I know how hard it is to be noticed when you’re not much more than a name on

paper. White, boring paper and black, boring print just makes it so difficult to stand out.

So tear the competition apart by creating an unforgettable, gorgeous and informative resume. Resume building is an art that I feel has not yet been truly discovered. Vector Tuts+ recently had a great article called “Creating an Elegant looking Resume with InDesign”. With a little more creativity, you can create something even more compelling.

What if you don’t have InDesign, though? Well, really what you’re doing is creating an interactive PDF. Companies like Uberflip can do this for you, so if you’re interested in making an ebook resume as a one time thing, Uberflip is a great idea. Otherwise, Microsoft Powerpoint is a great choice as well. If you have Powerpoint, check out HubSpot’s free template on making an ebook with Powerpoint.

The most important step in making an ebook is developing the content.

So, in the form of a resume, let’s think about what that would entail:

Your name and contact information

A little biography

Your work history

Your education

Your accomplishments

The programs (or tools) you use (and your proficiency in them)

Your skills

So what’sfirst?

Then start thinking a bit out of the box.

What are things that traditional resumes can’t have, or don’t normally have? You could include videos, sound clips, or colorful charts and graphs. In my own ebook resume, I used Twitter and LinkedIn in my presentation.

This was really it - not too complicated. Now before you even consider the design stage, use a text editing program to actually write this stuff out - worry about the formatting later.

A LinkedIn recommendation section

A Twitter bio

WhatElse?

Next step, the layout.

The layout is so important because you want to create an expectation on the page. In branding, repetitiveness is part of the game, with the goal being for everyone to know exactly who you are before even reading whatever it is you are branding. Same concept applies here - but in the ways of where the buttons, body text, titles and images are placed.

TheLayout

Buttons

Body Text

Titles

Images

Lists

Now is the design stage.

For your twitter bio, make it pop. It’s only a limited number of characters, and whatever text you’ve thrown in there should be memorable! A useful tip is if you are working in InDesign and want a vector logo of a company, look to seeklogo.com for help. Make your presence known with this page, as it’s a really cool feature to your bio and you’ll want to show it off.

For the LinkedIn section, you can either head straight to your page and take a screen shot of your recommendations, or you can recreate it. I decided recreate the look so that it would appear a bit cleaner.

Don’t worry about spending too much time on the look of the design just yet; as you add more things you will inevitably need to adapt your layout. Again, while you are placing your text on the page, be sure you’re putting every title and text box in the same space and making it the same width and height.

“

”

@HubSpot #CERTIFIED Advanced Full Funnel #Marketer MarketingCoordinator and DigitalMediaManager. Specialties: AdobeSuite/Web/ContentCreation

“Ryan was always bringing a positive attitude to the work environment and providing creative new solutions to the fast paced atmosphere at Transportation Services. Ryan was always responsible and involved at his job. It was a pleasure to work with him and would love an opportunity to do so in the future.” October 20, 2011 Alex Chaves, Team Leader, Supervisor, University of Massachusetts, Lowell,worked directly with Ryan at University of Massachusetts Lowell Transportation Services

“Ryan actually worked at Merrimack Repertory Theatre twice. While he was a student at UMass Lowell he interned at MRT, and I found him to be mature, outgoing, and creative. In the fall of 2011 the theatre needed to start an in-house telemarketing effort following the failure of an outsourced campaign. Ryan was the first person I thought of for the job, and we were very lucky to be able to bring him back. Despite never having managed such a campaign before, Ryan was about to develop call scripts, hire and manage a small team of callers, and deliver a campaign that produced a positive net for MRT. Ryan works hard, has a great attitude, and is unafraid of new challenges. I highly recommend you consider hiring Ryan if he is interested in joining your organization.” September 11, 2012 Dan Berube, Director of Marketing, Merrimack Repertory Theatremanaged Ryan at Merrimack Repertory Theatre

“I have known Ryan for approximately 4 years and found him to be highly motivated, intelligent and very creative as well as very personable. He has great people skills that come from his ability to make genuine connections. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him highly.” February 16, 2011 Ella Carlson, Instructor, University of Massachusetts, Lowell,advised Ryan at University of Massachusetts

Twitter& LinkedIn

Once you have your layout complete, you can really dive into the look and feel.

