geek job guru – Page 4 – 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.

[“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 #12: The Juice Box

April 18, 2014 by Steven Savage

Joshua Omondi doesn’t think outside of the box – he thinks of how to make a better box. In this case, he made his resume into a juice box. Yes, a juice box, complete with labels, ingredients, contents, and so on. It’s printable for folding purposes or to just show off.

He wanted to do something different and he certainly did.

So when I look over this resume, I see these high points:

It’s just plain clever. It’s a juice box resume, and he keeps the design consistent with what you’d expect of, well, an actual juice box.
There’s also a sense of humor to this obviously. Again . . . juice box.
He includes a lot of information on a “stunt” resume There’s quite a bit of detail here – he doesn’t rely on the “stunt” to speak for him.
The skill descriptions are clever to – using percentages to communicate his ability. A good example of translating one metaphor to another.
The use of the icons on the side to describe himself is a nice touch – making it look not only like a product, but further adding detail and communicating from more than just text.
The inclusion of a personal picture is, as always, a good humanizing touch. It’s also a good picture, calm and dignified, which is an interesting contrast to the whimsy – and that may keep this from seeming silly.
People’s reactions to this resume will tell the creator if he’d fit in with them.
It’s also a good testimony to not just his design skills but product design skills – which is its own skill-set. it says he’s not just an artist, but a person that can really design something – that backs up his listing Packaging Design as a skill.

Now as you may guess a resume this unusual has some limitations:

This is a stunt resume. It’s definitely going to need to be paired with a regular resume and portfolio.
Not everyone may get this – though I suspect if they don’t, then they’re not the kind of person he’d want to work for.
The small text may not be for everyone.
Updating this must be a colossal pain in the backside.

An unusual resume with limits, but clever.

Steve’s Summary: I’d get a kick out of this resume – as long as it was wrapped around a juice box and with a regular resume. It’d want the full experience – because I imagine seeing this in context, in 3D, is a powerful statement of talent. I’d also have something to share with people to say “look how clever this is!”

Also I’d get free juice.

– 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