Whether you’re trying to explain a winding career path or are just a regular job-seeker looking for a way to stand out, telling stories may be one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal. As career expert Lily Zhang explains, “if you can tell a good story, you can actually synchronize your listener’s brain with your own. You can literally share the experience with someone else. Talk about making a connection!”
And while there are plenty of strategies for telling those stories once you reach the interview, it can be a little tricky to figure out how to include them earlier in the application process.
Well, presentation software Prezi has come up with one solution: a “Prezume.”
In short, a Prezume is a visual presentation about yourself. Using Prezi’s software the same way you would to create, say, a client presentation or primer on your company, you can easily weave your experiences together in an engaging way using plenty of multimedia.
Why is this better than just a resume and cover letter alone? Creating a Prezume gives you a platform on which you can weave together your experiences to tell exactly the narrative you want the hiring manager to take away. For example, in the Prezume below, Alissa Dos Santos is able to explain the pivot she made in her career and the reasoning behind it, rather than just give a seemingly disjointed list of job experiences.
Plus, you get to infuse a little of your personality into the mix, helping hiring managers get a sense of who you are (and why you’d be so great to work with!). This can be done by choosing a design that speaks to your fun personality, adding a bit of humor throughout, or even including a bit about your vision for the company you’re applying to or general philosophies on work, as in the presentation below. (In fact, Prezi believes so much in the power of the Prezume that it requires everyone who applies to the company to create one.)
We’ve talked a lot before about the power of personal websites or visual resumes to help you stand out, but creating a Prezume can be a good, low-investment option since it’s so easy to set up. Prezi even offers templates to get you started, but you should definitely consider them jumping off points; designing a unique Prezume will help you stand out even more.
The company has created a whole tutorial below to help you make your Prezume all yours.
And once you’ve made your Prezume? Use it to start applying to awesome jobs! (Hint: Prezi is hiring now!)