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50 Shades Of Resume #6: The Inverted

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Resume 6

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.

[“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 #5: The Progress Chart

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Resume 5

Let’s talk about progress, specifically the detailed chart Steve Duncan of Sven Studios made for his career.

Steve goes all out with a detailed, color-coded outline of his entire career. It shows work, education, what he did when, and specific events. It’s his life as a timeline.

So taking a look what stands out:

  • The sense of organization is obvious. This is a guy capable of thinking of his life and career in this organized a manner. Makes me think I should be doing Gantt charts of my career. A good takeaway here is to remember how a resume arrangement says something.
  • Lots of detail. His life is pretty much here.
  • It actually tries to combine several elements of a career into a single graph and show how they relate. It breaks the usual “categories” of resumes to say something different.
  • It gives a more unified, larger picture – that’s not always common in resumes, which tend to be broken into “life chunks”

Now as for improvements and issues

  • This is definitely a supplemental resume or one to keep on a portfolio. Not a resume I’d send in alone.
  • The font size is a bit small and could be larger
  • Sometimes the text is a bit too much – too much detail.
  • This might go well paired with a skills acquisition or history graph, if you’re going to go graph-focused.
  • If you paired this with a “regular” resume using a similar color scheme, it’d be an excellent bit of combined branding. If it was combined with a portfolio site with the same color scheme, that’d be great.

Steve’s Summary: If I got this resume it’d be interesting – especially if the job required a lot of organizational ability. But I’d want it with another resume that’s more traditional. I’d also probably wonder if this guy should be a fellow manager.

[“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 #4: The Old-Timer

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Resume 4

Let’s take a look at Kelly Weihs’ old-timey looking resume.

Kelly’s resume has an old-timey flyer look here, complete with fake aging and retro fonts. It’s a standard resume in many ways, it just is gussied up to look like a post from times gone by. There’s actually some subtle graphical work here to get the look just right, and the more you look, the more details you see.  Take a few minutes to go over this one in detail.

So what are the high points of this old-school yet new-school resume?

  • It’s actually a full resume. Not sure it’ll scan with the fancy fonts, but it’s easily human readable and has everything one would need to show their work history.
  • It varies fonts which adds some visual richness.  A standard font is always nice to use, but varied fonts (and font styles) can be very powerful when used right.
  • The use of a focused color scheme – red, black, and the cream-colored background – lets it call attention to important elements or to make text stand out. It uses colors without overusing them, and gives the resume a coherent color theme.
  • The use of colors to make things stand out deserves it’s own separate mention. This is a very powerful way to guide the viewer’s eye.
  • It’s got a retro charm which also stands out – as opposed to looking high tech the high technology is used to make something look old. That’s a clever show of talent without being blatant.
  • It’s surprisingly condensed. The use of side-by-side, different font sizes, etc. helps get a lot of information in there.
  • The mention of activities and interests is important, and the little red blurb on loving history adds a personal touch.

A few things I’d do:

  • The use of different font sizes may be overdone. It gets a bit distracting and some may be too small, others (like the Education heading) are too large
  • I actually think the resume could use a different order – I’m big on skills, then work experience, then education.
  • I’d put Work For Hire as part of Work Experience.

Steve’s Summary: If I got this resume, I’d be pleased. It shows skills and creativity while communicating information. The whimsy also gives me a good sense of the person’s personality and interests – they like history and they made this look historical.

[“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