Book Club

Alternative Resumes
for the young and creative!
Michael G. Howard, 2004
ISBN 0-9737024-0-0
mghbc@shaw.ca

For career practitioners and job seekers alike, there are ample resume writing books available describing how to develop a resume, different resume styles and of course, a huge selection of resume examples. At first glance, it may seem wonderful that we have all of these resources to choose from when creating a resume, selecting examples for our next workshop, and most importantly, assisting our clients with the development of their next resume. Upon closer reflection, we realize that many books offer similar looking resume examples or “templates” and often describe a level of work experience or education that may not be an accurate reflection of our client’s employment or educational background. A student or young person for example, may not be able to utilize many of the suggestions or examples in those resources because they do not see themselves in any of those resumes.

Michael Howard, a Job Search Consultant in Coquitlam British Columbia, has created Alternative Resumes which addresses some of these issues. The resumes highlighted in this resource are refreshing, unique, and different. There are also plenty of examples that will attract the attention of younger people and students who are looking for ideas that are more aligned with their current job search needs. While some of the resumes may appear a bit too “colourful” for some job seekers, it is important to mention that Alternative Resumes tackles the challenge of resume writing from a very creative perspective.

This book also includes sections on developing a job search portfolio and marketing cards as well as resume writing tips, but a lot of this valuable information may be difficult to find due to the lack of page numbers and no table of contents. Despite these small shortcomings, this book is a definite must for anyone looking for a fresh, creative approach to resume development.