Resumes for ‘creatives’ are a tough call, none of the resume books or sites have examples of resumes for us.
If you are a graphic designer, do you go all ‘graphic designery’ with your resume? I understand clutter and clarity, but a plain onepage ‘template’ resume seems a bit …boring for someone with skills. Where is that fine line?
Consider the different audiences for the Resume: HR doesn’t care about design–they just want the facts, so keep the traditional reverse-chronological history.
Most recruiters agree that your resume doesn’t (and shouldn’t) be limited to an arbitrary length… Use what it takes to properly represent yourself. (They also agree that recent grads should keep it brief!)
The best thing you can do is to logically organize your resume so that the different audiences can easily get what they need from it.
Here’s how I break minedown:
Pages 1 & 2 are my core-resume.
Page 3 includes skills.
Pages 4 & 5 show a brief overview of projects (I request an in-person portfolio review for anything more.)
Page 6 is a client-list.
Thanks for the reply and the input.
I already have a good 2 page resume setup, but was starting to get worried that it was too long. I guess compared to your 11 pager I’m doing alright.
Are you sure that HR doesn’t roll their eyes when they recive your resume?
I am not saying that your resume is bad, it’s just I have always worried about the gatekeepers to a lot ID jobs don’t even know what ID is.
Have you been successful with your 11 pager (at least more successful than I have been the past 10 months with my 2 pager)
Thanks again for the input, it’s appreciated!
I have credible information that this works and is acceptable because:
- I review a lot of designer resumes, the vast majority of which are ineffective in telling me anything (credible) about their talent, focusing instead on their (requisite) skills. I don’t have time to bring in every single applicant for a portfolio review!
- I am frequently contacted by recruiters (and if anything, they only ask for minor tweaks that suit their style or their clients style.)
- My father runs an executive search firm and literally reviews thousands of resume’s/CV’s a year. You can bet I got his advice!
- I read up! I actually recall reading an article not to long ago about changing feelings on “arbitrary resume limits.”
The structure I advocate is:
Keep it short and conventional (don’t over-design!), but add additional “teaser” sheets that summerize your skills and projects. I find thumnail images and paragraph descriptors to work perfectly. HR is free to trash everything but the first 2 pages (but they won’t.)
The format I advocate is:
Make it a .PDF to maintain formatting & portability, post it on your website so that people can share links (rather than annoying email attachments) and you can keep it up-to-the-minute.
Put your portfolio on your website, and/or request in-person reviews to control access or to better control the process.
PS: I was one of the first designers out there to post my portfolio (core documents this back in 1995) and at the time it was uncharted ethical waters… In '96 the president of the firm I worked at confronted me about why I would have a website while I was employed! Fortunately today that’s no longer questioned… Most designers I work with not only have their own websites, but maintain active blogs and portfolios. Take advantage of this freedom!
woo hoo! (celebratory, not sarcastic)
thanks for the input.
Coming from a fine arts background all these arbitrary rules were really stifling my creativity!
I guess it really is the experience, more than the media.
hmm so if I go Macluhan-esque here, then using my standardized, ‘within the lines’ two page format/medium conveys the message that I’m…boring.
