By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Laura Labovich
Resumes that incorporate graphics and color are not simply for creative professionals anymore. A purely textual resume is often not enough to stand out in a crowd of candidates, so if your resume is finding its way to the black hole again and again, it may be time to spice it up. Tasteful and professional visual accessories (note: no clip art or cheap graphics) can add value—and charm—to your resume and can be helpful in grabbing attention, creating interest, and increasing attractiveness to employers.
Here are 7 ways in which you may use visual elements to spice up your resume:
1. Charts or bar graphs: Charts demonstrate you exceeded expectations by illustrating your actual vs. projected performance. By incorporating charts or graphs in the accomplishments section of your resume, you can provide very clear proof of your achievements.
2. Certification logos: A certification that is impressive, hard-to-achieve, and contributes strongly to your candidacy is a good visual accessory to add to your career marketing document. Of course, be sure to first confirm that doing so is approved by the certifying agency or organization.3. Industry-appropriate icons: Consider the inclusion of images that represent a field or occupation—such as a chef’s hat for a chef or a pen for a writer—as they can be eye-catching, visually interesting, and relevant.4. Drop caps: Drop caps—or large initial letters or words at the start of a paragraph or document—can add style and focus to your resume. These are frequently used at the top of the resume, in the career summary or profile section, to draw dramatic attention to a word or sentence.Enjoying this article? Here are 9 flawless reasons to subscribe to our blog.5. Watermark: The use of a watermark can add a touch of flair to a resume, as long as it doesn’t interfere with readability. Graphic artists or other creative professionals may consider using their work samples as watermarks.6. Text box: The inclusion of a text box can help to separate lists of unique accomplishments or skills. Many job seekers use text boxes to highlight a client list, technical and/or software skills, a career summary, and/or testimonials.7. Spot color: Liven up your resume with the addition of text color or, for something a bit more subtle, add spot color on icons such as bullets or other non-textual elements.
Charts, graphs, tables, logos, watermarks, drop caps, text boxes, color, and industry icons are among the other graphic aids available to you in your quest for a compelling resume. Remember to carefully select each visual element as you do each word on your resume, and they will complement—not detract from—your qualifications for a position.
Did you find this article interesting? You can read more articles by this expert here. Also, check out all of our free webinars!CAREEREALISM Expert, Laura Labovich, MLRHR, is a Guild Certified Five O’Clock Club Career Coach, speaker, trainer, networking expert and award-winning resume writer with more than 12 years of HR leadership experience at Walt Disney World and America Online, Inc. As a job coach and writer, Laura specializes in getting her clients “unstuck” in their job search by partnering with them to develop proactive, targeted and effective job search marketing plans that increase campaign momentum and achieve breakthrough results! Connect with Laura via LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.The photo for this article is provided by Shutterstock.
July 13, 2022: How To Navigate LinkedIn Effectively
LinkedIn is not the easiest social media platform to navigate. If you wish you could make better use of this essential career tool, sign up for this event today!
What You'll Learn:
The background and importance of LinkedIn
How to get started with LinkedIn
How to navigate the different areas of the platform
Join us for Networking Masters (think Toastmasters but for networking)! During this interactive group session, you'll exercise your networking and presenting skills so you can be a more confident connector!
July 20, 2022: How To Get A Promotion (And A Raise)
It can be tough getting that promotion at work, especially when you're not sure how to show you deserve one. If you want to get a promotion (and a raise!), attend this live event and learn how to make the case for a higher job title and salary.
What You'll Learn:
Indicate that you’re ready to take your career to the next level
Tips on how to position yourself for a promotion or raise
Demonstrate your unique value and advice on how to have this conversation with your manager
Join us for Networking Masters (think Toastmasters but for networking)! During this interactive group session, you'll exercise your networking and presenting skills so you can be a more confident connector!
July 27, 2022: How To Make A Career Change When You've Been Laid Off
Not sure if it's time to change careers, or how to make a career change when you ARE ready? Sign up for this live event to learn exactly how to make a career change when you've been laid off.
What You'll Learn:
Determine if a career change is the right move for you
Identify a career path that aligns with your passions
Develop an effective job search strategy that serves you
Join us for Networking Masters (think Toastmasters but for networking)! During this interactive group session, you'll exercise your networking and presenting skills so you can be a more confident connector!
