How To Make A Creative Resume

The creative resume isn’t appropriate for all careers, but you can use them to showcase your talents if you want to work in a design-focused or creative business sector. Original, artistic, and visually striking, you can put your skills on show.

What is a creative resume?

A creative resume should follow the theme and scope of the job you are applying for. The four general forms of resume are:

A written resume with infographics, illustrations, or graphics
Resumes with links to online portfolios
Resumes with career-focused social media or personal website links
Video resumes

Is a creative resume the right choice?

Before you hit your favorite search engine looking for graphics software or a creative resume builder, consider if this is the right resume style for you and the job. If you are an accountant, customer service agent, or paralegal, a creative resume is inappropriate and likely to go straight into the hiring manager’s trash.

However, if you are an illustrator, fashion designer, animator, video editor, web designer, or graphic designer, done well, a creative resume can help you attract the proper attention.

Creative resume advantages and disadvantages

The positives of a creative resume include:

Amongst hundreds of resumes, yours will stand out
You can show your personal traits and help the recruiter decide if you are a good company fit
You quantify your creative skills

The negatives of a creative resume include:

It takes longer to develop a creative resume
They are not appropriate for all industries
Your design might not match the company’s branding
It may not be saved in a file format the recruiter can open
There is less space for vital information and text
They cannot be searched by automatic resume scanning software

Creative resume design tips

While showing off your illustrative skills, don’t overlook including written evidence, which should be visible at a glance. You should limit your color palette and don’t go over the top with a hundred ideas just because you have them. Also, remember that people typically look at the top left of a page first, so prioritize the best use of this space.

What must a creative resume include?

Your creative resume needs to document the same information as a regular resume. Check that your design includes:

Your contact details
A professional introduction
Career highlights
Academic achievements
Relevant hard and soft skills

Career Resumes

If you are finding resume writing challenging, gain insights and inspiration from our example resumes: