In an attempt to stand out from the crowd of other job applicants, some people get creative with their resume format and/or send videos. Over-the-top resumes, however, are not a very good idea, as two studies suggest.
Picture: Dani Law/Flickr
Donna Svei at AvidCareerist shares these findings. In the first study, universy researchers in Norway had 90 people (half of them HR professionals and the other half students) read 12 job candidates’ resumes and put them into reject, maybe and interview piles. The researchers created three resumes for each candidate — keeping the information on each resume the same, but varying the paper and graphic design elements.
The formal resume on white paper was significantly more likely than the coloured paper resume or the creative/infographic-like resume to land the interview.
The findings suggest that, at least for non-creative job positions, it’s safer to go with a traditional resume format.
Donna also cites a second study, which you can read about here, that suggests paper resumes have an advantage over video resumes or video-plus-paper job applications. (Note that this study had psychology students evaluating the resumes, but the takeaway is that video resumes might not be worth the time or expense.)
Remember, you have to deal with hiring managers’ resume preferences as well as resume-screening software.
Creative Resumes Get Fewer Interviews [AvidCareerist]
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