Geek Job Guru – Page 24

50 Shades Of Resume #15: The History Chart

April 21, 2014 by Steven Savage

Greg Dizzia loves a good graph at a level that I almost envy – I might need to try to convert this guy to a career in Project Management. This is just one of his charts, he has others up at Deviant Art.

In this case he mapped the history of his career in one chart. Mixing color coding, timelines, and icons, it’s a mindbendingly dense summary of, well, his career. As a devotee of good info graphics and charts, it’s a bit overwhelming in a delightful way. Ok, delightful to me and people like me.

When you dig deep into what he created, these lessons stand out:

This shows a sense of organization – yes, that’s obvious, but that’s not something easily communicated in a resume. Greg really thought this thing through, and tells me he’d probably be easy to work with organization-wise.
It communicates a serious love of graphs and designs – as does his other work. It shows not just a sense of organization but serious skills.
It says a lot. You can, if you break it down, really get a deep idea of what he did, learned, and what skills he employed.
The use of icons is very effective – something I’d like to see more of, and something I’m noticing more of in resumes.
It’s visually very appealing. These are good color choices.

Now there’s limits to this:

It’s not a traditional or scannable resume. It’d probably have to be paired with a more traditional one.
If a person doesn’t take the time to look into it, they won’t really get anything out of it – it’s not a resume to hand to someone for casual viewing.
It is impersonal – it says a few things about him, but there’s no sense of “person.” A picture may help out – or an illustration.
It’s a testimony to his skills, but it showcases only a few of his skills, and thus needs supplements.
Some people might find it overly showy.

I think that this resume and others may be good in a portfolio, supplemented with a regular resume. He might even be able to create a whimsical “graph series” for display – since he apparently loves doing them – and that might be an idea for you, dear reader, to consider.

Steve’s Summary: Hand me this resume and, beyond my deep envy of his charting skills, it’d be a clear testimony to a very organized person that knows how to do specific graphic design. I’d want to see a regular resume and a larger portfolio 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 #14: The Google-Alike

April 20, 2014 by Steven Savage

Chris Liu is someone you might search for online if you were looking for a creative person. He’s one-upped that and made a resume last year that looks like a Google Search. He’s even got his own logo variant. It’s one of those web pages where you have to go “wait, what” and then you realize what it is.

Of course I had to analyze this.

Chris’ resume has some standout traits:

It’s close enough to a past Google search that the shock is kind of impressive – when you realize what it is, it’s a tad jarring. That’s pretty clever – it’s a “finisher” move without having to have an interview.
It shows serious attention to detail to get this to look right. That’s testimony to personal traits and skills without having to actually say anything.
His use of the “search results” to show all sorts of different things, from his blog to his LinkedIn profile is clever and shows a lot of diverse things people can look at.
The inclusion of various photos of himself is good for establishing some personality – as if duplicating Google results doesn’t say enough.

There’s a few limits on this resume:

It’s so close a Google search that you might not “get it” right away, and the minimalism is a bit too minimal.
It’s going to be a total pain to update.
I’d have a regular resume easily noted, visible, and available for download.
His “personal info box” should have more skills in it – it undersells him.
There are “blank” links that could probably be replaced with actual links.

Steve’s Summary: If an applicant pointed me to this resume, I’d like the cleverness and the varied links – if I’m interested in them, it lets me know them better. I’d definitely want a standard resume easily available.

– Steven Savage

50 Shades Of Resume #13: The Simple And Classy

April 19, 2014 by Steven Savage

Krissy Marheine’s resume is almost surprisingly simple for a graphic designer – it looks more like a minimalist piece of modern art than a resume. It’s simple, almost soothingly so – almost a contrast to busier and denser resumes. It’s extremely professional, but not the kind that yells out how much the author can do – it’s restraint speaks volume.

Looking it over, theres are the high points and lessons learned:

The red band is brilliant. It’s simple, but really adds a nice divider for content and draws the eye to the center of the resume – and the creator’s name.
The use of the cream/parchment background is a good choice, it keeps the red from looking to garish.
Despite being artistic and creative, it’s a resume that should be scannable and is quite readable.
The restraint of the resume, mixing the creative and the practical, really stands out and speaks well of the reactor.
The use of different text color and font sizes is nice and effective, creating a sense of division without being overly aggressive.

There are issues with the resume, but they’re comparatively minor:

Too much blank space – I think a somewhat larger font would fill the space nicely. Not too much.
I’d make the artists name larger to make it stand out, though that might require expanding the middle line or altering how the name is presented.
I’d like to see more skills listed, I think it undersells her.
The contact information might be better at the top.
I’d like some personal details, like hobbies and so forth. The minimalism of the resume is great, but it may not convey a sense of personality.
The minimal design may or may not give a full sense of her skills because it is a deliberately limited design. Breadth of skills needs to be shown appropriately – if paired with a portfolio that was wild and crazy it might contrast oddly.

This is also another resume that could be “themed” with a portfolio and web page of similar design. It’d be easy to implement a similar theme in the various components of job search and personal branding – if a bit tough to update.

A good, solid resume.

Steve’s Summary: If this resume got handed to me, I’d be impressed – effective, creative, clear, precise. A lot of thought went into it, and that tells me this might be someone I’d think of interviewing.

– Steven Savage