5 Current Trends in Job Résumés

(image from rayvinmedia.com)

With the globalization of business and advancements in technologies, businesses are making a lot of changes in an effort to gain a competitive advantage in today's fast-paced business environment. Similarly, job seekers should be looking for new ways to stand out and gain their own competitive advantage in the selection process.

There are a number of good resources for sprucing up a traditional résumé (two that I think have a number of good points are from U.S. News and Business Insider). But even the Wall Street Journal reports that the traditional résumé is losing its relevance in an increasingly competitive and technological job market - particularly for positions that require innovation and creativity. Below are five trends for job résumés that are currently gaining momentum:

 

(image from mylifeaudio.com)

The Storytelling Résumé
This trend moves away from simply presenting general, static information to actually weaving a narrative that tells the hiring organization what you bring to the table and how you can meet their needs. This can be done in a number of ways. For example, instead of just listing past employment, show how your experience is relevant for the current job opening. Or highlight your accomplishments by showing the numerical value of your work (i.e. "Reduced production costs by 33%," or "Expanded our customer base from 35 customers to over 400 customers").

Another example is to highlight your ambition and promotability by listing multiple job titles (with dates) under the same employer. Take, for example, someone who started as an intern for an organization, then was hired as an administrative staff member, and subsequently became a supervisor over other staff. Those three job titles (Intern, Administrative Staff Member, Staff Supervisor), each with their specific information as described in the previous paragraph, tells a prospective employer (1) that you take advantage of growth opportunities, (2) that you were successful in your previous job(s), and (3) that you would likely stick with the company for a long time.

One article even goes as far as to suggest creating a personal bio in lieu of a résumé, answering five major quesions: (1) Who are you?, (2) How can you help the hiring organization?, (3) How did you get to where you are?, (4) Why can you be trusted?, and (5) What do you share in common? (i.e. Why would you be a good fit for the job/company?)

 (image from brainzooming.com)

The Creative Résumé
Other than the information it contains, what makes your résumé stand out from others? It used to be that printing a résumé on professional-looking cardstock (i.e. marbled, ivory, or parchment) or bright colored paper was enough to draw attention to it. Today, job applicants are often asked to submit their résumés electronically, without printing the résumé at all. But that doesn't mean you can't be creative. If anything, it has increased the creative options for job seekers.

Examples such as the job seeker who formatted his online résumé to look like an Amazon product or  the 15 creative résumés found here show how you can set yourself apart for other job seekers by showcasing your talents and creativity. The trick is to be creative in a manner that accentuates the positive knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies that an organization and/or hiring manager might be looking for in filling the type of position you want.

(image from ksl.com) 

The Visual Résumé 
The visual résumé is a specific type of creative résumé in which your past education, work experiences, accomplishments, etc., are presented in an "infographic" form. Basically, this information is presented visually (typically through graphs and charts) in an effort to draw and maintain the attention of the person reviewing the résumé and to highlight the information that best sells the job candidate. The picture above is just one example of how this can be done. Other examples can be found here and here.

(image from usatoday.com)

The Video Résumé
Using a video presentation as a résumé allows a job seeker to literally tell his/her story and create a personal environment where the hiring manager gets a glimpse into the professionalism, communication skills, and personality of the applicant.

Both USA Today and CBS News share some pros and cons of using video résumés, along with tips for increasing their quality and impact. These links also suggest some sites that are available to assist in creating and hosting video résumés.

One of my favorite examples of a video résumé is found below. It is far from the ideal video résumé, and showcases some of the pros and cons of this résumé medium.

The Google Résumé

The idea of a Google résumé is the idea that your online presence creates its own résumé that can be found when a hiring manager "googles" you, or searches for information about you using an internet search engine. This could include personal webpages, social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn), blogs, etc. More and more hiring managers are using these resources during the process of recruiting and employee selection in an effort to find the best candidate and/or dig up red flags that may indicate that a candidate is not a good fit for the company.

Socialmediatoday.com has a great infographic that details why a positive online presence matters and how one can go about improving his/her Google résumé (or social résumé, as they term it). One of the best ways to first approach the situation is by going ego surfing, using the mindset of a hiring manager to critique the information you find.


Utilizing and managing any of these five current résumé trends takes varying amounts of time, effort, and skill. It is important to understand the job market for the kinds of jobs for which you are applying and whether utilizing these résumé trends would be beneficial in your own job search. Typically, the more creativity and innovation that a job requires, the more many of these résumé trends would apply.

Be Careful What You Post Online

image from thenextgreatgeneration.com

Does this story sound familiar? An individual sees something humorous or interesting, snaps a photo, and uploads it somewhere on the internet to share with others. Seems pretty innocuous, right? Most of us have probably done it ourselves - whether it be on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, or a personal blog. Unfortunately, things get a little muddier when the incident occurs in a work setting, refers to your job, or may cause others to look negatively at the organization that employs you. All of a sudden, what is seemingly innocent could end up being the grounds for disciplinary action - including termination.

Take the recent example of the waitress at Applebees who was fired for posting a customer receipt onine. Sure, a receipt from a self-proclaimed pastor questioning why a waitress should get an 18% tip when God only gets 10%, is interesting, humorous, and unexpected. But the problem came when the customer's signature was included in the picture and was used by the savvy internet community to identify the customer. The waitress (who wasn't even the one who served the table, by the way) took down the initial image and replaced it with one that did not include the signature, but nothing is truly erased from the internet as the image had already been reposted and taken on a life of its own.

You don't have to look far to find other examples of people being fired for information posted online, such as a teacher who was suspended (and eventually fired) after posting insulting comments on her blog about her students. In fact, here are 25 Facebook Posts, some more major than others, that led to firings.

These stories have received media attention because the question of separation between life inside and outside of work is a complex one. Often, these stories include legal action on the part of the employees who were terminated because the issue of if and when internet postings constitute a valid, job-related termination decision is a blurry one. And technology is changing so rapidly that it's almost certain that the courts won't be able to keep up.

- - - The Bottom Line Tip - - -

So what should you do as an employee? First of all, know what your company's policy is regarding online information. Secondly, always err on the side of caution. If there is any question as to whether you should post something online or not, the answer is probably no.

And what should you do as an employer? Make sure your company has a policy regarding internet use and posting information online. The company will be in a much better legal position if it has instituted, communicated, and consistently enforced such a policy with its employees.