applicant for an executive chef position that turned in his resume taped to a frying pan. Kinda hokey, but damned if I didnt read his resume!

[yo mama]

Off white resume paper is fine, but a waste of money in the electronic age, IMO. The only highlighting I like to see on a candidate's resume is underlining, bolding, or all caps. People who go out of their way to get noticed using non-traditional methods DO get noticed by me, but in the wrong way.

 

Have an awesome GPA? Great, bold that. Experience that is directly relevant to my practice? Super! Say so in an ever-so-brief cover letter (no more than a paragraph or two). Need to better organize your resume so that my eye glides easily from point to point? Then ALL CAPS the top 2-3 major themes in your resume (Education, work experience, other pertinent skills), underline the names of employers/schools, and make sure the pagination and formatting eliminates all visual distraction. Don't hide from the stuff you know I want to know about (e.g., I generally trash-can resumes that don't list school GPAs and/or school rank. Classic resume fail). Don't give me junk I didn't ask for (like gratuitous writing samples or references). And the damn thing better not be more than 1 page.

 

But much than that and I'm not impressed. You REALLY want to get noticed by me, in a positive way? Have someone introduce us. Facebook friend, an alumni from a common school or fraternity, whatever. I'll probably look at your resume for 60 more seconds than I would have otherwise. Is fruity coloring what you really want me to notice the most if/when I do glace at it? Really?

 

Oh, and FYI: my secretaries photo copy resumes before I see them (originals stay on file), so I wouldn't even notice fancy colors if you put them on there.

Edited February 28, 2010 by yo mama

[Fatman]

We spent a lot of time this fall on resumes and, just my personal preference, I'd avoid color. Seems kind of amateurish.

[gilthorp]

Oh, and FYI: my secretaries photo copy resumes before I see them (originals stay on file), so I wouldn't even notice fancy colors if you put them on there.

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...look at Mr. BIG Yo mama, and his secretary!!!!!

[yo mama]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...look at Mr. BIG Yo mama, and his secretary!!!!!

That's secretaries - plural - bitch.

[cliaz]

Have an awesome GPA? Great, bold that. Experience that is directly relevant to my practice? Super! Say so in an ever-so-brief cover letter (no more than a paragraph or two). Need to better organize your resume so that my eye glides easily from point to point? Then ALL CAPS the top 2-3 major themes in your resume (Education, work experience, other pertinent skills), underline the names of employers/schools, and make sure the pagination and formatting eliminates all visual distraction. Don't hide from the stuff you know I want to know about (e.g., I generally trash-can resumes that don't list school GPAs and/or school rank. Classic resume fail). Don't give me junk I didn't ask for (like gratuitous writing samples or references). And the damn thing better not be more than 1 page.

 

So let me run this by you - I'm updating my resume since my company has been axing people left and right since Thanksgiving. I thought I was always somewhat safe since I am the only BC person in the entire organization and have other unique projects to handle. Then people who I thought were on the same tier as me got RIF'ed.

 

So anyways, I'm reformatting my resumizzle and I'm using this format (can you advise?)

 

Name Last Name

address

email

Home #

Mobile #

Twitter account (is it okay to include this?)

Linkedin account (is it okay to include this?)

 

Qualifications:

<working text> Engineering Project Manager with 10 years of Information Technology (IT) experience in Operations with emphasis on Change Management and Business Continuity. <thoughts? advice? suggestions?>

 

Education:

University of Maryland University College, Bachelor of Science Emergency Management (pursuing)

(should I included my military schooling and certification schools? Seems to diminish this section if I did - little hokey?)

 

Work Experience

Fluffer

Jizz mopper

 

Certifications:

Certified Fluffer

 

Accomplishments:

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Advocate (i was told that this should be included but don't know if a resume is a proper place for non-work or academic achievements. advice?)

Volunteer Grant Writer for FRAXA.org (ditto)

Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society (ΑΣΛ Tau Chapter)

Maintain a 3.71 GPA at University of Maryland University College (should this be in the education section?)

 

Are the sections in good area or should I move them around?

[yo mama]

- Ditch the twitter and linkedin accounts, unless they are highly relevant to your job (like a journalist, online movie critic, or something).

- unless you're fresh out of school, minimize the portion for past academics to the bare essentials: school, degree, GPA/class rank, truly special achievements. (omit high school, no one cares). Feel free to go into a bit more detail for degrees that you are currently pursuing.

