As a freelancer I spent quite some time updating and sending my CV to different parties. Most recruiting companies ask me for a MS Word version of my CV without any markup. I understand why, they put on their own logo and copy and paste the relevant parts for the company they propose me to. To me this feels rather awkward. In these web oriented times, I would expect enterprises to check candidate backgrounds online. And a flat, unformatted list of job experience, is not what they expect online. Sites like Linkedin and VisualCV try to make a difference here, but they are still text based, very similar to the dull paper documents.
You can debate on the usefulness of a visual resume for jobhunters, I think that potential resume evaluators go through a resume in different passes. The right typography will already helps a lot in this process. Also the visual has to be easily understood by the recruiter, not only by the candidate himself.
The most brilliant examples I’ve seen, come from graphical or art designers. They are showcasing fonts, styles or other visuals. The problem is, I’m not into design jobs, and creating a resume that visual, will not send the right message.
Another trend is using visual slides to convey who you are and what you stand for. These examples work well when presenting in person, but without audio they don’t work that well. Also printing these will result in a condensed overview.
Below is a list of the most beautiful examples I found. I’d love to make one myself, who knows.
Visual CV - Examples:
More stuff:
- Google Birthday: the way the represent special events maybe a good candidate for an interactive CV. http://www.google.com/tenthbirthday/#start
- Linked-In: http://artwerk.com/2009/02/19/a-well-designed-cv-equals-job-at-first-sight/
- Other beautiful Infographics - http://www.designlabelblog.com/2008/03/data-visualization-and-infographics_30.html
Future?
Well the next thing is probably create my own… Another idea might be to create an application to visualize f.i. LinkedIn profiles with it using the hresume format. If any visual designers are interested in this project, just let me know.