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Writer's pictureCaitlin Baird

the visual resume (PSK)

The "visual" or "creative" resume is a quick, fun activity based on completion. Don't stress!! Your task is to consider yourself as a professional in your field and to introduce yourself to your clients/the public/patients/students/etc who are coming to your workplace. Imagine the page you create will be hung in the foyer or a hallway with those of your colleagues; it may also be on your workplace's website.


How to begin

Think of the job you're going to have when you graduate. What service do you provide? What information about yourself would promote ethos (trusting and liking you)? If you required this service for yourself or a loved one, what would you want to know about the practitioner? If you want an extremely basic example, here's my bio page on this site: https://caitlinbaird1.wixsite.com/thelab/caitlin-baird But I encourage you to play with the design elements!


Here are some other examples:

What to include

Identifying info

Only share as much as you want to share with clients, not as much detailed personal information as a resume intended for the eyes of a prospective employer. For instance, the clients probably don't need your home phone number and they certainly don't need your address! Typically, I would only include your work/school email and your work/school number if you have one.

Put your name in big letters somewhere. You don't have to share your surname and if you go by a nickname, use that.

Usually there's a picture of your face so the clients can identify you. This is in contrast to resumes used to find jobs, as those do not include headshots unless you are a performer (actor, model...) of some kind.

Experience

Include relevant past work, volunteer, and educational experiences. If you're going to work in a pharmacy, for instance, I don't need all the little details of your cashiering history at several locations; however, you could summarize with something like "4 years experience in customer service." Again, this is for clients, not your boss, so you're interested in sharing soft skills, interpersonal qualities, fun facts, hobbies... You can keep the info minimal.


Formatting

Using text boxes, tab stops, and/or columns are my recommended methods. Tables, though common in templates, can be very difficult to edit. Play with borders, shading, WordArt, and SmartArt. You can keep it simple; the goal is to be eye-catching and easy to read.

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