path

Job Basics: The Path

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upward path stair

Last we met, we discussed how your  first goal should be, well, having a goal to get to. A job or position or career that you knew, understood, and knew enough to reach for. That gave you something to plan for and something to start doing right away.

So once you have a career goal in mind, as noted, you should research it and understand it. This lets you create a path to that goal.  Thats the next thing to explore in Job Basics

This may sound simple, but that simplicity is deceptive. It is easy to treat career paths as obvious, as ordained, or as something “everyone” knows. Real life, however, is filled with roundabouts, distractions, short cuts, and surprises. If it seems easy, there’s a good chance you don’t know what the hell you’re doing – or you’re very lucky.

Let’s not assume luck or competency, but focus on what you need to know and do to have a path to your goal.

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50 Shades Of Resume #47: The Path

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Resume 47

Remember when we saw Scott Stedman’s “wheel” resume earlier? Well he’s done other experiments in resumes as well – in this case he went from the wheel to a path, showing his education, experience, and skills. and how they intersect. It’s not one path – it’s several coming together in a very unusual resume.

What can we learn and what stood out for me?

  • It’s really different – an attempt to go both nonlinear and linear. I’m not entirely sure it works, but it’s very ambitious, and is food for thought.
  • The colors of the paths also seem to tie into the various text headings.  A good way to help people understand it.
  • Despite having a lot of graphics and less text, he actually says a lot with his limited text. He choses his words well.
  • These precise descriptions also have a bit of an informal feel – which works with a resume that uses an abstract concept. It keeps it human.
  • He chose his color schemes and stuck with it, and works with the limited color set.

I do think it has some issues:

  • This is creative, but also a bit too busy.  It’s going to overwhelm some people.
  • The resume seems to be indicating how this “came together” in 2014, but I think that could be indicated with some notes, larger text, etc.
  • I think the fonts would work better bolded, and there might be a bit too much text – just a bit.
  • The aside about one of his photos becoming popular could be made larger – or left out.
  • I like how he calls out his title as a photographer, and could use that concept elsewhere in the resume.

Definitely am ambitious resume. I have to wonder what his next experiment will be.  Then again, I’ll probably share it with you.

Steve’s Summary: A clever resume, but does need to be paired with a regular one. It also shows bold choices – I admit if I hadn’t met him through email I’d want to discuss his ideas with him, because this level of “rethinking” makes me want to know more about him.

[“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