Geek Job Guru – Page 19

50 Shades Of Resume #30: The Comic Book

May 6, 2014 by Steven Savage

Joshua Drummond pretty much looked at the standard resume, crumpled it into a a ball, set it on fire, and said “I’m gonna do it as a comic book.” The result is essentially a small “Scott Pilgrim Versus The Career.”

As you can guess this is one of those resumes so unique that analyzing it a bit of a challenge because, well, it is a comic book. So consider this analysis “in context.”

What can we learn:

The entire resume feels personal, which is important for connecting with a reader.
The personal intro where he’s speaking right to the audience is a good touch – an effort to connect with the audience.
He also has a nice aside at the beginning making fun of standard resume descriptions.
He sums up his career history with a series of panels. That’s a different idea because some are obviously not quite “wow look what this did for my career.”
He ends with a big panel of “action publishing” that also includes punching a Hitler stand-in, a nice reference to the classic Captain America image.
He illustrates his hobbies in a similar way, going into a series of panels.
He closes with a very honest statement about his search, and then references.

A few things to change or consider:

Since this resume is so non-standard, it’s best paired with a regular resume. Joshua does that, sending it out with a strong cover letter and regular resume.
Not sure it’s ever a good idea to include Hitler in a resume, but doing the classic Captain America punch is a nice touch.
References may not always be needed.

As noted, it’s hard to critique a resume like this since he’s made this such a personal artistic effort. But there’s a lesson in that – and as we’ve seen in other resumes – that sometimes when you do something different, go all the way.

Steve’s Summary: I’d get a good laugh out of this resume, but also like the personal touch and the detail. It shows an effort to connect and a lot of imagination.

[“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 #29: The Cute Combo

May 5, 2014 by Steven Savage

A lot of resumes get crazy or formal, but Emily Bain takes hers in a more cute direction. Doinated by a large cartoon image of herself, it goes with a more whimsical look – but also does that hard trick of deviating from standard resume style while keeping all the vital elements in place. It’s a real combo of cuteness, different styles, and rethinking resumes.

Here’s what we can learn from this interesting and charming take:

The cartoon picture at the top sets a whimsical stage for the resume. That’s a nice bit of mood setting.
The introduction’s “hello” and the prologue make it personal. That further fits the spirit of the resume – and keeps the use of graphs below from being dehumanized.
She goes for a two-column resume, which we’ve seen before. In this case it’s an effective division – the left side shows her background, the right what she can do. That’s a good division for keeping the standard elements in a new – and functional – arrangement.
The use of different text colors, thicknesses, and designs is well done, each color or size having a purpose.
The little icons next to each title keep the whimsical feel.
The Skills and Expertese sections are highly effective. It shows her levels of skill with a five-point scale, and how her expertise is divided up in a nice, color-coded method.
I also like how she uses the hexagons multiple time, maintaining a theme.
She includes her hobbies at the bottom of the skills section – always good, but it also putting it in the area she shows her abilities emphasizes how they tie into her skills.
The ending with “let me tell you my story” is a great closer, and fits the personal sense.
The resume really speaks of a desire to communicate. The careful layout, the use of clever graphs, all show a desire to say something.

I have few criticisms of this resume, but a few things:

I’d have liked a little more detail in the work section to know a bit more. But it might not be needed.
The expertise section, though clever, isn’t quite clear.

Overall, a very solid, charming resume that does things differently – but it’s friendliness keeps those changes from seeming aggressive.

Steve’s Summary: I’d love to see a resume like this coming across my desk. Clear, cute, communicates well, and takes a different tact while making it work.

– Steven Savage

50 Shades Of Resume #28: The Blurbs

May 4, 2014 by Steven Savage

Resumes are both ways to describe ourselves but also advertise ourselves. Briana Higgins ran with this idea to create a resume that “blurbs” her personality and traits while mixing them with her background and job description, with some infographics to boot. It’s a bullet-fast bang-bang of information with specific details when you drill down.

Needless to say it’s also a non-standard resume, though works a lot of standard elements into it. Let’s analyze what we can learn:

Mixing the personality traits (“Dependable”, “Versatile”) in with the regular resume background like education is an interesting choice.
There’s use of text running in various directions that’s a real change of pace from other resume – and also saves some space.
She uses different fonts, colors, and sizes to make the resume more interesting.
The use of icons in the left side is a clever idea that drives how what the sections are about before you read them.
The skill section is really unique – using the labels as major categories with a “ring” of specific skills around them. That’s a take that saves space and is visually interesting.
The resume then goes from the “Skill blurbs” to a linear measure of experience, which actually is a mix of skill and job history display. That’s a fast way to communicate knowledge and experience that’s efficient and easy to understand visually.
When you look it all over, the resume says a lot, but each part is different.

Now a few critiques:

I like the interleaving of personal traits in with the resume, but sometimes that can be overdone. it might be good to mix the “trait bars” with background elements relevant to said personality traits.
I think the “blurb” text may be too large – you could free up more space.
References are probably not needed, nor is the quote from a previous manager. Though the quote is clever, it’s usually not needed – it could be replaced with a personal or philosophical quote. However, it does fit the overall “show my personality” trait.
I’d have liked to see more job history Since she has a lot of skills, I’d want to see something showing what she’s done.

What I like with this resume is each part is different, so it doesn’t get dull, and there’s some ways to portray backgrounds that are clear, but also different. It also has a friendly, funky look that’s non pretentious.

Steve’s Summary: Hand me this and it definitely tells me we’ve got a person with skill, and I get some fast-and-easy summaries of what she’s capable of on top of the talent that went into the resume. It’s also enjoyably non-standard. I would want some job history though.

– Steven Savage