5 Bold Moves to Help Your Resume Jump Off the Page

Looking for work? Tired of receiving no callbacks despite the dozens of inquiries you send off every week?

The problem might not be with you, just the way you’re presenting yourself through your resume.

You’ve likely even revised your resume several times to make it look more impressive, more professional, longer, shorter, or whatever you think might get you noticed.

Well, if you think you’ve tried everything, it might be time to get brave and try a few out-of-the box techniques to get your resume noticed.

If you’re ready to transform your resume from a dull document into an awe-inspiring application, here are five ideas for thinking outside the box.

Add Color

Catch their eye right away with a resume that uses color.

Put your name in a bold, unforgettable red; add images or infographs that leap off the page; print the entire thing on a sheet of colored paper.

While everyone else makes vague promises in black and white, you’ll be proving your ingenuity and risk-tasking right away, something that employers highly value in today’s competitive market.

You don’t need to go over the top—even just adding a border in color, or a color picture to the resume will breathe a little life into it.

Change The Shape

Another trick that immediately grabs attention, changing the very shape of your resume will make it stand out from a stack of standard-issue applications.

For example, you might dye it in sepia tones and roughen the edges for a job in a museum, or you might fold it into an old-fashioned fortune teller to show your potential whimsy as a toy store clerk.

This may not work for every job, but for creative and unique companies, or more “imaginative” jobs you are applying for, this could really impress the employer.

Remain professional when the job calls for it, but if the job is a little less “business” don’t be afraid to get creative.

Offer A Proposal

Marketing hopefuls can create a fake ad campaign with themselves as the product.

Finance interns might look into the company’s public tax records and draft a new budget for maximizing deductions and reducing overhead.

The key here is to show your potential bosses what you can do for their company, and they’ll love it all the more for the fact that you did it off the clock.

Even if you include a “fake” campaign or proposal, it demonstrate your skills to the employer more than a mere list of your qualifications will.

Tailor It To The Job

Revamp your resume to reflect your skills in whatever position you’re trying to snag. For example, if you’re applying for a writing job, craft your work history into iambic pentameter.

If you’re aiming for the beauty counter at Macy’s, spritz the paper with perfume and include a note about the natural blend of its fragrances.

Employers get tired of reading generic, boring resumes that are being sent out to dozens of other companies.

If you tailor your resume to that specific job or company, it will show, and it will definitely impress the employer.

Add A Little Humor

You’ll need to toe the line of professionalism here, but if you can make an overworked, underpaid hiring manager guffaw at his desk, you’re much more likely to be remembered when he’s crafting a list of potential candidates.

Inject some sly humor into your references list; replace your letterhead with a joke. Your resume might just get passed around the office in admiration.

Take caution: what is funny to you might not be funny to an employer or company, so don’t blow it by being insensitive, inappropriate, or unprofessional.

A little light humor will get you remembered for good reasons, but a bad joke will make you infamous.

These are only a few of the ways you can break out of a lifetime habit of bland, boring resumes.

If you’re serious about landing that interview, it’s time you step up your game and show employers you are serious.

Taking a little extra time to help your resume stand out will at least get you an interview. For many employers, a resume says a lot about a person, and in most cases, your resume will be their initial impression of you.

So make sure you get it right the first time, because you might not get another chance with them!

Information for this article was provided by the professionals of AAA McKinstry, an agency that offers resume help and other professional writing services.