Did the best resume you've seen contain color?

[Anonymous]

We only use color printers for client work, so I wouldn't necessarily see the color on your resume.

[Anonymous]

Isn't it sad that people would be thrown off by something colorful and original?

Sigh. Ah well, you know it's a risk.

[Anonymous]

^^^ive seen a pink resume!! More magenta but ugh!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a creative director and my resume is truly a work of art. In the past it has had a bold logo, presently it has a unique layout with subdued colors (which print black with no issue).

Unless you're with an agency, it's likely you are a marketing manager for a company which is part of a specific industry. You may want to look for resume templates that are suitable for your industry, instead of something that screams you're in marketing.

Take a look at these:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/521108227/resume-template-instant-download-cv

https://www.etsy.com/listing/497704100/modern-resume-template-for-word-and

https://www.etsy.com/listing/522094089/resume-template-professional-resume

Wow, these are really eye catching. My resume could use a makeover but I'm a nurse and I wonder if these would be too "cute" in the healthcare industry. Any recruiters out there have any thoughts?

These resumes waste a lot of space. If you're a nurse, you'll want that space to get your experience and education on there. Boring formatting with excellent credentials will always be your best bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a creative director and my resume is truly a work of art. In the past it has had a bold logo, presently it has a unique layout with subdued colors (which print black with no issue).

Unless you're with an agency, it's likely you are a marketing manager for a company which is part of a specific industry. You may want to look for resume templates that are suitable for your industry, instead of something that screams you're in marketing.

Take a look at these:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/521108227/resume-template-instant-download-cv

https://www.etsy.com/listing/497704100/modern-resume-template-for-word-and

https://www.etsy.com/listing/522094089/resume-template-professional-resume

Wow, these are really eye catching. My resume could use a makeover but I'm a nurse and I wonder if these would be too "cute" in the healthcare industry. Any recruiters out there have any thoughts?

These resumes waste a lot of space. If you're a nurse, you'll want that space to get your experience and education on there. Boring formatting with excellent credentials will always be your best bet.

Agreed. I work in IT and resumes should be one page, one sided if you have a bachelor's or less than about 15 years experience. You can go to 1.5 pages with a Master's and/or 15+ years of experience and 2 pages if you have a PhD or senior, very desirable experience.

If you waste space like that without the experience, very few IT managers are going to wade through multiple pages just to get a little bit of experience. The last few times I posted a job, I had about over 80 resumes to review. I was culling the resumes down to find the ones worth interviewing and anyone wasting time and space with fluff or not getting to the point were not going to make the cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No color. No weird fonts.

+1

[Anonymous]

I'm a recruiter (corporate currently but executive recruiting for years in the past). I think I read about 100 resumes daily. I've been with management consulting (Accenture, Booz, Blackboard, etc) and I'm been with F100 co. like Citibank, recruiting for all levels in all industries including marketing/sales/graphic design roles.

Let me tell you people - no color.

That being said, you can put color if you just feel compelled to do it, but it doesn't matter cause I spend about 30 seconds on each resume. I am looking to see what you did/have done. I'm looking for how long you were in each of your jobs, the amount of years of experience, in some cases, education, every so often I will actually look at formatting/presentation of a resume IF and only if everything else is a match. I don't really care about how pretty a resume looks - it's more about getting insights into the kind of person I'm dealing with.

You can use color as long as it's not obnoxious but I don't really care. My hiring managers don't care either. I'm screening candidates for them so they will pretty much listen to my suggestions. I think people are waaaaay too into presentation and focusing on what they can do to break out of the pack - sorry but none of this works. The reality is that if you have the experience, it it's a good fit with a role, it will work out and you will get a call. There's only so much you can do if you are applying online and you have to be confident and professional enough to work within the parameters of the process. Substance matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a recruiter (corporate currently but executive recruiting for years in the past). I think I read about 100 resumes daily. I've been with management consulting (Accenture, Booz, Blackboard, etc) and I'm been with F100 co. like Citibank, recruiting for all levels in all industries including marketing/sales/graphic design roles.

Let me tell you people - no color.

That being said, you can put color if you just feel compelled to do it, but it doesn't matter cause I spend about 30 seconds on each resume. I am looking to see what you did/have done. I'm looking for how long you were in each of your jobs, the amount of years of experience, in some cases, education, every so often I will actually look at formatting/presentation of a resume IF and only if everything else is a match. I don't really care about how pretty a resume looks - it's more about getting insights into the kind of person I'm dealing with.

You can use color as long as it's not obnoxious but I don't really care. My hiring managers don't care either. I'm screening candidates for them so they will pretty much listen to my suggestions. I think people are waaaaay too into presentation and focusing on what they can do to break out of the pack - sorry but none of this works. The reality is that if you have the experience, it it's a good fit with a role, it will work out and you will get a call. There's only so much you can do if you are applying online and you have to be confident and professional enough to work within the parameters of the process. Substance matters.

I'm the IT supervisor from above. I agree with this. The format of your resume should be designed to make the information on the resume easier to find. It doesn't matter if it looks nice. It matters if the recruiting and HR screeners can find all the buzzwords they are required to look for. If so, they'll pass it on to the hiring managers. Then it has to be easy for the hiring managers to find the experience and information that they are looking for. If after all of that, the resumes are sorted into piles of A (closest matches and first choice for interviews), B (close, has all required, but missing some preferred experience), and C (has all required, but missing a significant amount of preferred experience). The harder it is to find your information, the more likely that one of the early previewers will just decide that it isn't worth hunting for what they want and will discard your resume or move on to the next one. Changes are if I move on, I won't be coming back until I've gone through the other resumes that are good fits for my job.

[Anonymous]

No. Don't use color unless you are very good at graphic design. And not in your own opinion, but in the opinions of others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stick to the basics-standard white paper (8 1/2 X11), Times New Roman, Black, Font between 10-12 pt

Times New Roman looks dated today-- stick with a sans serif font.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Don't use color unless you are very good at graphic design. And not in your own opinion, but in the opinions of others.

Creative Director PP here. I have a designer do my resume update every few years - technically I have the skills for it, but it's not my daily operation and better suited to an actual graphic designer. Keep that in mind anyone who considers it.

[Anonymous]

Neutrals as section headers is fine. If you're not in a creative industry or role, then your resume shouldn't look creative. If you're going for a creative role, then yes, use one of the more modern resume layouts.

If you're not sure, message a recruiter for a company you're interested in on LinkedIn and ask. They're usually friendly and want to help promising candidates make the right impression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stick to the basics-standard white paper (8 1/2 X11), Times New Roman, Black, Font between 10-12 pt

Times New Roman looks dated today-- stick with a sans serif font.

What?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stick to the basics-standard white paper (8 1/2 X11), Times New Roman, Black, Font between 10-12 pt

Times New Roman looks dated today-- stick with a sans serif font.

What?!

Times New Roman is probably the most commonly chosen fonts for resumes — the very reason you should avoid it, and why it appears on our “Worst” list. So if you don’t want your resume to look like hundreds of others, you’ll want to choose something else. And Garamond is a great alternative.

https://designschool.canva.com/blog/resume-fonts/