Team dynamics can often be difficult to negotiate. At work, generally speaking, you are on a team and you contribute. The problem is that you also want to elevate your career and stand out to your boss. So, how can you do that without the rest of the team feeling like you are a jerk (or worse)?
I've had the gift of working in amazing environments on rock star teams. I have also had the (ahem) opposite experience. I've managed teams, been part of teams, as well as been an individual contributor, and through these years, I've found there are a few surefire ways to show you're an asset without being a show-off.
Here's how you can effectively show your value at work (without being a jerk):
1. Do What You Say
My favorite direct reports were good for their word. They were trustworthy. You could truly count on them to deliver, and not just for me. I would see these team members and teammates always doing what they said they would. People notice. It might not seem like it, but when you do what you say always, you will get the important assignments. Being the one that does the important stuff is viewed as valuable, and you're valuable without being a jerk—you're the good guy that people can count on to get stuff done.
2. Solve Problems
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The people who come to me with solutions stand out. Problem solvers who are actively working on solutions to organizational challenges stand out for obvious reasons. They care about the problems of the company and are taking the time to solve them. There is a BIG difference between people who solve problems and people who try not to create them. The problem solvers stand out. And when they include others in the solution, all the better, because they are showing me that they are leaders who can activate others to join the cause of solving the big problems we're facing.
3. Share In Victory
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Further, managers know that a team builds a victory and solves a problem together. Good managers also can see who's doing the lion's share of the work and really contributing to the victory. If it's you, be sure you are gracious in sharing that victory with the team—that stands out to good managers and to the team.
4. Focus On The Mission
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Be monomaniacal about achieving the goals of the company and the team. When you see the team headed down a rabbit hole, gently guide them back to land. Be the one who is focused on achieving the goals and you will stand out. You might be considered a jerk for being the one who asks for focus by the ones who are unfocused, but they will forgive you when you achieve the goals, solve the problems, and share the victory (see above).
5. Be A Trusted Resource
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I frequently advocate being a student of your industry. This is applicable to standing out without being perceived as a jerk when you are sharing information with your teammates about the industry and the business. When you are the go-to for information and insights, you are going to stand out. However, if you do this in a smarty-pants spirit, you are on a slippery slope to Jerktown, population: 1.
Being a trusted resource means you are sharing information in the spirit of continuous learning and development. Share that you saw something interesting in the media about the company, competitor, or industry. And when you share this information, offer an insight and an initiation to hear what the recipient of this information thinks.
6. No Brag, Just Fact
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If you do awesome work, it's ok to privately share what you're proud of with your manager—key word, privately. Schedule time to share your excitement with your manager. You should try to have monthly check-ins with your manager so that you can gather feedback and continue to advance your career. Keep in mind when you are privately sharing your work with your manager, do it from a place of excitement and pride, not from a place of ego and bragger-y. Excitement is contagious. Your manager may also be able to help you take the work even further.
Need more help showing your value at work?
We'd love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades. More importantly, we have tons of resources inside our community that can help you advance your career.
Besides payroll, one of your organization’s largest spends is probably on technology. You spent thousands of dollars to implement your new ERP system. Years later you’re still using the same version with manual compliance-related workarounds. The ERP system needs to be kept current. What do you do?
As the business continued to grow, you struggled to make the ERP system work for you. There was no written documentation for the end-users, and you created manual workarounds. Training was done verbally so end-users weren’t trained consistently, and they ended up having a lot of dirty data. In the end, the business was expending extraordinary time and effort muscling to use the ERP system, and only getting a small fraction of value.
How did this situation happen? Individuals thought the small IT group should be responsible for all technology including the ERP system. So, the business wasn’t involved as much as it should have been.
ERP stands for enterprise resource planning—the entire enterprise should be involved including finance, information security, internal audit, regulatory compliance, and legal.
ERP System Responsibilities For Each Department
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Although the ERP is a system (with a significant investment), the sole responsibility cannot be put on IT. Instead, the business needs to take the lead and own the system. The ERP consists of multiple modules and those “owner” departments have a vested interest to keep the system current and to maximize using the features and functionality.
IT is responsible for understanding how the system is intended to be used.
