While the media loves to feature stories about creative resumes that land dream jobs for people, a group of researchers in Norway have shown they don’t work.
It turns out that creative resumes make you stand out from the crowd, but not in a good way (the study).
The Study Design
The research team had a gender-balanced group of 45 working people (recruiters and HR professionals) and 45 students read 12 resumes.
Job applicants were non-creatives applying for a non-creative job.
The researchers created 3 resume designs for the experiment:
- A formal resume on white paper — the standard Microsoft Word approach.
- The second resume was identical to the first, except it was on colored paper.
- A creative resume template similar to an infographic.
The researchers inserted identical content for each person into the 3 uniquely designed resume templates.
The Findings from the Study
This chart shows how the readers evaluated the resumes:
|
Resume Type |
Reject |
Maybe |
Interview |
|
Creative |
42% |
31% |
27% |
|
Colored Paper |
32% |
36% |
32% |
|
White Paper |
26% |
33% |
41% |
A Theory About Creative Resumes
As you can see, only 27% of the creative resumes made it into the “Interview” pile. 41% of the traditional resumes on white paper got the nod. That’s a 50% improvement! Resumes on colored paper didn’t fare well either.
Thus, we now have some hard evidence that the “visually appealing” resume underperforms the standard resume.
I have a theory:
Creative resumes increase readers’ cognitive loads because they’re less familiar with them. That type of resume shows information in odd visual patterns, so it looks as though it’s hard to scan and read.
Yes, the creative resume stands out — as unusual and difficult.
Conclusions
Can we extrapolate the results of one study to all resumes?
No, but I would heed those results and shelve the creative resume idea.
What If You’re a Creative?
I suggest a standard resume and a creative portfolio. That way, you benefit from the best of both approaches.
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This post also uses data to help you decide about a resume controversy: Wave Goodbye to the Useless Resume Skills Section.
Updated January 2022
© 2013 – 2022, Donna Svei. All rights reserved.
Donna Svei, an executive resume writer and former C-level executive, retained search consultant, and CPA, authors all of AvidCareerist’s posts.
She is a Fast Company Contributor and has written for and been quoted by 100+ business and general media outlets, including Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNBC, the New York Times, USA Today, Time, US News & World Report, CBS, the BBC, Lifehacker, Social Media Today, IT World, and Business News Daily.
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Comments 12
If it were I — if I saw “if it was me” on a resume, I’d reject it immediately, no matter what the color of the paper.
Actually, “If it were me” would be correct.
Thank you for your input Mariah. This blog is a conversation. While if “If it were I” might be the Queen’s English, the Queen doesn’t talk with many people. On this blog, I will always default to language I would use in conversation, “proper” or not. “If it were I” sounds a bit stuffy to me.
Kind regards,
Donna
Thank you Angie. Noted and changed. Donna
It’s hard to draw firm conclusions on these scores. To me it proves that authenticity in general is appreciated.
If my English is poor, than please realise that I’m not a native English speaker or writer.
From the Netherlands with love ;-)
Bert Huisman
Hi Bert,
Thank you for your comment (perfectly stated in English). It is hard to draw conclusions. “Guess the Algorithm” seems to be a new sport. The best we can do, when sites such as Google and LinkedIn don’t reveal how they generate search results, is to experiment and make educated guesses.
Kind regards,
Donna
Hi Donna,
it would be nice to know whether there is a difference between Europe and USA.
I tried to gather some information on how and to which extend social network profiles such as Xing or Linkedin are integrated in the recruiting process. In the US there seems to be high emphasis on the appropriate profile whereas in Germany for example the profiles just are checked for any peculiarities. May be it is the same with “creative” resumes – Europe is more traditional and less inclined to new ways of job applications.
kind regards
Claudia
Hi Claudia,
I have wondered about cultural differences as well. However, one of the studies mentioned above was conducted in the EU and the other one in the US. In both cases, the non-traditional resume underperformed.
Kind regards,
Donna
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on creative resumes. Regards
Oklejanie,
You’re welcome.
Donna
I thought the researchers for the study* were from Norway? Norway has never been part of the EU. Were you referring to another study?
*https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13594320902903613?journalCode=pewo20&
Good catch, Em. Thank you!