Have you viewed your resume in a word cloud?
As job seekers search for the "perfect" resume, they are constantly reminded about using action words and keywords to energize their resume in ways that will make them more interesting and readable by resumebots, recruiters, and HR staffers.
It turns out that creating a word cloud of your resume can add an entirely new perspective to the task of fine tuning a resume because those words most frequently used show more prominently than those words that are used infrequently.
I discovered how to make word clouds from a resume a few months ago when I learned how CNN was making all of its word clouds for the 2008 Elections. It is easy to do, and a lot of fun.
To view your resume as a word cloud take a look at the following:
http://www.wordle.net/
You can save the resulting word cloud, but bear in mind that use of Wordle can become addictive.
Clarification added April 27, 2009:
For those working to fine tune their resume the word cloud helps visually show what stands out in a resume. If the word cloud does not show what you hope to emphasis, it is time to do some tweaking.
For those that asked you can view a couple examples I created at the following:
http://www.caro.cc/wordlefun.htm
Good Answers (15)
Susan T.
Business development analyst at Thinkstream
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In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with us, and someone added a syllable. And the Word became Wordle, and we saw that it was good. A cloud arose in the distance...
I am now facilitating a 12-Step Program for Wordling, which I believe is now a transitive verb capable of a number of moods and tenses not previously defined in grammars, and hugely addictive besides.
It is a great way to see yourself and spot whether you've used the keywords a company cares about in the version of the resume you're about to submit to them.
That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!
Regards,
Susan
Martin T.
Crisis Management§Interim Executive
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Charles you are a bad man ;-) Now I can indulge my vanity AND waste hours. going straight back to now I've finished writing to you. Chers//M
Clarification added April 27, 2009:
See... can't even type simple words correctly in my haste. Dohh. Cheers//M
Clarification added April 27, 2009:
Interesting I've taken my word cloud and rewritten my resume. Because with the way the word cloud was coming out I susect my message was not coming across as I wanted it to. Since I use my resume to support bids for contracts rather than seek payroll jobs it might explain why people keep offering me jobs intead of the contracts I am looking for...
The cloud now reflects the balance I was hoping for. It'll be interesting to see if there's any effect.
Frank F.
►CEO/Bd Director ►IT Governance Advisor ►Future-Proof Strategy ►Keynotes ►Inno-Change ►Social Media Mktg ►China Advisor
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Lot's of fun. Useful too.
I may add one to my blog.
(hot link added)
Links:
Denis S.
Senior Systems Engineering Manager at iDirect
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Very nice!
Bill N.
Content Creator and Technical Writer
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I welcome any excuse to have my head in a cloud. Maybe soon we'll hear about 'cloud sourcing' too!!
Liz D.
Seeking Next Opportunity | Change Facilitator | Process Improvement & Training | LinkedIn Expert
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Hi Charles-
Very, very cool. Thanks for sharing this resource with the LinkedIn community!
Cheers!
Liz duToit
Sheilah E.
Owner, ★SME Management:.......... Business Management and Accounting Consultant
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Thanks for sharing Charles. I saw these last year when Hamish made one for me at the 13K mark. But I never thought about using it for a resume.
Sheilah
Alison S.
The Purchasing Coach - Ensuring your purchasing garden delivers true value to your business
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Thank You so much Charles
I saw these in a paper recently but they'd didn't provide a link to this site. I can think of so many uses for newsletters and articles etc. So I may yet leave a comment in a few weeks saying I've not slept since! Seem to be spending more time on line since I started partcipating in answering questions as it is. Worth it for just finding this wonderful file site though.
Links:
Clarification added April 27, 2009:
I did one for the introduction to my newsletter and love it - see web resources. Thank you again.
Clarification added April 27, 2009:
and to answer Chris's query re it's potential use. For me it will enable me to see what I am conveying most to readers of my newsletter. The biggest words I have used the most - are they the words that I want to be emphasising. Ditto my CV or sales pitch. For smaller pieces it may convey the meaning differently than as a paragraph.
Looking at some of the examples some people have started to use it to convey meaning by only using a few words and allowing the software to represent them differently than they would themselves or a graphics designer would. So what would a poster for a workshop look like?
Alison M.
Advisory Board Member at EMA-I
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Charles
I've been playing around with mine for a bit - very interesting results. The Tool looks great. thanks for sharing.
All the best
Alison
Alec M.
Entrepreneur, Visionary, Avid Experientialist [LiON]
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OMG OMG OMG
this is the coolest and most useless webdingy I've seen in a while - I LOVE IT
Thank you!
Louis R.
Technology Expert & Author -- LouRG.com
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As always, quality find. Thanks for sharing, sir.
Dawn B.
"CONNECTOR," http://DBoyerConsulting.com, Small Biz HR Consultant, Resume Coach, Social Media Trainer/Mgr.
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OMG OMG OMG - yes - I love it, TOO!
This really did open my eyes to the key skill words that I've used and realized I have used the words for the skills I wanted to get away from, and emphasized the words I wanted to grow towards.
I LOVE THE VARIETY you can play with, also!
I accept all LinkedIn Invitations: Dawn.Boyer@me.com
Answer my Poll: http://polls.linkedin.com/p/28062/mzylg
A great tool! I've also encouraged students to use it for cover letters and graduate/professional school personal statements
Sharon M.
Expert Career Coach, Trainer, and HR Consultant - Connecting Candidates and Companies
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As a wordsmith, I love this-I wordled my bio and the largest word was CAREER, then COUNSELOR, then HUMAN. I love it-thank you much. For us creative writer types, we will "get it" right away-the visual montage of words quantify one's essence. I love it! Thank you!
Sincerely,
Sharon McCormick
More Answers (2)
Christopher W.
Information Security Project Consultant at Colt Technology Services
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So how would this help with resume writting ?
OK, so it shows you the words that are used the most but doesn't apply the contect that words are used it......... might be a pretty toy but sorry, don't see how it can improve your resume writting.
Clarification added April 28, 2009:
should read "the context that words are used"
Clarification added April 28, 2009:
If you want to know what word you are using the most then a simple word count should give you this......... you can then run any number of statistical models against it if you liked.
I just don't see that this graphical representation gives you anything more, apart from being easy to read for people unable to grasp simple maths
