Geek Job Guru – Page 26

50 Shades Of Resume #8: The Random

April 14, 2014 by Steven Savage

Many resumes are piles of stuff, especially if they’re not organized right. Sid Santos (who is in the Cool Name club with me apparently), desired to do this deliberately by making his resume look like . . . a pile of things.

Yes, his resume looks like a post-it note, a napkin drawing, and a cup of coffee. They just happen to have his contact information and career information on it. It’s a clever design.

This is actually a resume that, the more you look at it, the more you see got done. There’s skills and a personal image, contact info and job history, little details and extras. It just looks like something else!

So what stands out?

First of all this is artistically brilliant. He has a resume that looks like other things that don’t look like a resume – that come together to be a resume. It’s clever.
It’s a great display of artistic skill as well. He makes it look really. it shows raw skill as well as cleverness.
It’s got a fun feel too it. Because it looks like an informal pile of things, it has a sense of whimsy. That’s also comforting – and makes me feel he doesn’t take himself overly seriously.
The self-illustration adds a personal touch, rounding off the experience.
It’s extremely professional and shows this guy knows what he’s doing.
In a way, it’s sort of a resume as a small portfolio of skill.

Now, a few things to consider in this resume:

It’s not a standard, scan-able resume. It would have to be paired with a regular resume or used appropriately.
I’m not sure I’d break the software out of the skills description, but it does work well by allowing him to use yet another medium of portrayal.
There’s some unused space that might be a bit too much.

Steve’s Summary: This’d get my attention if I saw this resume, it shows a lot of effort and imagination. I might want a “typical” resume to hand to HR, but it’s pretty clear this guy is the real deal. I’d want to phone interview someone that gave me this.

[“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 #7: The Book

April 13, 2014 by Steven Savage

Some of us have resumes that grow and grow and get a little large. Andy Reynonds didn’t let this stop him and made his resume into a book after becoming unemployed. Yes, a book. An online (and offline) coffee table book about his career. Needless to say it’s been mentioned around.

Having handed out my book at interviews, I felt I had stepped into the presence of someone truly “taking it all the way.” So of course I had to include it in this series because I’d never forgive myself otherwise – and Andy is a very creative individual.

The high points?

It’s a resume as a book. Really this is a testimony to skill that’s hard to top. It shows serious graphical/publishing ability.
It also speaks of dedication. Again, he made a book – this resume tells people about your personality.
It also functions as a portfolio. This is very clever and may be an idea to use elsewhere – see how you can wrap your portfolio inside other resume ideas and metaphors. Some people put their resume in their portfolio, he did the revere . . .
It’s got some nice layout elements. It’s very professional.
The book design is something I think people could explore in various forms, and may be worth thinking about.

As for changes . . . well actually this is such a unique idea it’s hard to say. Mr. Reynolds pretty much out and did this his own way. A few things though:

I think the book may be a bit overlong. Though it’s also a portfolio, it may seem a bit much.
This definitely has to go with a regular resume or job search or interview to lead people into it. It’s not quite a supplemental resume, but is really a resume/portfolio fusion.
It may go well paired with smaller “book” resumes one could hand out.
Not everyone will “get” this resume. It has to be used carefully – though anyone who doesn’t “get” it may not be the kind of person you want to work for or with.

Additional thought: This could possibly be combined with other publications like ashcans. There’s a lot of possible experimentation.

Steve’s Summary: I admit if I saw this, I’d be impressed because . . . again, the guy did a book! I also would want to know more about him. Context may be important as it could seem a bit overdone, but I wouldn’t care.

– Steven Savage

50 Shades Of Resume #6: The Inverted

April 12, 2014 by Steven Savage

Morgan‘s resume here turns the usual color scheme around quite literally. It’s white on black not black on white as opposed to the usual color scheme. It’s interesting to see how that changes how you see the resume because in many ways it’s a standard resume with some twists.

So let’s take a look at what it’s got going for it.

First of all, the inverted look aside, this is a standard resume. Not sure it’s scannable, but it’s completely usable as a regular resume.
Because it’s usable as a regular resume and it’s creative, it’s a double-win. This shows both artistic skill and provides the usual resume information. This resume actually walks the line of “creative” and “contains all the boring detail” very well.
The use of the artist’s picture is a nice, personalizing touch. In fact I think it’s needed as the resume would be very impersonal otherwise.
Putting the artist’s picture in black and white works well with the color scheme, and maintains the theme – it’s also a good choice of picture with the wintry background.
There nice use of different font sizes to make sections stand out without overdoing it.
It’s another case of managing to get everything on one page, which is hard.

As for possible changes:

I’m not sure if it’s scannable due to the inversion – but at the same time you loose the impact if you change it. I’d frankly risk it.
The “dashes” around the skills may not be needed, but they might work better with some kind of classification system or being in alphabetical order.
I don’t think the italics work.
She uses some stock images in the background to keep the black from being totally black. Not sure if they’re needed or if they help.

One additional suggestion, just for kicks – this resume has a bit of a “wintry” theme. It’d be interesting to see other resumes using various limited color schemes do other themes.

Steve’s Summary: If I got this resume, I’d pay attention. It shows subtlety, tells me about the person, and is businesslike while displaying creativity. There’s something here I should pay attention to.

– Steven Savage