A different approach to creating a resume / CV

A quick definition: what Americans / Canadians call a resume is generally referred to in the UK as a CV (short for Curriculum Vitae).

I originally found the resume of Chris Heuer via the MindJet Blog. It inspired me to try something similar. I could see that the mind map was put together using MindManager but I couldn't figure out the tool used to compile the rest of the document. My first thought was he'd done the document entirely in Mind Manager using floating topics to do the text boxes. Then I thought for a while that it might be a word document, but I could not come close to the kind of layout and formatting that was achieved in the text boxes containing his bio and strengths.

I wrote to Chris to find out the secret. What I discovered was that he created the mind map in MindManager and then output it to a PDF file. He then opened it up in Photoshop, copied it and pasted it into a new document where he did the layout design. I didn't have Photoshop at the time so I decided to try and see what I could do entirely within a native MindManager mind map.

I'm quite pleased with the results:



You can a larger scale version of the image here:

http://steve.newson.googlepages.com/SteveNewsonCV2006.pdf

or here:

http://static.flickr.com/80/236054089_403e98ebd8_o.png


I'm always on the lookout for interesting uses of MindManager. I don't think that this style of CV is going to replace more traditional approaches anytime soon and I generally send a word version of my CV alongside this visual style, but I do think the approach says something about me in the sense that I do absolutely believe in the power of information visualisation and mind mapping.

I've placed a copy of the native MindManager (mmap) file here, if you can't get it from there then drop me a line via steve.newson@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy. All I ask is that if you extend the idea further then I'd love to see the results.

Tags: MindManager, Mindjet, CV, resume