Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane without checking your parachute at least three times.

Eating a live scorpion head first.

Insulting Mike Tyson to his face.

These are unsafe risks.

Not all risks are unsafe, however.  Buying into an established mutual fund, for instance.  Swimming, for another example.

Likewise, there are safe and unsafe risks to take when writing your resume.  While we'll cover the unsafe risks in a few weeks, the safe resume risks tend to fall into three criteria:

Occupation.  Graphic designers and others in artistic professions have more leeway on their resumes than the rest of us.  Artistic job hunters can show off their talents in the layout, design and even paper their resumes are printed on.  In fact, it's pretty common to see the text on a graphic designer's resume put in geometric shapes.  Some photographers even embed a watermark of one of their photos.  Artistic types have the freedom - and are almost expected - to do this.  Accountants?  Not so much.

Style.  The prototypical resume is chronological.  It's linear.  It starts with the most recent job then goes backward in time. This style focuses on the job, not the accomplishments.  Functional resumes (or  chrono/functional hybrids) showcase your skills.  Is it a risk to use them? Sure - but a safe one.  They showcase what you have done and what you can do, while minimizing where you've worked and for how long.  And, since employers want to know what you can do for them, this is a risk well worth taking.

Information quantity.  Many are stuck in the antiquated mindset that resumes should be no more than one page long.  The truth is, you should not fear going second onto a second page - but you better have a darn good reason to go onto a third.  Having said that, some go onto a second page - but just barely.  If the second resume page is only 1/3 full, then it's not a bad idea to try to squeeze it onto the first page.  Sure, if you do that, the page may look a little cramped.  But by only having a few lines on the second page, it may look like you are trying to "fluff" your resume.  The safer risk, here, is to squeeze it onto the first page by minorly altering the margins and size of your blank lines.

IN THE CARAVAN: Safe resume risks can be taken based upon occupation, style and how much information you have on your resume.

NEXT MONDAY: Including Outside Endeavors

Looking for more Resume advice?  Check out these posts and The Lion's Pride section of WildJobSafari.com!

Check out last Monday's post on when to drop things off your resume.

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