The most important aspect is that it is consistent. Choose 3-5 colors and stick to them. Make sure they all work together, and if you need a hand choosing your color scheme, make an Adobe ID (you don’t need to own any Adobe products) then head over to kuler.adobe.com - it’s one of the coolest websites for digital designers.

The second most important thing you must make perfect is the title page. It has one simple job: to make whoever has just opened it to stop whatever they are doing just so they can look at it. Your title page should be a show stopper. Period.

Branding

FinalSteps

12

Link your content

Keywords!

Now it’s all about remaining consistent.

Use one font with different variations (though it’s ok to use more), and use the same colors. To end your resume, lay out all the ways the hiring manager can get a hold of you.

When you are all done with your ebook resume, it’s time for linking your content. Make links to your portfolio, your LinkedIn profile, your Twitter page - and put it at every place you would expect to find a link if you were reading it yourself.

And the final step: keywords!

This is actually a two step process, and can be easily done through InDesign, or you can also do it in Preview. First, find all the keywords that stand out in your particular document. You’re looking for words that you think your potential employer might use to find you. Then, go to the job description and pull words from that as well.

Ryan Axford978.302.9802 ryanaxford@gmail.com 678 Princeton Blvd #26 Lowell, MA

Connect with me

Linkedin.com/in/raxford portfolio.raxmedia.net@ryan_axford

Marketing Assistant: Merrimack Repertory Theater Marketing TeamLowell, MA | Sept. - Dec. 2009; Jan. - Sep. 2012

*first date range was for an internship; was hired as Marketing Assistant during the second date range

Successes include:

• Composed blog articles and developed successful online content• Engineered, hired for, and implemented a wildly successful telemarketing

campaign in its entirety• Collaborated with the Media Manager to design both on and offline marketing

collateral

Marketing Coordinator: The Real School of MusicBurlington, MA | January 2011 - Present

*earned several promotions from Sound Engineer to Marketing CoordinatorSuccesses include:

• Driving lead generation up 32.3% overall

• Increasing traffic generation by 21.75% increase

• Increasing organic search to lead by 11.1%

• Designing and implemented email campaign which led to the company’s highest sales and visits in the summer months

• Engineering two full years of digital video content to be released every week in just a month, which after just the first video began converting leads

• Managing the marketing development in every aspect in two locations; this includes print, online, internal and external promotions and collateral.

• Creating the company’s first branding document to help drive its success

TECHNICAL: Writing • Proven ability to improve visit-to-lead conversion • HubSpot • Adobe Suite • Microsoft Suite • Final Cut Pro X • Google Analytics

DIGITAL: E-Book development • Online content optimization • Content origination, editing & production • Keyword analysis and selection • SEO management

NON-TECHNICAL: Strong leadership ability • Multitasker • Self-starter • Efficient • Totally easy to get along with

Skills

Experienceand Success

TheFinish Line

Ready...Set...Go!

Well, not so fast. Before you go sending this monster off to your adoring fans, there is one more thing to do: create a traditional copy. You want to create a resume that is actually printable. This can either be a standard looking one from Word, or you can use an image program like InDesign to make it. While there is no need to make it look really fancy, it would be a great idea to use some of the same colors as you do in the ebook copy. The same rules apply here though - include links where they should be, keep a form and use keywords. Make this copy readily available for whoever may be reading it. Upload it to a server and link to it from your resume. If you don’t have a server, upload it to Dropbox and save a public link.

When all was said and done, my ebook resume took me about 6-8 hours over the course of a weekend. Yes, that’s a lot of time to dedicate to one resume, but the response I have received has been almost overwhelming. As of right now, my ebook resume has generated over 10,000 views.Tell me about how you created your resume and the results you saw from it!

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