Six seconds. That is, on average, how long you need to work on your abs. It is also how long recruiters spend scanning your resume before they decide to keep or toss it. (Read the cold, hard truth here.) It doesn’t seem fair when you’ve probably spent six hours or even six days or weeks crafting your masterpiece, but that’s the reality.
We’ve spotted some helpful articles explaining how to optimize your resume for speed-of-light scanning, such as 10 Ways to Craft Your Resume for Ultra-Short Attention Spans, from Fast Company, and How to Make Your Resume Last Longer than 6 Seconds, from Time. And while we get the importance of maximizing white space and stripping out distracting details, we also believe there’s a time and a place for personality, creativity, and fun.
Our challenge: Try using Haiku Deck to create a visual resume. Sure, you’ll probably need a “real” one, too, but there might be times when a creative twist will help you stand out from the crowd. Here’s mine. And we’d love to see yours–you can post your links in the comments.
(By the way, we’re hiring! Send us your resume at jobs@haikudeck.com)