Do you remember story-time in preschool and kindergarten? Your teacher sat in the little chair. The class sat on the colorful carpet anxiously waiting for the story to begin. What was the most exciting part? The pictures right? You loved the story, but the pictures made it come to life. Even as adults, our brains are wired to respond to visual storytelling. This is because images grab our attention.

The traditional resume is nothing special or new. Most everyone has one. So why not transform your traditional resume into an infographic resume? Your resume is already telling a story. The only thing left to do is bring it to life!

What is an Infographic Resume?

So what do you think of when you hear the word “infographic”? It sounds very technical doesn’t it? Basically, an infographic is a large amount of information put into images and text. This allows viewers to quickly get to the important stuff.

Infographics are nothing new. They’ve been around for many years. There has been a recent increase in free websites for creating infographics. So the tools are more readily available.

The magic of infographics can even make your resume more attractive. In a competitive job market, it may be what is needed to get noticed.

Features of an Infographic Resume

Headline/Tagline – Use a headline to summarize who you are.

Photo – People respond to pictures. If you’ve got a good professional picture use it.

Timeline – Infographic resumes often use a visual timeline to show important dates and achievements.

Quotes/References – Use testimonials and quotes. These are strong credibility builders.

One thing to keep in mind, in order to get results, an infographic resume must be well thought out. It also has to have an appealing design.

As with everything, there are pros and cons to using an infographic resume during your job search.

Infographic Resumes: The Pros

1. Stand out in the crowd

Infographic resumes allow you to put more of your personality into your story. An infographic resume is a great way to show your creativity as well.

2. Take control of telling your story

The infographic resume is not just a chance to show off your cleverness. It also gives you so much more freedom to tell your story. You can take your experiences and make them unique to you.

With an infographic resume, you’re not limited in your formatting. You can highlight the information that shows you are the best person for the job.

3. Be a better networker

Using an infographic resume can be a great conversation starter. Some professionals are using infographics to create cool online bios to use primarily for networking.

Infographic Resumes: The Cons

1. Not right for every industry/role

Recruiters and hiring managers have been trained on how to quickly scan traditional resumes. Many are not interested in changing the way they work.

Also, there are some professions and companies that are more conservative than others. Those that are more on the conservative side may view an infographic resume as being tad bit wacky.

Creative industries like communications, marketing, advertising, and public relations respond really well to infographic resumes. Industries like finance and the legal fields don’t respond as well. They want professional and professional to them is black and white and edited to their standards, nothing extra.

2. A bad version makes a bad impression

If you’re going to create a resume infographic, make sure it’s awesome. If you are not going to put your all into, stick with the traditional resume.

3. Not accepted for some job applications

When applying online, you are sometimes limited with what you can do. Infographic resumes don’t work well in these situations. You will need a traditional resume to upload or copy and paste into the application.

Creating an Infographic Resume

You don’t have to be a design wizard or graphic genius to create a great infographic resume. There are plenty of online resources to help you create your own infographic resume.

Vizify– Vizify allows you to transform your social media profiles/content using graphics to highlight the best parts of your professional and personal story. Vizify can also instantly generate an “animated portrait of your Twitter account.”
Vizualize-me: Vizualize.me lets you automatically create a visual resume based on your LinkedIn information.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn has tools to visually enhance your LinkedIn profile.
Re-vu: Re-vu creates a visual resume in a few easy steps.
Infogr.am: Allows non-designers to quickly create infographics from any data (for a resume or any other purpose).

An infographic resume can’t be used in all situations so you will still need a traditional text resume. Consider it as another useful tool to add to your portfolio.

Since employers will likely do a web search on you, having your infographic online can be a great way to show off your creativity and seriousness in finding a job. As the saying goes, Content is King, so your resume should carry its weight in valuable content regardless of format. As the saying goes, “Content is King”, so your resume should be able to present you as the best candidate no matter how it looks.