- next, list your professional licenses or certifications (but not job experience or ability). This should be no more then 1-3 lines, pared down to the most relevant stuff you've got. Minor or obscure certifications should be omitted, unless relevant to the particular job you're applying for.

- next, work experience. Employer, date of employment, job title you have/had when you left, and a 3-5 sentence description of what you did/were responsible for. Use short sentences, action words to begin each sentence, and be consistent with your verb tenses (present tense for current job, past tense for former jobs). "Drafted procedure manual for midget knife fighting. Collected stool samples from hippos with erectile dysfunction. Generally responsible for updating office porn stash." I generally revisit my resume before submitting it to anyone to tailor it to who I'm sending it to, or to emphasize what is most relevant. Give them your top 3-5 points and save the rest for the interview.

- Other skills or accomplishments: foreign languages, computer skills, volunteer work (assuming it isn't politically charged), and things that are interesting about you (I've seen things like black belt in martial arts, "dragon boat racing," sports, watch making, etc.) The point is that someone sifting through 30 resumes isn't going to remember "Cliaz'" resume: they're going to remember you as the "________ guy." So feel free to list something unique about yourself that demonstrates you have depth to your personality.

- yes, GPAs should be in your eduction section.

- if your military eduction/experience is relevant to the job you're applying for, put that in the education/certification section, as appropriate. If it isn't, put your military experience in the "other skills and accomplishments" section.

- a lot of people feel compelled to insert a multi-sentence narrative about what they can generally do in their resume. Resist that temptation, because that's what cover letters/emails are for. Some have a "goal" section on their resume. Well, if you're submitting a resume your goal is obviously to get a job: saying it out loud is just redundant.

- all email, phone, and address information should be your personal/home contact info: don't use contact info from your current job, because you want people to be able to get in touch with you even if you leave your current job.

 

You're lucky if people are going to spend 60 seconds on your resume. Don't waste anyone's time, get to the point, and leave out everything that isn't essential. The goal of a resume is to get an interview or a call back (most people get a job offer based on the interview, not the resume). And yet many folks make the mistake of trying to do too much with their resume and it comes off looking cluttered, desperate, or like they are trying to hide their shortcomings with a barrage of minor plus factors.

 

Make your resume succinct, the content well-targeted, and you're more likely to leave the reader with the impression that you know your manure. And for the love of God have 2-3 people read it for typos and punctuation errors. I'm not ashamed to say I've used that as the difference-maker when looking at two equally qualified resumes. One shows attention to detail, the other doesn't, and those kinds of personality traits matter.

Edited February 28, 2010 by yo mama

[ts]

All of the above from yo mama is great advice, but I think this is an excellent summary:

 

You're lucky if people are going to spend 60 seconds on your resume. Don't waste anyone's time, get to the point, and leave out everything that isn't essential. The goal of a resume is to get an interview or a call back (most people get a job offer based on the interview, not the resume). And yet many folks make the mistake of trying to do too much with their resume and it comes off looking cluttered, desperate, or like they are trying to hide their shortcomings with a barrage of minor plus factors.

 

When I'm plowing thru a bunch of resumes and have fifteen other unrelated things I need to get done that same morning, each resume I review gets 1-2 minutes tops ... it better be easy for me to note in a heartbeat that the applicant has current / recent experience relevant to my company's target market and / or has experience using the particular tools that we utilize most often. Applicants without resumes that fall into this category have submitted resumes that never get a second read from me, and the second (more careful) read is the one where I make the decision about setting up an interview or not.

 

No matter what the industry or job you're targeting - keep your resume short & uncluttered, with relevant information clearly explained and easy to find, and you have a resume that stands a chance of getting you the interview you are seeking.

 

E2A - as an aside, I can't remember the last time I read a resume that was not initially submitted to me in electronic format, and (maybe just personal preference) I find the use of even "conservative" color a bit distracting - as has been stated, simple use of bold, underline or italics to emphasize important content should be enough.

 

 

Edited February 28, 2010 by ts

[BeeR]

The length thing has always been hard for me. I'm not stupid (believe it or not), I'm not like some people's I've seen that ramble on and on for 5-6 pages. I've studied this resume thing, believe me; I think mine is good on the whole (well organized, use active verbs, blah blah blah). And I totally hear you on not wanting to overdo it.

