So, what else can you do with a CV?

In my last post that was so long ago in blog years, I wondered aloud about the CV that we all forget to update until we get the prickly hair jitters about our employment. AND I just noticed today that even after updating, I still had dates next to links in it as the last date visited, and man are those old. Here comes another update, but not today. I mused at the end about making a colorful CV and have actually been working on that in a new Pages document that is still in the exploration of style stage.

cv under construction

While that process is still brewing, I thought I’d explore having a WordPress site that is just a CV, not a CV in a portfolio. Here’s the first result: http://pittmancv.wordpress.com/

I chose the option of making each post a section of the CV, but had to post the sections in reverse, so they appear in order on the site, starting with Education. Yes, I did do it incorrectly and had to delete all the posts and start over. This works fine if you are never, never, never going to add another section. The other building model for a relatively short CV would be to create one long page with the whole thing in it. This allows for easy editing and rearranging, but may not take advantage of the blog theme’s post options or design. Kind of boring.

If you have a really long and complex CV (and why am I talking to you?) you are probably going to create a separate page for each section, mostly because you have so many publications and presentations :-p This option will let you take advantage of menu options that, depending on the theme you use, can nicely showcase the variety of your experience and let viewers choose to quickly move to what’s important to them. Be careful, though, because what started out as just your CV can quickly turn into a portfolio, and the whole purpose here is to offer a quick look at you–more than an about.me page, but less than your tenure application binder.

fluff

I chose a kind of fluff theme, Sorbet, and am not going to pay for a design upgrade just to change colors. But you can tell from the screenshot of the other doc I’m working on that I’m in a kind of fluff mood about it all. I like that you can put in your social media links and that the alternate menus drop down from header icons, as here, if you aren’t going to visit the site:

If you already have a CV in document form (duh), it is super easy to put the darned thing in a blog space. You might be thinking that it’s a bit much in a big computer browser, but it can look pretty snazzy on your phone. This might be an alternative to having your students create portfolios if they don’t have enough experience to fill it up, and if they are nearing graduation, particularly in a creative field.

[If you’re wondering why all the pictures of me that I allow to be published in these professional spaces have me leaning on my hand, it’s just the combination of ennui and sagging cheeks.]