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