The New Résumé
I have a friend: one that I have referenced here a few times. Mostly because he’s so darn smart. Occasionally, because he’s handsome. But usually because what he has to say is interesting to me. Of course, I’m talking of the Mr. Jon Crowley. (Side note: If you’re not reading his blog, you really should be.)
A few times, he’s made the comment to me that résumés are dead. A bold statement but I think he’s onto something. The last time I really used my résumé was over 2 years ago. I’ve only grudgingly updated it here and there for pitches at work and the like. For someone who takes work as seriously as I do (with a huge dash of excitement, obvi), I find it interesting that a resume – or CV – is not more of a focal point for me. Shouldn’t it exist as a more breathing, living document than anything else?
I suppose we do have sites like LinkedIn, which have essentially made résumés redundant (and recruiters’ jobs a whole lot easier). But you still need your résumé when on the hunt, because, for some reason, LinkedIn hasn’t tapped into the idea that you still need a physical résumé every now and then. (Why not let your members print off a nice hard copy version of their LinkedIn profile – even if for a fee? Seems like a lost opportunity to me.)
Which is why I love this site I stumbled upon this evening, courtesy of a tweet by Miss Casie Stewart. It’s a site called Vizualize.me that uses the LinkedIn API to pull in data from your profile to build an inforgraphic of your work experience, skill set, connection information and more. And you know how crazy people get over infographics!
So here is a little teaser of what my full infographic looks like:
And this is where you can see my full infographic résumé.
So what do you think? Worth the time it takes to set it up or not? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing what this would look like. Thanks for sharing your deets : ) Love your colleague’s reco!
Thanks Rayanne! It’s a neat idea. Still needs a little life breathed into it, I think, but it’s definitely a nice visual look over your traditional text and paper CV.
Very cute and very cool (infographic city!!!).
I think Jon is only partly right about resumes being dead.
For some, the traditional resume is a moot point: it’s about your blog, online content you’ve generated, your linkedin, who you know, whatever.
But for others – at certain types of companies and with certain types of managers – you won’t get past Stage Gate #1. Maybe the response to this is “I wouldn’t want to be a part of that kind of company.” As long as you’re cool with that, then yes, for you, the resume is dead.
Definitely agree with you on all points (ESPECIALLY the infographic city point, haha).
Even those of us who works so heavily in digital tend to rely on résumés more than one would expect. It’s an odd contrast.
I like the idea of Visualize.me but based off of your example it doesn’t seem to have enough depth.For me your profile paragraph said a lot more than what the infographics do. I agree with Kerry that the overall person beyond the resume plays a strong role on evaluating a person and as we create larger online and interpersonal footprints this starts to carry more weight and credibility than a self crafted document. In this regard is where the resume is becoming less and less important. I guess its the whole idea of showing someone you can do something vs. telling them you can comes into play.
That’s a fair point. The opening paragraph is pretty key. But it’s nice to have a different kind of format to look at, don’t you think?
For me, where I’d love to see this go is to a more immersive, experiential résumé-reading experience for the end user. Imagine being able to perceptually delve into my years of work, flying through various campaigns I’ve worked on, KPIs I’ve created, and content I’ve posted. That to me, would be way, way cool.
My paper resume is four pages long, mostly for work experience. As a technical professional, there are a lot of details that convey a competency. I also have “inside phrases” that should be meaningful to the right managers about the type of work I do.
The info graphic is probably well-received in your industry, and it’s certainly more entertaining than even my very nicely formatted prose. ;-) Perhaps generating that interest through a more pleasing format is what it would take to get you a callback over someone else.
Oh – and LinkedIn has a printer-friendly option for getting a hard copy of your profile.
I’ll work on my own visualize.me and see what it looks like. :-)
Agree – and as I said in my above comment too – I’m really seeing how this won’t work for every field. Like you said, as a technical professional, there are a lot of things you need to convey that pretty blocks and fonts won’t be able to do.
Thanks for letting me know about the printer-friendly option! My friend sent mine over… It was pretty bland to be honest (much like my boring text and paper CV). I much prefer the one above!
Feel free to post your own Visualize.me here if you’d like! I’d be interested to see it.
I think it depends also on the field you’re in. I work in academia, where CVs eventually take up full binders. For example: mine is 7 pages long, and I’m still just a student.
Honestly, I think the infographic is neat, and I wish it would work with my CV. (I may actually try it, that’s how curious I am!) But I don’t think I’d ever be able to use it – the only people I’d ever send my CV to don’t want to see graphics. They want to see lists: papers, conferences, professional memberships, teaching experience, research experience, clinical experience, etc. etc. etc.
I guess what I’m saying is: This is an interesting concept, and it’s exciting to think that it’s catching on in at least a few fields, but I don’t think that résumés are dead. Rather, I think résumés are evolving, and becoming more diverse, creative, and reflective of the needs they fulfill.
You raise a really good point and I absolutely agree. This won’t work for every kind of field. I think, personally, for a field like digital marketing – this is a good fit for someone like me.
And I 100% agree with your last line and now I’m very much glad I titled this, “The New Résumé” rather than “Résumés are Dead.” I can only hope to see these evolve, hopefully more living, breathing documents, and allow for a more immersive experience for the end-reader.
I hope you try it out – let me know how it goes! Also, are we connected on LinkedIn? If not, this must be rectified.
PS: Thanks for commenting. I miss you muchly!