If you hadn’t noticed, times have changed. The job search process is completely different and it is changing rapidly. In an older post, I talked about the micro resume, a trend started in China. This time, I want to discuss the Infographic Resume and Vizualize.me.
What is It?
An infographic is simply a graphic visual representation of information. When you consider the resume is an advertisement, it makes sense that a resume could also be an infographic. The infographic resume is a graphic representation of you as a candidate. These days, candidates are doing all sorts of things to give themselves an edge and all the latest tactics relate to personal branding and self-marketing. Part of the reason personal branding is such an important topic in today’s job search has to do with the Google generation. There are roughly 3 billion Google searches a day and counting. In May, 2011, Google hit 1 billion unique visitors making it the first company to reach that mark. Search has become so important to people, it has also become a trend to search people; not just products. Have you ever Googled someone you were interested in dating? If you haven’t, I guarantee you that people do it! My point is that it shouldn’t be such a surprise that recruiters and employers are also searching candidates. Because of this, your personal branding efforts to find a job can’t just be the old school methods of having a print resume, cover letter, and a business card. The infographic resume is simply another trend, more popular in creative industries, that reflects the changing times.
Vizualize.me
One of the reasons the infographic resume is not a fast growing trend is because not everyone is a Graphic Designer. However, Vizualize.me, a company currently in beta, seeks to change that. Vizualize.me allows users to import their LinkedIn information to create a stunning infographic resume. The concept is pretty awesome if you ask me. Now this doesn’t mean that everyone should just start creating infographic resumes and ditching their Word document resumes. Job seekers need to have many tools in their toolbelt and many different types of personal advertisements. This means, job seekers should have a Word document, a PDF, a text file, a digital resume, an online profile (multiple preferably), and perhaps an infographic resume. To be an effective job seeker today requires so much more skill in marketing than it ever has in the past. The infographic resume is merely another sign of the times. Don’t forget the QR code! Pretty soon, we’ll all need marketing degrees just to learn how to get a job!
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Thanks Robert – have you checked us out at http://www.nuzume.com? We’re a resume writing service that creates infographic resumes that HR managers have given us truly positive feedback about. In other words, it’s an infographic resume people can actually use, rather than a cutesy web app that isn’t fit for HR consumption, which we’re seeing an awful lot of out there. I love seeing posts regarding visualize since it spreads the word regarding infographic resumes, but the best ones we’re seeing are created by good infographic designers who tailor it to each client’s experiences – just like a traditional resume. Cheers – Tony