By Chad Broadus

What does Steve Jobs have to offer your resume?  Perhaps more than you'd think. Over the years, Apple has made a name for itself by creating beautiful and simple products that "just work." I'd say that, so far, that strategy has worked out pretty well for them. So why not try Appleizing your resume for better results?
 
Esthetics

In the course of my career, I've had the opportunity to recruit a number of graphic designers and 3D artists.  Their positions are unique, in that their resumes are a calling card for their design skills. They catch your attention. Quite often they are beautiful, balanced, and just feel good to look at. The other 90 percent of my hiring experience was in IT, support, and engineering. Visually, those offered pretty boring and run-of-the-mill resumes, but every once in a while I'd see a technical resume that had some design panache. It would immediately draw me in and make me want to know more about the individual. 

When you have a resume that pops, well, it does just that, pops out from the rest. It gives you an edge and a foot in the resume sifting door, and any advantage you can get over the crowd is a definite plus.  To get your creative juices flowing,check out these examples of designed resumes. Even if you don't go full on eye popping four color gloss, it will be a good opportunity to look your resume over again to see what can be tightened up and honed.
 
Simple and Just Works

A beautiful resume is a great asset if it catches the hiring manager's eye, but make sure to remember the "simple and just works" part of Apple's strategy. Decision makers like a little beauty in their day, but are still interested in seeing the basics, so give them a good user experience. Make all of the sections easy to visually navigate. It has to be easy to see what experience you have, what skills you have, and how to contact you. Remember, we poor hiring managers often have to review hundreds of resumes during the hiring process, so you have to get us into your store AND make it easy for us to buy what you are selling.
 
Hype

Appleizing your resume wouldn't be complete without a healthy dose of hype. Within the bounds of the truth, you have to sell yourself as the greatest things since the Newton. Use strong declarative language to let you perspective employer know that you are awesome, capable, and would truly be a game changer for their business.

Walking the line between catching a hiring manager's eye and keeping your resume simple and usable is not as easy as it sounds. Once you've given your resume a makeover, circulate the before and after to a few people whose opinion you trust to get some BETA feedback. Keep up the agile resume development approach until you have something you feel good about. Let us know how this process works out for you, or even provide a link to your extreme makeover results in the comments below. We'd love to see what you come up with.

Chad Broadus is a writer and tech professional living in the Pacific Northwest.