Ahhh, beautiful...resume!

I recently applied for a campus job as a lab proctor.  Even though it probably didn't require much (entry level, high school degree, computer skills, good disposition for friendly service* [*that last one is actually a scalable quality--for an ethical individual it demands as much as you can put forth and, in my opinion, can make a huge difference ]), I decided to explore some new ideas with my resume.

It worked so well, I got an interview before I even finished writing the resume!  Actually, a miraculous set of coincidences and other events resulted in getting an interview date set up as I was still typing the resume--a story worth telling in itself--but I digress.  I hastily incorporated these ideas into my #1 resume (for longer-term employment prospects in corporate sustainability consulting) and the image above captures the outcome.

There are four new(ish) things I feel somewhat successful in implementing/addressing with this new edition of resume:

1. Can you make your name more memorable?  This part was inspired by Rachel Dearborn's wonderful resume--a real eye opener in so many ways for me.
2. How can you organize your information better?  I'll attribute this to a friend, Sarai Richter, whose resume utilized a two column layout (it almost blew my mind when I first saw it--"You can use the page like that!?!  Wonderful!").
3. Can people check out what you've done?  This is my own innovation--perhaps other people have done it elsewhere, and credit to them, but I came across this on my own.
4. Serif/Sans Serif font use.  Huh?  I've got Palatino Linotype and Calibri (or maybe Shruti, I don't remember which I chose for this) in the same document.  Sans serif fonts tend to be associated with futuristic things, and seem to read more quickly.  In a way, it reminds me of handwriting:  people who write in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS TEND TO GET THINGS DONE WITH A STEADFAST, BLUDGEONING STYlE, while those with all lower case characters tend to have a more subtle approach. Yet those who do BOTH seem likely to mix it up in moderation.

The Block M

I just realized another reason to why I like the University of Michigan's Block M: It's modern and old school at the same time.

First a pseudo tangent for example:
In cartography circles, sans serif fonts are often used to indicate man made features (like cities), while natural features (rivers for example) often have serif fonts.

Serifs are those extra bars and lines you see at the ends of letters such as on the capital letter "I". These

Serifs can be seen in Times New Roman or Palatino, and they often carry a traditional/historical/academic aesthetic feel to themselves.

A sans serif font like Arial or Impact is often interpreted aesthetically as modern. Can you imagine the font-logos of Star Trek or Star Wars with serifed feet on their fonts?! I challenge you to make an alternative logo that keeps serifs on it.

Back to the University of Michigan's block M:

It's got straight shot lines to make it aesthetically interpretable as a sans serif font, but keeps with tradition by retaining its "feet". Pretty hip huh?

Real tangent: I'm diving shallow into the world of typography, so I'm actually unfamiliar with font/typeface phylogeny. Even still, it's interesting to note that my favorite serif font is a member of the humanist font family while my favorite sans serif font Impact is a member of the realist font family. I wonder if there's an idealist font/typeface family out there...