One surefire way to stand out in your job search
I was unemployed for eight months. Not an unusual occurrence in the age of coronavirus.
In early 2020, I had just completed a 2-year master’s degree and my employment contract ended around the same time.
I spent about 3 months applying to job boards and the generic online employment avenues. It did not work; I received zero replies. I reached out to a few of my former colleagues and one of them suggested I join some job groups on Facebook. I was looking for a policy job, either in the public service or in a related non-profit/private sector, so I gave it a try. It could not hurt.
My first post in the group was very generic; it looked just like the hundreds of others that existed there. It stated my education, experience, and what I was looking for. It was not very memorable and I did not receive many replies. It was on this same group that I got the idea to create my own personal infographic. I do not own this idea, but I have modified it to fit my needs. And now I am sharing it with you.
Implementing this one idea opened numerous doors for building my professional network and landing interviews.
The infographic serves two purposes. First of all, it is eye catching. You can be as creative as you want with the colors, fonts, and images. Secondly, the information is easily displayed. It is inviting and easy to read, especially for hiring managers and human resources. It is an easy introduction to your fuller resume.
Uses for your infographic
1. Social Media. I used the infographic alongside a summary of what kind of work I was seeking for a personal post. I also used it in the comments section under job postings and call-for-application posts.
2. Email. Any email sent to a potential job lead or manager, I would attach this infographic in the signature area.
3. Resume. I caution use for this purpose. I personally only did it once, because I was asked to include it by a recruiter (they really liked it), in order to submit my full application through a company job portal.
How to make your own
This method is super easy to do and fully customizable. No complex editing skills required.
Tools used:
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Screenshot
Before you begin to build your infographic, you should think about the content you want to include. Use the template and the example above for ideas.
Basics like your name, contact information, and education are a no brainer.
When thinking about the “Experience” section, it helps to target a specific job or industry. The example above is targeted to government/policy job. Looking at job descriptions helps you to form your content here. You don’t want this section to be to long or wordy. You want just enough to catch your reader’s attention and give them a good overview. Leave the details for your resume.
The other boxes are very customizable. This is information that is relevant to the job you are seeking. If you are seeking a public sector job, you may want to include your language profile, security level, and list other departments you’ve worked for. If you are seeking a tech job, include programming languages, your GitHub link, and your personal website. The content you want to include is up to you.
Now that you’ve collected all that information, it’s time to build.
In PowerPoint, I used the “Advantage” template and changed the slide layout to “Title Slide with 2 pictures”.
Insert your picture(s) and text boxes and fill in your information.
When adding the small icon pictures (like the email icon) use .PNG files. If you are searching for images add “.PNG” to the end of your search. Your pictures will have no background.
To add more colored boxes, insert a shape and change the fill color. Add a text box on top.
When you are happy with the infographic, screenshot* it and save the image to your computer. Voila! You are ready to use it.
Searching for a new job opportunity is challenging, and doing it in a pandemic has only increased that fact. I hope this helps you as much as it has been successful for me. Use it along side of your other job seeking activities and applications. If you have any questions or want to share how useful it was to you, please feel free reach out to me!
Thank you for stopping by.
I wish you all the best!
* On a Mac there is a “Screenshot” tool. On a Microsoft product it may be called something else (“Snipping Tool”).
