The amount of time a recruiter spends looking at your resume is roughly six seconds — the length of a Vine video.

For people who are unemployed or underemployed, figuring out how to stand out in the job search is crucial. Despite discovering job openings that fit your experience, you send your resume out to the ether — and feel you're continuously overlooked in favor of someone with equal qualifications. Many job seekers have taken to desperate measures.

"Visual design is a great way to differentiate yourself from other job candidates," says Dodd Caldwell, cofounder of Loft Resumes. "Design in general is increasingly important in the business world."

Companies are always looking for candidates who will go the extra mile, and your resume is literally your first point of contact — your first chance to put yourself in the "yes" bucket. And what recruiters are looking for can mostly be narrowed down to science, as The Ladders found last year in an eye-tracking study on resumes.

Recruiters spent 80% of their time looking at six data points:

• Name
• Current title and company
• Previous title and company
• Current start and end dates
• Previous start and end dates
• Education

The key is to keep these important data points clear. Loft Resumes recommends a hierarchy that presents information in a way that is easy to find and digest. Its service relies on graphic design principles, and clients can select from various formats or color palettes, but no two resumes will be exactly the same.

While presenting information visually is a plus, especially in a time when Pinterest, Instagram and other visual experiences are winning our time and attention — it's still not a good idea to put a photo on your resume (unless your industry requires it). Research from The Ladders on online profiles found the human eye is naturally drawn to photos, in this case the profile photo, which prevented recruiters from looking at more relevant data such as experience.

While a resume from Loft Resumes is not cheap ($99), it is an investment. The price includes two rounds of revisions. Additional revisions later — perhaps after you've acquired additional skills or experience — are only $5.

Have you tried using a service for professionally designed resumes? Did it make a difference in your job search? Let us know in the comments.

Here are some examples of resume makeovers by Loft Resumes:







Images courtesy of Loft Resumes, lead image via iStock, RussellCreative


































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