Here’s what happens when a graphic designer makes a resumé

I like to have a nice, neat look to my resumé or CV, whenever I need one, but I have always focused on the content, not spending too much time on how it is displayed. So long as the information fits, the fonts are clear, and everything lines up, I’ll call it good.

I think I may have to rethink that. I’ve recently come across two posts that detail infographic style resumés, and some of them have just blown me away.

Apparently, this is one of the first of the genre, by Michael Anderson:

Click on it, to see it full-size, or just take a little snippet, like the bottom, left-hand corner:

I can’t say that it adds anything to the “professional experience” or the “education and awards” aspect of a traditional resumé, but it sure gives me a great sense of the guy.

Since then, there’s been a relative explosion in the style. A lot of people seem influenced by the original, above. Others are doing interesting things with timelines and subway maps, as well as all the various forms of graphs.

But look at this Cthulhu of a resumé:

It’s by Gabriele Bozzi. Again, click on it, if you’d like to see it full-size. I think if you were sending an 11×17 resumé for some reason, this might work really impressively, but on my screen, at least, it’s too difficult to follow and make sense of. I definitely get a sense of a detail-oriented person, however.

There are plenty more examples, but I don’t want to give a whole overview of them here — two other people have already dont that. Check out the 18 compiled by Randy Krum at Cool Infographics. Or, Javier Tordable, a software engineer at Google, who goes through a few from other people before creating his own with interactive Google tools.

Amazing work. Guess I’d better dust up my skills!