publishing

50 Shades Of Resume #7: The Book

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BookResume

Some of us have resumes that grow and grow and get a little large. Andy Reynonds didn’t let this stop him and made his resume into a book after becoming unemployed. Yes, a book. An online (and offline) coffee table book about his career.  Needless to say it’s been mentioned around.

Having handed out my book at interviews, I felt I had stepped into the presence of someone truly “taking it all the way.” So of course I had to include it in this series because I’d never forgive myself otherwise – and Andy is a very creative individual.

The high points?

  • It’s a resume as a book. Really this is a testimony to skill that’s hard to top. It shows serious graphical/publishing ability.
  • It also speaks of dedication. Again, he made a book – this resume tells people about your personality.
  • It also functions as a portfolio. This is very clever and may be an idea to use elsewhere – see how you can wrap your portfolio inside other resume ideas and metaphors. Some people put their resume in their portfolio, he did the revere . . .
  • It’s got some nice layout elements. It’s very professional.
  • The book design is something I think people could explore in various forms, and may be worth thinking about.

As for changes . . . well actually this is such a unique idea it’s hard to say. Mr. Reynolds pretty much out and did this his own way. A few things though:

  • I think the book may be a bit overlong. Though it’s also a portfolio, it may seem a bit much.
  • This definitely has to go with a regular resume or job search or interview to lead people into it. It’s not quite a supplemental resume, but is really a resume/portfolio fusion.
  • It may go well paired with smaller “book” resumes one could hand out.
  • Not everyone will “get” this resume. It has to be used carefully – though anyone who doesn’t “get” it may not be the kind of person you want to work for or with.

Additional thought: This could possibly be combined with other publications like ashcans. There’s a lot of possible experimentation.

Steve’s Summary: I admit if I saw this, I’d be impressed because . . . again, the guy did a book! I also would want to know more about him. Context may be important as it could seem a bit overdone, but I wouldn’t care.

[“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

 

Geek As Citizen: More On Writing And Reposting

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Paper And Stars

As I’ve hinted at before, once I finish rewriting Way With Worlds over at Seventh Sanctum (and republished here) I plan to wrap it up into a book. Admittedly this could be quite a ways away since it is not just a rewrite but adding everything I learned in the last ten-fifteen years, so my guess is I may be doing this for up to a year longer. However, at some point I want to take it, re-edit it, maybe add a bit more, and do it as a book.

(Also possibly to take a break as this is pretty intense).

Anyway the reason I plan to turn this into a book:

  1. I think it’d be pretty useful.
  2. People who read the column in the past had commented on the value they got from it, and one had even printed it out.
  3. It helps preserve knowledge, which I wrote about previously.

I was discussing this with Serdar, and mentioning some of his past reviews and writings, and future plans. He’s quite adept at reviews and writing, and I thought maybe he should consider something similar. He noted he wouldn’t, as some writing is appropriate for a book, some isn’t, some things are good to put in print, for others being on the internet is enough. Plus some things aren’t appropriate to charge for.

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Geek As Citizen: Helping Others Publish

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When I was at Con-Volution, enjoying a break and the ambiance of the dining area, it was a bit crowded. A charming older woman asked if she might sit at my table as the area was so densley packed, and I figured some dinner company would be delightful. I’m always glad to meet new people, and frankly her manners really impressed me.

We got to chatting, and she turned out to be a fascinating person.  Now in hher 70’s she’d let quite a life, and had considered doing a book about it; over the decades she’d had many amusing experiences and wanted to share them. As our conversation progressed, I had to agree she was right – in fact her life would have made a wonderful romantic/family comedy.

I noted that she could self-publish easily and at least get a book out there, then seek professional publication. She had not explored the world of self-publishing, so I gave her my card and mentioned if she was interested, she could email me. I would be glad to help her out, I noted, since I had been published and she clearly had many stories worth telling.

This got me thinking about we geeks helping others get published.

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