Geek Job Guru – Page 21

50 Shades Of Resume #24: The Colorful Standard

April 30, 2014 by Steven Savage

Peter Hrinko gives us a colorful resume that looks almost like some product packaging. The shaded pictures, the gradient text, the unified color scheme all look like there’s some kind of product here. You’d almost wonder if “Peter Hrinko” is a new graphics card or a band.

Yet what it really is is a colorful version of a standard resume. Peter’s jazzed up the usual resume while keeping it standard. There’s actually quite a few lessons here about making a resume interesting without breaking form:

The use of the inverted color scheme, of dark background and light text (which I covered earlier) is compelling – and he expands on this by using light colored text of different colors. It’s interesting and it stands out, without being distracting.
The large title is actually effective – and it sets the stage for using different-colored headers (below).
Putting the Objective as a quote is a smart, personalizing touch.
He uses different font sizes and colors to emphasize specific sections and areas. That makes them stand out – and note how he cleverly uses multicolor/multi-format headers to make each title have the core word stand out – like “Experience” or “info” This is part of a consistent theme.
The use of darker-colored dividers makes the divisions more subtle, and focuses on the brighter-colored words.
Using a two-column model for his education, work experience, awards, and skills is a bold touch, and a good space-saver.
He incorporates icons into the resume on top of everything else, adding visual richness, drawing the eye, and showing knowledge.
He uses a picture of himself – but it’s a less personal one, it’s him at work. It keeps the personal element, but also adds a sense of the serious.
The picture in the right side is a nice break from “usual resume” look, and along with his photo, breaks up the entire resume.
He does a lot on one page.

There’s also very little I’d change, but . . .

As usual I think skills should go earlier. In this case he also mixes them in with the experience/education/honors column which is a bit confusing. Me might want to move the skills and program knowledge into their own parallel columns.
The “About Me” text is a bit too flush with the picture. Actually, it might go good lower so the picture stands out, or may not be needed.
I’d like to see more work experience, but that might not be possible and still keep it on one page.

As I analyze resumes I’m seeing more “multicolumn” models and changes to standard color schemes. I think these are areas we can really explore as resume-makers.

Steve’s Summary: Hand me this resume and I get a very positive impression. Here’s a solid, professional resume that shows his skills as well as his history, communicating them well – and communication is what a resume is about in the end.

[“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 #23: The Animated

April 29, 2014 by Steven Savage

Riccardo Sabbatini is not messing around.

His resume, and it feels a bit disrespectful to call it “merely” a resume is a giant animated extravaganza. It has a soundtrack. It has superhero jokes. Then when you get to the end it like to flyers of his resume for different subjects. The resume itself is a project all its own.

So of course, that’s not going to deter me. I’m going to analyze this sucker, because this is taking a resume to an extreme.

What can we learn, beyond the fact you can fuse jazz and techno effectively?

I like how early on he documents that this resume craziness is its own saga. That’s not only a good project, it shows his commitment and is just interesting. I can relate.
The use of a soundtrack that’s fun and bouncy is unexpected – and it keeps the sense of whimsy.
The animations for the most part are actually fun and interesting – and makes the resume more attention-getting.
He has a varied but consistent style throughout. The resume has a consistent look but it has enough leeway it stays visually interesting.
There’s a lot of humor throughout. Obviously.
I like his incorporation of software logos and colors into his “superpower” section in the form of a Hulk-like superhero. It’s a good use of iconics and is clever.
After his skills he shows the things he can do and these sections have an almost philosophical feel, such as “it’s all about the type.” This says what he can do and shows what he thinks
The links to “physical” resume designs at the bottom is a great touch. It leads people to finding somewhat more traditional resumes.

Now all his hard work aside, there are things I’d change:

Some people will have their minds blown by this – some will be overwhelmed. That’s just the way it goes, but if you follow in his footsteps, keep that in mind.
I’d put the links to physical resumes on the side or highlight them at the top or throughout – the way he shows his earlier resumes.
I actually think the large header detracts. I’d make it smaller so you get to the good stuff faster
The need to scroll through all of this is time-consuming. Now though the resume is a great example of his skills, it’d help to add a “jump to” button or make it seem multipage.
Some of the sections seem a bit overlarge depending on the screen you’re viewing them on.
The section showing physical resumes seems overlong.

One thing that is a great takeaway is that he’s made a great resume his own obsession and project. If you’re into something like this, it is a good side project. Much as I wrote a book on resumes, Riccardo made his quest for the wild, crazy, fun resume its own thing. Maybe you might take on a similar quest to get a great resume, build skills, and blow people’s mind.

In fact, let me suggest that maybe the secret to your next resume is so combining it with other projects it becomes something new. Maybe it merges completely with your portfolio or manifests it. Maybe it becomes your testing ground and you update it monthly. Who knows?

By the way, I’m not going to analyze “proper” resume flow here. Riccardo just did his own thing.

Steve’s Summary: Pretty much my reaction to first seeing this was “wow.” This is a stunt resume and a show-of-talent resume. I’d appreciate it, but then would go to the traditional resume to drill deeper, while showing this to the creatively inclined who wonders “what can the guy do.”

– Steven Savage

50 Shades Of Resume #22: The Retro Ad

April 28, 2014 by Steven Savage

Chuck Lay’s resume looks like a set of retro ads from a magazine, newspaper, or comic book. The iconic art, the different fonts, the text blurbs, it’s all there. A quick glance at it and you might think for a moment someone was trying to do a retro ‘zine. Actually it was part of something similar that he created.

But it’s all there, a complete resume that just happens to look like it comes with X-ray specs. Let’s dive in and see what we can learn . . .

The high points of the resume:

He’s really captured the sense of the classic ads – while keeping them clear. it very quickly gets attention and shows talent and skill.
THis resume also shows a definite sense of humor. Not many resumes actually say “I have a sense of humor” effectively, so it communicates personality.
The use of the icons in the classic ad look really helps sell it – and breaks up the resume, since many can be rather dull.
The “want more” cut out at the bottom is a hilarious and witty addition – and reinforces his contact information.
He uses different font colors and sizes to call attention to different sections, as well as different section sizes. Thus, each section is unique and draws attention.
This basic idea would not be that difficult to maintain or modify if done right. It would also not be hard to make several versions.

A few issues I have with the resume:

The non-standard resume layout may not quite work here. The use of one column for skills (on the right) and the career history dominating 2/3 of the page provides some workflow, but I don’t think it works with the variable fonts and elements – a bit too chaotic. It might work on a different resume.
Some of the font sizes are a bit small.
I wouldn’t make the Designer Profile section quite as big – it over dominates.
I might put the education and affiliations lower on the page – but I say might. With this layout, oddly, it works.

This is a good example of making a resume that looks like something else – but also subtle in its own way. It walks a good line between “looks like this” and “is a resume” while maintaining it’s theme.

Steve’s Summary: Hand me this resume and I’m going to have a good laugh – and a series of ones. Backed up with a good portfolio (because I’d want to see more) and it’s pretty powerful.

– Steven Savage