6 Creative and Successful Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out

How do you make sure your resume successfully captures the attention of employers and doesn’t end up in the Deleted Items folder? A recent study of 2,298 hiring managers nationwide provides real-life examples of resumes that stood out for the correct reasons. When asked to share the most memorable and unusual applications that came across their desk, hiring managers gave the following examples:

1. Candidate sent his resume in the form of an oversized Rubik’s Cube, where you had to push the tiles around to align the resume. He was hired.
2. Candidate who had been a stay-at-home mom listed her skills as nursing, housekeeping, chef, teacher, bio-hazard cleanup, fight referee, taxi driver, secretary, tailor, personal shopping assistant and therapist. She was hired.
3. Candidate created a marketing brochure promoting herself as the best candidate and was hired.
4. Candidate listed accomplishments and lessons learned from each position. He gave examples of good customer service he provided as well as situations he wished he would have handled differently. He was hired.
5. Candidate applying for a food and beverage management position sent a resume in the form of a fine-dining menu and was hired.
6. Candidate crafted his resume to look like Google search results for the “perfect candidate.” Candidate ultimately wasn’t hired, but was considered.

“One-in-five HR managers reported that they spend less than 30 seconds reviewing applications and around 40 percent spend less than one minute,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder. “It’s a highly competitive job market and you have to clearly demonstrate how your unique skills and experience are relevant and beneficial to that particular employer. We see more people using infographics, QR codes and visual resumes to package their information in new and interesting ways.”