Online Resume Templates are Failing You...Here's Why
Jan 07, 2024
I have seen a lot of things in my years of resume writing. Clients usually give me a disclaimer before they send me their existing resume. They say things like...
“Don’t laugh.”
“It’s so bad.”
“I bet this will be the worst one you’ve seen.”
They feel embarrassed. I always assure them that it’s really not that bad. And, most of them aren’t! They are typically are poorly worded, have too much/too little detail, and aren’t pleasing to the eye. That's pretty common across the board.
What I see on the internet? Far worse. Let me explain…
I joined a "Resume Help" Facebook group a month or so ago. It has been a fantastic place to see what questions people are asking, where they are struggling, and how I might create a course to benefit people just like them.
Last week, a young woman asked for advice on her resume. I wanted to offer some advice since I saw some major issues that were likely keeping her from getting a response. The resume template she was using left her almost no space to write about her experience and was highly stylized for someone in her field. I wanted to help her find a template that would bring her resume back down to one page since she didn’t have more than 8-10 years of experience.
So, for the first time ever, I searched Canva for a template I could link for her. OH. MY. WORD. I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled. I changed the search field for “simple” and “clean” resumes. What did I see? This stuff…
I can't even blame anyone for using these because every Canva template is like this. It makes it seem like this is what resumes should look like now. Elsewhere online, it is the same. The difference is that those other random sites found on google are usually tricking you into paying for the template after you put everything into it.
I know it sounds like I'm just annoyed or that my ego is involved because I design resumes. In reality, their FUNCTION is costing you jobs. Here's why:
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Big companies often use software to scan your resumé for keywords that match the job description. While the software has improved some, it is NOT intelligent. It's awful. It will not figure out how to jump around all that design and photos and columns and text boxes everywhere. If you manage to fit anything good in these templates, it will not find it. No human will ever even see your resume past that first scanning step.
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Even if #1 doesn't apply to the types of jobs you want, give some close attention to the wording. There is not nearly enough space to share your experience anywhere. They barely have room to list the jobs, let alone what was accomplished at them. Let me say this definitively: If your design is more prominent than your content, you've got the wrong template and you will not get an interview. They need to LEARN about you, not just see a nice infographic.
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Headshots. (This is on my free guide with 7 things to remove from your resume) If you have a LinkedIn (you should), by all means put your professional headshot there. However, you want to stand out on your resume based on the value you bring, not because your face appeals or doesn't appeal to the viewer. Let them decide they want to bring you in for an interview without having made a judgment about what you look like. Unless you're in the entertainment industry, ignore templates with photos.
I have some hope for you. Spend the time to make your resume tell your story and the value you can bring. If it doesn't look amazing (design wise), I promise you will still get more responses than using these design heavy ones. Yours will be properly scanned for the keywords that you're using and that is critical. You will also know that the employer will get a complete picture of your history, versus a tiny snippet.
I know laying out your resume is a pain point. I've created a step-by-step process for your wording AND a library of templates that will actually stand out and still give your experience room to shine. Learn all about Resume Roadmap right here.
