We asked Alumni to weigh in on the efficacy of “pretty/Pinterest-y” resumes.
Here is what they shared:
- ATS-Friendly Resumes Prevail
- Balance Style With Substance
- Use Design To Your Advantage
- Prioritize Content Over Aesthetics for Recruiters
ATS-Friendly Resumes Prevail
While I enjoy the aesthetic of a pretty resume, outside of those working in graphic design, the arts, and the fashion industry, I’ve found them not to be the best in practice. My internships and full-time post-grad positions have all been secured using an ATS-friendly resume. As an applicant, it’s important to be aware of just how many resumes recruiters receive and why ATS is used to help screen the overall batch of candidates.
Elements like your portfolio or LinkedIn are a great place to build your brand and showcase your creativity. In interviews, I’ve come to notice I’m asked questions about the contents within my portfolio, LinkedIn, or even key points from my cover letter (take note, creative writers, this is a great place to shine!), whereas my resume is only used to provide the interviewers with a quick idea of where I’ve been, not what I’ve done.
There’s a reason why the career services centers within ASU stress a certain resume format—your resume is just the starting point when representing yourself as a candidate!
Haley Spracale, B.A. Sports Journalism ’22, MCC ’23, Community Manager, Featured
Balance Style With Substance
When you’re creating a resume, yes, you should make it presentable. However, if you find that you’re sacrificing information for style, then you’re not creating your resume properly.
Your resume should be a mix between a statement piece and an outline of your professional experiences. Make your resume stylish enough to where it stands out, but not so much so that an employer can’t see the meat of your resume: your experience.
What works for many job seekers is writing down all of their experiences and accolades on a blank document first, and then adding design. This ensures that an employer will see what they want to see, but you also won’t get lost in a sea of resume monotony.
Alex Ebner, B.S. Marketing ‘04, Owner, Ace Medical
Use Design To Your Advantage
It’s not about making the resume look “pretty.” It’s about using design to your advantage to stand out in a saturated job market. If you can leverage design to capture a recruiter’s attention, then do it every single time.
I run a design firm, and I’ve had plenty of situations where I prefer a well-designed resume over a cluttered document. When someone is thoughtful about designing the information that I need to see as an employer in a way that’s visually engaging, then they’ll stand out.
Rani Sweis, B.S. Marketing ‘09, Chief Creative, AtticSalt
Prioritize Content Over Aesthetics for Recruiters
When viewing a resume, a recruiter or hiring manager needs to be able to ascertain the experience or qualifications of the applicant in a timely manner. While your resume may certainly catch the eye of the reader with your unique font choice or formatting, you never want to sacrifice the content of your experience being evaluated in order to make it “prettier.”
Some recruiting practices include the use of automated software that automatically removes candidate names or images of themselves they may have included on their resume and just pulls the plain text versions until the candidate has made it further in the hiring process. The faster the reader can pull key qualifications out of your resume and move you along in the hiring process, the better.
Angel Mendoza, B.S. Business (Human Resources) ‘23, Recruiter, Terros Health
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