50 shades of resume – Page 10

50 Shades Of Resume #25: The Board Game

May 1, 2014 by Steven Savage

A few years ago Kristian Walsh created a resume that made a game out of his career – literally. Based on the game of life, she charted his life, skills, and accomplishments as a board game that looks a wee bit familiar to all of us that remember those classics.

But Kristain isn’t conspiring to make some of us feel old (that happens automatically), this is a resume that uses a far different metaphor than the standard resume – which in a way is another metaphor. It’s interpreting the CV history as something different.

To boot, he even has a video version available.

Now in analyzing such a unique resume, one faces the challenge in that it “is what it is.” But there’s a lot we can learn

First, this is a clever use of one thing to portray another. That already speaks volumes to a reviewer because it uses an unexpected metaphor – and shows Kristain is capable of thinking outside the box (and into the game box).
It’s actually a timeline resume, and as you “play along” you can see his history. This is a more detailed and personal history than the usual resume, and thus adds a more intimate feel.
The resume also calls out skills as they are learned, giving some sense of skills.
The relevant skills and history are also summarized on the right side of the page, a smart idea given how unusual this is.
Major milestones are called out in the “life-flow” which adds a further sense of what’s going on.
Notice how the “life-flow” takes you to the contact information and the final summary.

It’s actually hard to find issues with the resume as it’s really a success – a complete take of one metaphor and moving it into the other. A few things:

I’d use different colors for the board titles. Maybe code them to show “learned a skill”, “achievement,” etc. It breaks things up and communicates more.
The contact info is just there as usual text. That’s dull, and should be offset, a different style, or made to look like something else (Manufacturers contact information?).

Really, though, its hard to find much negative here. It’s just a clever piece of work. Opens me up to wondering what other metaphors we can use for our job histories . . .

Steve’s Summary: I’d love to see a resume like this come across my desk. Not only does it break up the monotony, it’s witty and makes me think – and tells me the person can rethink things and re-intepret them. Adaptability and imagination are powerful traits . . .

[“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 #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.

– 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