Geek Job Guru – Page 16

50 Shades Of Resume #39: The Wheel Graph

May 15, 2014 by Steven Savage

There’s changing resumes a bit or trying something different, and then there’s throwing the whole thing out. Scott Stedman pretty much did the latter and re-envisioned a resume as a wheel including color-coded elements for the kind of things he learned and did. It’s a timeline bent round to form a circle, and frankly, one of the more outrageous takes on resumes I’ve seen.

Like some of our previous resumes, it’s almost hard to start because it’s really its own thing. But I’m glad to analyze it to see what we can learn. Here’s my takeaways

This is a gutsy move, period. Doing this is risky, but also shows that Scott seriously thinks outside of the box, probably as he threw the box out of the window.
It’s also a resume that screams “I have talent.” Not many people do a resume like this.
The “Start Here” is smart. He clearly knows not everyone would get this.
The color graph of just what he did is an interesting touch. It adds more to the wheel and gives you an idea of his involvements – and their ebb and flow.

Being an experimental resume, I do see some issues:

First, this is really a radical departure. Not everyone is going to get this or like it. It may work well with a more standard resume OR a list of skills and so on that was still creatively laid out.
I think having the text lie across other elements of the wheel is a bit much. That’s disruptive.
I’d also want the descriptive text larger.
The use of the wheel should probably be used to communicate cycles or something similar – it might work best if there was a “what’s next” gap at the end.
I’d make his portfolio links larger.

One thing I take from this resume is its so radical that if paired with a well-designed standard resume, it would speak to even more skill. The unusual and the standard (but artistic) paired together could be real powerful.

Steve’s Summary: I love graphs and charts, so I’d get a kick out of the resume – and it tells me this guy gets data visualization. I’d want something much more standard to show other people though.

[“50 Shades of Resume” is an analysis of various interesting resumes to celebrate the launch of the second edition of my book “Fan To Pro” and to give our readers inspiration for their own unique creations.]

– Steven Savage

50 Shades Of Resume #38: The Personal Timeline

May 14, 2014 by Steven Savage

Maria Rybak’s resume is a timeline – something we’ve seen before, but she approaches it in an almost stark approach that’s minimal except for text, while still incorporating good visual touches and standard resume elements. It’s an approach that’s both creative and measured, which is a difficult balancing act.

It’s also a resume that presents a lot the more you look at it. So let’s see just what we can learn from it.

The angled look is different, very artistic, and adds a bit of visual richness – which I think it needs otherwise its measured sense may get a bit too dull.
She uses a distinct, limited color palate throughout the resume. That unifies it visually and keeps the feeling of “precision” at the same time.
The resume is actually divided – by her name. The top is the timeline, the bottom is skills and related information. That’s a clever division, and we’ve seen similar things done before. In this case it makes sure the parts of the resume stay distinct.
The timeline itself is nicely done, not overdone, but rather precise. It also acts as a visual separator for the bottom of the resume and her picture and information at the top. It reflects her chosen palette.
In addition, you’ll notice the resume is education on the bottom and practice on the top. That’s a great, effective division – this really shows job history and education at the same time, and tells you a lot.
The photo, as always, is a nice personal touch – and here I think it’s needed to keep this from being to impersonal.
The resume works to communicate. It’s another resume that is really trying to tell you about the person.

A few things I’d change:

Some of the font size seems a bit too small. A few less words an a bit larger fonts would help – though I wouldn’t diminish too much of the white space – in this case the white space works.
The level of detail on some timeline elements is a bit larger. A little tightening may make it flow better.

I think in this resume we actually see a change from the norm that doesn’t overdo itself, and meets very specific goals.

Steve’s Summary: This is the kind of “experimental” resume I like to get – does the job while doing it differently. Also it tells me she’s quite talented.

– Steven Savage

50 Shades Of Resume #37: The Typographic

May 13, 2014 by Steven Savage

Rob Gregory is an advertising art director who clearly loves typography – because that’s what he pretty much used to make this resume. From different fonts and weights, to varying sizes and colors, the resume is a love letter to text. We’ve seen resumes that vary typography here and there – Rob dives on in and makes it the core of what he’s done.

He’s also thrown out a lot of standard resume flows and ideas here to make a different statement. There’s bits and pieces of personal data, humor, hobbies and more. There’s not exactly a flow to it either.

It’s a very unusual resume, one that takes chances. Of course taking chances can teach us some things, and here’s what I take away from his resume

We’ve seen a few landscape resumes, and in some cases I think that works. Here it clearly does, to focus on his use of text.
It’s also a resume that shows off skills, period. You don’t do this without being knowledgable.
It’s a far more personal resume as well. The typographic nature of the resume actually reinforces that.
The use of varied type,fonts, etc. makes this visually interesting and clearly shows skill.
At the same time though he varies colors, he doesn’t overdo it. Instead, he picks a standard color set and deviates sparingly.
Including the college logo is a nice idea – one that might be worth doing if you’re doing more “iconic” resumes like we’ve seen.

However, there are some challenges and issues to this approach

There’s actually not a lot of detail on skill – this is a resume who’s design is there to show what the person it’s about can do. That’s risky.
There’s a sense of busyness to the resume that could be toned down.
I think the personal details are overdone and could be replaced with more professional information.
In turn, a photo or better yet stylized art piece of the author could add a personal touch.
The resume needs a more unified flow or feel to help tell a story. There’s personal detail but not a large sense of narrative – he does include that in the section on his real estate career, and adding more “flow” to this resume could make it very effective.

One interesting thing in this resume is his choice of going typographic does drive a lot of the design, so critiques aside, he did dive right into his concept. I think that stands out, and if you’re going to for a given theme, I think that enthusiasm is required, even if the resume has issues (even if I think it does). Rob dived on in.

Steve’s Summary: I’d find this a fun resume to get, because there’s a lot of character – and talent. I’d definitely want a “standard” resume with it to pair up. I also think this is a resume other digital artists would “get” over other people.

– Steven Savage