Sure, sure. You see us carp and complain about how horrible want ads are. Constantly describing the role instead of the problem that needs to be solved.
Well, you know, in all fairness, want ads are only part of the problem.
I mean, want ads suck. But, let’s face it. By and large, resumes suck, too.
And when it comes to resumes, you’re as guilty as the next person.
You see, running out and printing your resume on heavy, heather-gray stock at the local FedEx Kinko’s isn’t really helping the problem.
So here’s our latest news flash. Resumes? They’re actually meant to communicate something: information on the skills you possess.
Shocking, I know.
What’s more? They’re meant to communicate how those skills you possess have helped the people for whom you have worked.
Oh my! Is there no end to the secrets we’re revealing?
Yes, yes. You’re one smart cookie. And none of these insights comes as a shock to you.
So why haven’t you fixed your resume format?
I mean, seriously. You’re so much better than that.
Now, I have a little resume format that Toby and I have held close to the vest for about five years now.
And we keep getting really good feedback about it. But we’ve only shared it with a few folks. And, honestly, we’re not really looking for jobs now, so it seems to be a bit of waste to hide it. And common sense tells us it’s better to share an idea than conceal an idea. And… well there are a thousand reasons.
So here’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to go all open source with our resume format.
That’s right.
We’re going to quit complaining and we’re actually going to do something.
So, here’s a resume format that we–and the folks with whom we have shared it–have used to get quite a few jobs over the years.
And now, we’re sharing it with you.
Now, it’s pre-populated with my information so you can see how it works. But, I’m not really looking to have you hire me, so don’t get all friendly.
Consider this resume format deemed “share and share alike” under Creative Commons license.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Your new resume format
Think you can come up with something better? We’d love to see it (and promote it).
Feel free to comment.
More than a living 
That does look very nice, Rick. I especially like the part where you say you are fluent in RSS. Seriously – that’s a good idea! I am glad I’ve got this on the old desktop and next time I’m looking for a real job I will refer to it for sure.
Nice. Now if we can get everyone to standardize on this format we can store our resume info in our Open ID profiles and transmit it to prospective employers electronically, formatting intact with a single click.
It’s sweet. But was that typo intentional?
I keed!
Want something new? See bioblogs! They are designed to make resumes better bait, and don’t kid yourself that resumes are anything other than bait. I think you’ll find them striking.
I took several resume designs and made one that has worked great for me. Here is links to it.
http://www.4shared.com/file/28759413/fc6f30a/mark_resume.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/28759436/4d9a6507/mark_resume.html
Sorry about the site the files was stored on. Looking for a better place to store them.
I took several resume designs and made one that has worked great for me. Here is links to it.
http://mark-becky.com/Documents/mark_resume.doc
Click to access mark_resume.pdf
LifeClever produced a great how-to for revamping your resume. Yours is good but I love what was posted on LC. Give it a look. It helped mine tremendously.
http://www.lifeclever.com/give-your-resume-a-face-lift/
I will have to give those changes a try. thanks for the great info.
Nice format. I’ve got 20 something years experience in the HR field (which doesn’t always account for much :)). Just wanted to pass on two observations from having looked at literally thousands of resumes:
1. If you can keep it to one page, most HR practitioners will love you
2. Rather than describe what you did in the job, describe the results you achieved. E.g. rather than just saying ‘teaching the organization to leverage the web’ describe what the outcome of doing that achieved for the business.
Warmest wishes
Shelley
I second Shelley’s comment on trying to keep things on a single page (of course it helps to have another version with more detail that can be longer than a page)
I tend to disagree on the second point though – I think that the CV works well with a mix of “what you did” and “what you achieved” – because its not always possible to quantify or otherwise make explicit the outcome of a certain activity.
I have to say that I’m really keen on this format – I’ve used it for a version of my own CV and have gotten positive comments from those who have seen it. Where I think it really departs from the standard list of job activities is the translation of those into skills (“integrative project management”, “marketing expertise”, etc.) You’re making that cognitive jump from activity to associated skillset explicit on the page – which, I hope, makes the resume reader/hiring manager see your skill set more clearly. I’m just starting on my own job search and am going to give the format a try.
Thanks for sharing this –
A million thanks for sharing this resume, Rick. It’s great looking, informative, and inspired me to reevaluate my own resume.
Rick:
I saved a copy of your resume when you created this post last year. I am happy to say that it was instrumental in helping me create a dynamite resume for my dad. Thanks!
By harnessing tips from various websites, I had completely redone my resume. I ran across this format and liked it so much, I did it all over again.
Thanks for sharing!