The business is responsible for deciding what to use.
One way to break out the responsibilities is as follows:
Dept
Sample Responsibilities
IT
Obtains release notes for bug fixes, patches, and upgrades; explains features/functionality to the business
Configures settings and security based on business decisions
Recreates any issues reported and works with vendor on issues, bugs, custom code
Creates and maintains testing documents (test plans and scripts) and performs unit, integration, and system testing
Loads tested code into production environment – change management
Business
Departments “own” their respective modules (e.g. finance, human resources, operations), which includes the internal control system
Decides which features/functionality to use
Creates and maintains master data records
Creates end-user documentation (workflows and procedures), and updates documentation when code is updated
If you’re using the system out-of-the-box and following the vendor’s best practices, the vendor should be able to give you standard end-user documentation for the basic workflows, procedures, and training materials. Then the business just needs to customize the standard documentation, and then create any outstanding end-user documentation.
Creates and maintains user acceptance testing (UAT) documents, and performs user acceptance testing
Reports issues to IT
Training
Maintains training documents, videos, and cheat sheets per business, and updates documentation when code is updated
Offers ongoing training classes (for new employees, refreshers)
If there isn’t a separate training department, then this responsibility reverts to the business.
Summary
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In the end, the business has the most to gain (or lose) by utilizing the ERP to align with the business needs and growth. Similar to the idiom it takes a village, the entire enterprise should be involved to keep the ERP and other major systems current and maximize their use.
By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Laura Labovich
Resumes that incorporate graphics and color are not simply for creative professionals anymore. A purely textual resume is often not enough to stand out in a crowd of candidates, so if your resume is finding its way to the black hole again and again, it may be time to spice it up. Tasteful and professional visual accessories (note: no clip art or cheap graphics) can add value—and charm—to your resume and can be helpful in grabbing attention, creating interest, and increasing attractiveness to employers.
Here are 7 ways in which you may use visual elements to spice up your resume:
1. Charts or bar graphs: Charts demonstrate you exceeded expectations by illustrating your actual vs. projected performance. By incorporating charts or graphs in the accomplishments section of your resume, you can provide very clear proof of your achievements.
2. Certification logos: A certification that is impressive, hard-to-achieve, and contributes strongly to your candidacy is a good visual accessory to add to your career marketing document. Of course, be sure to first confirm that doing so is approved by the certifying agency or organization.3. Industry-appropriate icons: Consider the inclusion of images that represent a field or occupation—such as a chef’s hat for a chef or a pen for a writer—as they can be eye-catching, visually interesting, and relevant.4. Drop caps: Drop caps—or large initial letters or words at the start of a paragraph or document—can add style and focus to your resume. These are frequently used at the top of the resume, in the career summary or profile section, to draw dramatic attention to a word or sentence.Enjoying this article? Here are 9 flawless reasons to subscribe to our blog.5. Watermark: The use of a watermark can add a touch of flair to a resume, as long as it doesn’t interfere with readability. Graphic artists or other creative professionals may consider using their work samples as watermarks.6. Text box: The inclusion of a text box can help to separate lists of unique accomplishments or skills. Many job seekers use text boxes to highlight a client list, technical and/or software skills, a career summary, and/or testimonials.7. Spot color: Liven up your resume with the addition of text color or, for something a bit more subtle, add spot color on icons such as bullets or other non-textual elements.
Charts, graphs, tables, logos, watermarks, drop caps, text boxes, color, and industry icons are among the other graphic aids available to you in your quest for a compelling resume. Remember to carefully select each visual element as you do each word on your resume, and they will complement—not detract from—your qualifications for a position.
Did you find this article interesting? You can read more articles by this expert here. Also, check out all of our free webinars!
CAREEREALISM Expert, Laura Labovich, MLRHR, is a Guild Certified Five O’Clock Club Career Coach, speaker, trainer, networking expert and award-winning resume writer with more than 12 years of HR leadership experience at Walt Disney World and America Online, Inc. As a job coach and writer, Laura specializes in getting her clients “unstuck” in their job search by partnering with them to develop proactive, targeted and effective job search marketing plans that increase campaign momentum and achieve breakthrough results! Connect with Laura via LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.The photo for this article is provided by Shutterstock.
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