If it’s been a long time that you pursued a job opportunity chances are
high that your resume is obsolete by the current standards. Besides, when you
are out of touch of something, getting back to it does take some time and
efforts. Nothing is truer when it comes to job hunting and resume is still the
currency on which jobs are given to candidates. Therefore, if you want to land
that dream job opportunity, read on this article to know how resume has changed
over the past one decade.
Those
who think resume writing is a recent phenomenon are living on a different
planet altogether. The first record of a resume dates back to 1482, and the
maverick inventor, scientist, painter and genius Leonardo da Vinci is credited
for writing the first professional resume.
Starting from 1930s and travelling towards the end of the 20th
century, resume became an institution. From a mere formality to a compulsion,
resume’s journey has been nothing if not exciting.
From being a hand-written document to
transforming to a nicely drafted Microsoft Word document, and now appearing in
the forms of well designed info-graphics, resumes have changed beyond
recognition over its entire course of history. Changing ways of job hunting,
technology intrusion and improving standards have been the major driving
factors behind the transformation of resume. Past one decade has been
particularly eventful with Internet emerging as a major factor in finding a new
job.
Personalization
Earlier resumes served only an
informative purpose, offering the recruiter an overview of the professional and
academic accomplishments of the candidate. However, over the time there have
been changes in how resumes are perceived. In the current age, resumes are
considered as personalized marketing document, selling you as a product.
You are marketing yourself to the
employer. Just like two brands of cola market themselves in spite having the
same product inside, you will also have to sell yourself in the crowded job
market using various tactics. Highlight your achievements, traits and
characteristics that are your USP. What distinguishes you from the rest? What
makes you better than the other guy? All these points should be communicated
through your resume.
Keywords
In the modern scenario, keywords
in a resume make the whole difference. Most companies today use applicant
tracking system software which has pre-fed keywords to filter resumes before
sending them at the human resource desk. These ATS were not available 10 years
back and hence keywords were not that important a decade back. But today, the
importance of keywords in a resume can’t be overstated. They help connect
resumes with current openings, ensuring future searches results in appropriate
resumes matching to the hiring professional’s requirements.
Visual Elements
Who
could have thought that a video can serve the purpose of a resume? Or that a CV
could look like this? But this is only the
start. There is a revolution of sorts happening in the resume writing industry,
with previously unheard and unimagined visual elements being part of the
CV. Infographic resume is the hot trend right
now. In this format you can chart your career as a timeline, plot your
strengths on a skill map, use charts and graphs to break down the types of
industries you’ve worked for. If you
have the ability to distill your job experience in 140 characters or less, then
a ‘tewsume’ or a Twitter resume is the right option for you. A twesume is a short bio or resume that one
can tweet, message or email to potential employers. You can try including one
or two hashtags relevant to your industry to catch the hiring manager’s
attention.
Another fast rising industry
trend is visual resume on the presentation-sharing site, SlideShare. You can
find a range of existing presentation resumes as a reference to start building
your own. The latest fad is video resume, creating which is as risky as it
innovative it is. A one to three-minute
video should be more than enough to explain in clear and compelling way why
you’d be a good fit for the job. The video can vary with the type of the job
which you are applying to. For instance, a job as finance manager could have a video resume with you
sitting in finance office like sitting, dressed in a manager’s suite.
Similarly, those applying to a position like teacher can create a video resume
with classroom like setting.
