Resume brochures? Creative or unprofessional?

[MissBehaves]

I saw these yesterday on the TV show "Starting Over," and I was wondering what anybody else thought of this idea. They're basically tri-fold brochures advertising yourself, with information like you would put on a resume. It looked cool to me because you can get more information on it and make it more unique. Everything my career center tells me, though, is that you shouldn't try to do anything unusual or creative to stand out and that you should just make the resume/cover letter professional. The career counselor on the show said just the opposite.

How does everybody feel about that? Is it a disadvantage to try to stand out (tastefully)? Even if creativity is an asset for some of the jobs you're applying to?

[33girl]

I think the problem is that while this could be done nicely it also has the potential to go deeeeeeeeeep into Tackyland. Since some people don't know the difference most career centers just err on the side of caution and say don't do this.

If you are going for a graphic design position or something along those lines, you should have a portfolio, rather than condensing it onto a trifold.

[AXJules]

I agree.
I also think it depends what atmosphere you want to work in- if you're a banker in a prestigious firm...that's probably not the way to go.
But if you're going into a cutting edge advertising agency, where they already only accept unusual cover letters, that sounds like it could work for you.