As a quick follow up to yesterday’s article, Tips for fine tuning your CV, I thought I would point out a few examples of what a little creativity can do to spice up a resume.

While the CVs I have featured are mostly those of web or graphic designers, if you study them closely you may find one or two simple ideas you could apply to your own resume.

You don’t need any design expertise, or even the ability to produce graphics, but see if you can simply draw some inspiration from the layout of the information, or the way the headings are styled, for example.

• Michael Efford is Perth based a multimedia and graphic designer, and uses a combination of two font colours and a two column layout to produce a CV that is very simple, yet very striking.
• Lee Stephens an Australian web designer currently based in Europe, has an elegant, classically styled resume, which also features images of some of his work.
• Lily Feng is a New York based photographer and designer, whose CV is just one page in length! I know she’s only been working a couple of years, but this is a great example of how less is more.
• Adrian Redman also uses a two column layout. Notice how the spacing of the information and the truncated headings create a document that is eye catching without really trying to be.
• Tony Cormack uses a splash of colour to make his CV stand out in the crowd! Another example of a one page CV.

A CV that just stands out that little bit more could prove a valuable asset for career changers, especially if it catches the eye of the right person.

Think of it as being an attention creating gimmick that isn’t trying to be such!