 

But being highly experienced (ie old), having had numerous jobs and done a wide variety of things, I can't fairly sum up each job in a sentence or 2...and feel I need to have in there the kinds of things I see people asking for in job descriptions. Also I almost always include a cover letter, which is pointedly brief and basically says "hi your job is great, I'm your guy and here are some reasons why..." then a few bullets outlining key qualifications...then "pls call me, pls pls pls I'm so fn desperate" (well OK not really but it's tempting sometimes).

 

What I have done (and partly what brought this topic up) after seeing it suggested elsewhere is bold-face "key" parts of those job descriptions......but then the headings for each job didn't stand out all nice n neat like before, which I why I thought idea of giving them a conservative color (I chose dark blue - I think it's just enough to help those headings stand out as they did before I bold-faced).

 

sigh. I hate this; one wrong move on a resume can sink you, even if slight and even if you are the best guy for the job. Y'all recruiter people are a royal pain.

Edited February 28, 2010 by BeeR

[ts]

...and feel I need to have in there the kinds of things I see people asking for in job descriptions. What I have done (and partly what brought this topic up) after seenig it suggested elsewhere is bold-face "key" parts of those descriptions......but then the headings for each job didn't stand out all nice n neat like before...

 

 

One possible way around this is to use a mix of bold/italic/underline and/or differing fonts ... as long as the result is not cluttered, or you select conflicting fonts that make reading difficult ... the samples below are more cluttered than I'd actually like (I'd not use a mix & match of all of these bold, italics, underlines in the same paragraphs & would not perhaps choose these particular fonts), so these examples may not translate well in a message board post, but hopefully you'll see the idea:

 

Chief Bottle Washer, XYZ Corporation 2007-2009

Hired as Bottle Washer, promoted to Lead Bottle Washer after six months. Introduced use of SuperWash technology to reduce department expenses by 15%. Promoted to Chief Bottle Washer in 2008, supervising a team of ten Bottle Washers. Blah, blah, blah.

 

Junior Bottle Washer, ABC Industries, 2005-2007

Responsible for rinsing and brushing up to 3,000 bottles per day. Suggested process improvements that increased washing capacity to 4,000 bottles per day company-wide. Blah, blah, blah.

 

...

 

Edited February 28, 2010 by ts

[whomper]

I don't care about color and hardly ever see it. I don't see a problem with this if you don't overdo it. I look for easy to read formatting and easy to find skills. I can't stand poor grammar and spelling errors. Do that and your out with me (I get plenty that aren't what I consider sloppy). Oh, and I prefer soft copies.

 

 

[BeeR]

One possible way around this is to use a mix of bold/italic/underline and/or differing fonts ... as long as the result is not cluttered, or you select conflicting fonts that make reading difficult

?? That's what I just said I did. Pay attention when I'm talkin to ya boy.

 

 

lol

 

While we're on the topic, I agree it's lame to have spelling errors/etc on resumes, but IMO anyone dissing a candidate for that (unless it's for something like a writer or editor) is making a ridiculous mistake. Do you want the best candidate for the job or the best resume maker? It doesn't exactly follow that because they made a typo they would suck at their job. (PS this is from a part-time grammar nazi too)

[Puddy]

While we're on the topic, I agree it's lame to have spelling errors/etc on resumes, but IMO anyone dissing a candidate for that (unless it's for something like a writer or editor) is making a ridiculous mistake. Do you want the best candidate for the job or the best resume maker? It doesn't exactly follow that because they made a typo they would suck at their job. (PS this is from a part-time grammar nazi too)

 

I've never called anyone for an interview that had a spelling error on their resume. Do I care that they may occasionally screw up grammar in an interoffice email or something? No. But this is their resume. They had time to read it, re-read it and make sure it's perfect. If they didn't take the time for this one, very important document then that shows they don't care enough to get an interview IMO. There are 100 people trying to get that same job. It makes it easy on me to discard those that don't take the time to make it right.

[BeeR]

Or maybe they just aren't very good at grammar/proof-reading. If they didn't care about getting the job they wouldn't have applied. Again, unless that's an important skill in the job - and for many it is not - well, whatever, all I know is I wouldn't automatically discard it. Now if it was really sloppy, plenty of mistakes, etc, that's different...but getting 86ed because of one typo makes no sense to me at all.

Edited February 28, 2010 by BeeR

[whoopazz]

But, I already have a job