This week, Dwain Schenck, author of “Reset: How to Beat the Job-Loss Blues and Get Ready for Your Next Act,” shares his experience and tips on how to stand out in the competitive job market.

It is no exaggeration to say that the traditional résumé is slowly going the way of the buggy whip. It is still helpful to have “traditional” curriculum vitae’s (CV) because HR departments still use them at many large firms to recruit candidates. But today, most résumés submitted to a company’s career site are scanned by filtering software for words related to the specific job vacancy to save time and money.

Where I am seeing some creative examples of “modern” résumés are with people adapting social media as the best way to present their job history and tell a more impactful story about the value they can bring a company.  I think most people will tell you they think LinkedIn is taking the place of the modern résumé. Most recruiters I talk to these days say it has surpassed the importance of the resume because most hiring managers go to a job candidate’s LinkedIn profile before they even take a look at their résumé. However, I don’t think LinkedIn is the only replacement tool.

Look at this resume on a cereal box! http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/masterfully-creative-resumes

I learned recently of a successful job search with a person who never used a cover letter or a resume. The entire search and accepted offer took place via Instagram.  He completed every step of the process, from learning about the position to applying for it to showing off his portfolio work, through the photo-sharing social network.

Depending on what type of job you’re looking for, and what career you’re in, designers and creatives are leveraging one of the fastest growing social sites on the web these days, Pinterest, to create and deliver mind blowing résumés with embedded links, videos and apps to show off their talents. Not to be left out, Twitter is another logical and creative way to structure and deliver a résumé.

Called twesumes, candidates can distill their job experience and aspirations down to 140 characters or less by creating a Twitter resume. A twesume is basically a short bio that is tweeted to potential employers along with a link to a URL that can connect to a more traditional CV, LinkedIn page or website. It is recommended if you are going to send twesumes to include one or two hashtags relevant to your industry in order to hopefully catch the eye of the hiring manager.

During your next job search, think about using some of the creative tools at your disposal to catch the eye of your hiring manager.

Posted on 1/21/2014

Written by Dwain Schenck

Dwain Schenck is a communications executive, author and former award-winning TV reporter who has a successful track record developing communications strategies. His company, Schenck Strategies, is a communications and consulting firm that serves as a trusted advisor to companies, organizations, high-profile individuals and celebrities and associations.

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