The Infographic Resume: How to Create a Visual Portfolio that Showcases Your Skills and Lands the Job

by Hannah Morgan

The STANDOUT guide to creating a stunning resume

Applying for a job used to require two pieces of paper: a resume and an application. Times have changed.

Infographic resumes are in, and they’re not just for designers. Free online tools are popping up every day to help anyone create a dynamic, visual resume—adding panache without sacrificing substance for style.

The Infographic Resume provides essential tips and ideas for how to create visual resumes and portfolios that will make you stand out from the crowd. Richly illustrated in full color and including lots of inspiring examples, the book will teach you how to:

Create a powerful digital presence and develop the right digital content for your goals Build your self-brand and manage your online reputation Showcase your best work online Grab a hiring manager’s attention in seconds

Packed with dynamic infographics, visual resumes, and other creative digital portfolios, The Infographic Resume reveals the most effective tools, eye-catching strategies, and best practices to position yourself for any job in any kind of business.

“In today’s free-agent economy, The Infographic Resume is a must for anyone looking to stand out among the competition.”
— Sharlyn Lauby, president of ITM Group, Inc.

“If you’re on the market, you need to read this book and follow its guidance immediately.”
— Alexandra Levit , author of Blind Spots

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2014

Reviews

[Yzabel Ginsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I received a free copy courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

To be honest, reviewing and rating non-fiction books is always difficult for me—akin to walking into uncharted territory. I can't judge them according to my usual standards (plot, atmosphere, characters, etc.), and so I don't really know what criteria to apply. In the end, for this specific book, I went with "is it going to be useful to me?" The answer is definitely "yes", considering I've been looking to go back to a more creative job than the one I've held for the past few years. Is this a biased view? Certainly. Only I have to start somewhere, haven't I?

The Infographic Resume is a nest of ideas, or at least, of ideas waiting to be born and developed. Not only does it hand out useful advice about what may attract the attention of potential recruiters, it also provides a lot visual examples—alright, this was to be expected, but it still deserves mention. From actual CVs to social networks platforms (LinkedIn, Pinterest, Behance...), job-seeking readers are bound to find something that will help and inspire them.

Maybe some of the job-landing stories in it will seem too good to be true: "the kind of thing that happens once in a lifetime, and always to other people, never to me." Maybe. On the other hand, I must admit that this book sparked renewed interest in me, and prompted me to get my creative joices flowing when it came to reworking my CV after I got a couple of useful comments about it. I can't remember when was the last time I had so much fun designing something that, all in all, is utilitarian stuff. I really liked the idea of being able to get all gung-ho, all the more because I was growing seriously tired of stale, traditional CVs typed in Word and full of grandiloquent vocabulary that doesn't mean much anymore in the end. (Hello, French administration CVs. I loathe thee.)

I honestly think the book can provide inspiration to many job-seekers: graphic designers, of course, but also people like me, who are somewhat creative yet not one hundred percent "in it", and need some prompting before they're able to unleash their (probably untapped) potential. As for those who don't have any graphic design software and/or training, the author also provides links to websites where one can enter information (either manually or pulled from LinkedIn and the likes); this won't make for fully original resumes, but can certainly help in coming up with something at least somewhat different and eye-catching.

In the end, what I regret most is not reading my ARC sooner, because it would certainly have helped me more, and earlier!

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I needed to update my resume, and I found The Infographic Resume: How to Create a Visual Portfolio that Showcases Your Skills and Lands the Job , and I was curious.

I liked this book, but I am the fence about the infographic resume. I found every example to be visually overwhelming, but I can see how this type of resume would be a great showcase for those in very data-driven careers or those in very creative careers.

The section on building a solid LinkedIn profile was helpful, and I am interested in exploring both infographic and social resumes.

This book is definitely geared to tech and social media savvy types.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great suggestions for sharing your work experience in a more colorful and visual way to stand out from your competition.

[Yolanda Johnson-Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Publication Date: August 29, 2014 Title: How to Create a Visual Portfolio That Showcases Your Skills and Lands the Job – Hannah Morgan –– 242 Pages – McGraw-Hill Professional – 9780071825573 – Electronic ARC –5 Stars

If you are finding the door constantly closing on you during your job and/or career search. You need to invest $30 and buy this book. As a consultant, whenever I hear my clients say they mailed out tons of resumes, I cringe. In this book, readers will find why it is not effective to send out paper resumes and how technology killed the paper resume.

I have to say that I loved ALL the information given in this book, but my favorite is Chapter 2, Your Online Portfolio. If you are not profiling your skills and work online, you are doing yourself a disservice. When applicants apply for a job, you can bet that if your resume is the least bit interesting, the first place they are going to find out more about you is online. Websites are so affordable, and it is easy to establish an online portfolio. This book breaks down just about everything you would need to build an online portfolio.

This book also gives tips on what to and what not to include in your electronic resume. I like that it includes recommendations for social media, because potential employers will search LinkedIn and Facebook.

I love the idea of infographics as most people are visual. An infographic can visually sum up you, your experience and skills. This book gives several examples of resume infographics from easy to do to more complicated.

In Chapter 11, the books covers carefully choosing what to share. And this chapter is so important—what you say and do online can affect your ability to get a job. Applications must know that if its online, its public and open for scrutiny by anyone.

Even if you are not in search of employment and are looking for a way to increase your online presence, this is the book for you.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My resume has always been a work in progress. There's a lot of great content in this book. The book is well written and an easy read with plenty of examples. Many strategies I hadn't even considered.

[Sanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who does a lot of hiring I have to say reading the same type of resume with standard cliche phrasing can quickly become tiresome. And as the job market is currently quite competitive finding new ways to stand out and showcase one's skills has become more relevant than ever before. This book is a valuable resource for those seeking employment in creative fields but also in general for those who are looking for ways to set themselves apart from the rest of the job seeking crowd.

The layout of the book is very user friendly and offers much more than just resume pointers. It explains a lot of trends and offers a lot of resources and examples. If you've never attempted to create an infographic resume before, this is the perfect book for you, as it will guide you through the process step by step. For those who've already created infographic resumes before this book offers tool to take their resume creating game to the next level.

Thankful to Netgalley and McGraw-Hill Professional for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Hussain Abbas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s one of those times when it’s not really the book but how much use I could make of this. If you are determined to make a visual infographic resume, there are a lot of tips and examples in there. But it couldn’t definitively tell me what an infographic resume would look like in my case and how it would make sense to the reader. Also, there’s not much in terms of automated readers and accessibility except the suggestion that a text resume is still important (I agree, but there’s nothing new there).

If you are determined to create such a visual resume, then definitely read through this. The resources mentioned are very valuable. If you’re only exploring, it’s not that useful.

[Zosia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well! This was written in 2014 & feels very 2014. However, the author gives some odd advice that would've felt odd at the time - for example, a push towards Google+ (which never got off the ground) or encouraging people to create work blogs on Tumblr (also an unpopular use). Beyond that, I think this would be a good book for an infographic novice and maybe even an internet novice. I love the idea of an infographic resume and she gives some gorgeous examples. But the advice felt dated (even for 10 years ago!) and all over the place.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard for me to review a book that is nonfiction but if you want to know if this book was informative, the answer is YES. I'm also going to share this with the Career Center staff where I work...I don't think they are aware of this and they should be. I have a feeling that the way we write and organize resumes will be changing and this book had great step-by-step guides and wonderful color diagrams and samples.

[Am Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've wondered how resumes have changed over the years, this is a great book to pick up. I had no idea we were in the age of "infographic resumes" now; there are some great examples in this book that really illustrate why this concept should have been introduced much sooner!

[Arnab Padhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have no idea what an INFOGRAPHIC is or what a graphic designer is then this will be mindblowing for you. But if you already are acquainted with infographic CV templates then i guess this book won't offer you much except some new sources to work with.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Infographics are big business, they are trendy and yet are they a little over-used or inappropriately used at times?

This book sets out to show the job seeker how to use infographics and create a visual profile that will land you that job. Anything that can give you a bit of a lead in this highly competitive hiring climate is a good thing, right? Well yes and no. If you are applying for work in a clearly creative field it might be but it can be a double-edged sword. If nearly everyone is doing it, you have to really up your game. At least with a text-based CV you can let your skills and experience do the talking.

This reviewer, who has had to interview many people over the years, is a little concerned that the book is painting a slightly over-simplistic picture, giving possibly false or unrealistic expectations to many job seekers. The publicity material is quite explicit: “What if you could instantaneously distinguish yourself from other candidates? Get hiring managers to immediately take note of your credentials and skills? And ingeniously present yourself as the cream of the crop to hiring managers?”

For every innovative, great infographic-type CV there will inevitably be a lot that just fail to hit the mark or are clearly a copy of a template. Think about a typical embarrassing home video or a document based on a free template within Word complete with cheesy clip art (comic sans optional). You get the picture? Maybe the truth is that there is no secret sauce. What works for one person will fail for another. Yet things need not be all bad. Perhaps you can take away some points from this book, curb your enthusiasm to go overboard with your idea of graphical excellence and still have a credible, readable yet different CV. Looking at some of the examples given, as a hiring manager many would have sadly been put straight to the side as being just too hard to quickly read and filter. Some might have got a few seconds more attention for being different, but once you’ve seen one version of an Amazon product page selling a candidate to your company, would 99 other similar ones be so cute, engaging or noteworthy?

It might be the future, for some, and it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on a developing trend and cut your own pathway. The book does give a lot of guidance to this subject and shows many online resources to help you create an infographic-based CV. Even if you don’t swallow entirely the need to transform your CV into a graphical masterpiece, you may still take away a lot of good general information to help you fine-tune your “traditional CV” as well as learn a few more job-seeking tips.

There is just this nagging, underlying concern that many job seekers will actually jeopardize their chances of being considered for a position by submitting a sub-optimal or clearly template-derived infographic CV. Maybe you have to examine your own limitations and manage your expectations accordingly. This reviewer likes to sing (especially in the shower). Whether people like to hear him sing is another matter yet he would never dream of entering a talent show to highlight his singing prowess. Know your limits and focus on your strengths instead can be a good motto.

Fortunately the book is not that expensive. Whilst a direct recommendation cannot be made, the book cannot be entirely slated either. It is going to be one of those things that you either check in a bookstore first or take a chance and order online. It might be a Coke versus Pepsi-type individual taste thing – and we all know that drinking litres a day is not a good thing but a little doesn’t hurt in moderation.

The Infographic Resume: How to Create a Visual Portfolio that Showcases Your Skills and Lands the Job, written by Hannah Morgan and published by McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 9780071825573, 224 pages. YYY

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really well done book for job seekers Ms. Morgan delivers a very detailed, useful and pertinent program on how to market yourself in the brave new world of job searches. She truly understands the new way of finding jobs and how intertwined and interconnected with the Internet and social media that new way is.

Reading this book will help someone have a better resume and much better chance at finding a new and better job. This is for anyone looking to improve his career. Great book!

[Jennah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Very informative. Can't wait to try out the suggestions.