Job Search – Page 17 – 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.

[“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 #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

50 Shades Of Resume #11: The Doodle

April 17, 2014 by Steven Savage

Liagi Ramilo takes an interesting approach with her resume – making it look like something doodled on a piece of notebook paper, with her picture attached. It’s almost a reverse of the usual resumes people design, with carefully beveled lines and calculated fonts – she goes out of her way to make it look almost aggressively informal.

When I first saw this resume, I confess, it was unexpected – and that shock is part of the charm. Some people think out of the box, she decided the box needed to be more casual and personalized.

Looking over this resume I see several things it has going for it:

It has marvelous personality, and paired with the picture, gives a sense of whimsy and informality. It’s almost comforting in its casualness. The job search is a formalized affair, and she brings a welcome informality.
It still gets in all the things a good resume needs, but in a more casual sense. As you look it over, you see how much detail there is, and it speaks to real talent in design.
It’s also a good example of her design work in that she had to go out of the way to make it look informal and put in the right information.
The little doodles really sell it – it makes it look much more like what it’s supposed to – a piece of paper someone scribbled things on. Without them it really wouldn’t “sell” the design.
Including a picture adds a personal touch that works well with the informality – and it’s not a formal picture, which is appropriate.

Now a few issues with the resume:

This is definitely not a scannable resume – it’s something that probably has to be paired with a more formal resume.
The clever “doodle” look does come at the expense of readability – it’s not exactly the clearest resume in some areas, such as where the text crosses one of the blue lines. That might annoy some people.

I could see this resume being used as the basis of a portfolio – imagine several other pages of doodles with pictures of her other works, creating a portfolio with the casual theme. Such a themed portfolio would add power to the resume, and vice versa.

Steve’s Summary: If I got this resume, I’d really enjoy the fact I felt I got a glimpse into the personality of the artist, and appreciate the effort. I’d want a formal resume to scan or send to less creative people.

– Steven Savage