As a Student CV v. Resume ? *Update*

I have always debated between using a CV or Resume. In school we are told to create a Resume and that CV’s are strictly for Academic professions however when searching for Design jobs and internships I’ve taken notice that a lot of International firms or companies ask for CV’s.

In the end I beleive I will have both… a CV and then pull from that for a Resume…

I guess my question is why are we taught to stick strictly with a Resume? How are we to share our publications, exhibitions, and achievements if we have to keep a Resume to 1 page?

I may be stupid, but I thought they were the same thing.

I think officially there are differences, though I wouldn’t worry about it. We call them CV’s in Britain, resume seems to be the term used more in the US, though it looks/sounds French? Either way - Experience, Education, keep the rest as short as possible and let the work do the talking.

I guess I have a hard time know what to include on a single page… Is it good to put work experience outside of design?

Also what about publications, achievements, exhibitions…etc ?

Tough call. In the US, a “CV” could be considered conceited. Particularly right out of school, unless you’re a PhD.

However… I think the design profession gets more use out of the CV format than the resume–particularly the multiple-page format with work-examples. Personally, I use the term resume, but blend the styles.

So is it ok to have more than 1 page?

I’ve included a link to my most recently updated Resume/CV

http://jkersh.com/James_Kershaw_CV2009.pdf

Any crit would be awesome.

Thanks

Don’t get bogged down with the difference between a CV and a Resume, just concentrate on what you have to submit to get the job. If two pages will do this better than one (clearer information etc) do this. Do not over analyse the format or what you call it - concentrate on communicating that you are the best person for the job in the cleanest, clearest and most concise method.

This has been covered loads of times in this forum and it surprises me that you’re asking the question, as when I look over the previous places this question has been submitted, you are in the threads. Go here for starters:

Your CV/Resume is solid. Nothing wrong with it in terms of information. For example of CV go here:

There is a whole debate about attaching images, ‘teasers’ etc. I’m personally for putting images with the CV (I think designers are visual people and just text based CV’s are generally bland), but it is down to personal preference and there are differences between US and European preferred methods. Then you have covering letter/email etc. This should all come under ‘the approach’ which you should also consider carefully.

I think officially there are differences, though I wouldn’t worry about it. We call them CV’s in Britain, resume seems to be the term used more in the US, though it looks/sounds French? Either way - Experience, Education, keep the rest as short as possible and let the work do the talking

Spot on.

Awesome, Thanks Tank.

What I really want is critique on mine and perhaps suggestions… I think Im going to keep my format as is and perhaps add teaser of projects to include with it when sending a PDF.

Any other suggestions or comments on my Resume?

Will comment more later. Just on my way out.

First reaction. Overall pretty clean and clear though could use a bit of tweaking layout and typography wise.

Content wise, I’d get rid of the work experience, nothing is really that relevant and you aren’t selling it as being much more that stuff you’ve done.

Overall, I think you could also compress it to one page. With the limited experiences and without the odd jobs, you could easily fit it esp. since there is a lot of space between lines and the font is pretty big. On two pages it feels a bit underwhelming for me and a bit like you are trying to make it look bigger.

more to come later, promise :slight_smile:

R

Good point on the work experience, Just was not sure about showing experience outside of design…

The font is actually size Helvetica Neue size 10 so when printed, its pretty small, not sure if thats an issue when viewing it digital…The Zoom when I pull it up is 224%

I look forward to the rest of the feedback R, and everyone else, please feel free to chime in.

OK some more-

LAYOUT

  1. 10pt helvetica isn’t that small. I think you could go down to 8 or 9pt and still be good in terms of readability. helvetica is a pretty readable font even at small sizes.

  2. the big line spacing I think is kinda distracting. Having white space is OK, but the space between the lines I dont think helps.

  3. i’d change your justification to have full justification on the right with the last line ragged. the first paragraph for example looks kinda odd. either that or you need to manually do some justification changing the leading on some lines so looks more even.

  4. James kershaw wordmark looks OK, but not sure why the right edge has the underline thing going past the block with your last name.

  5. on the first page there is more space on the bottom than on the top. would look better the other way around or to re-organize so the bottom and top spacing is the same on both pages (if not on one page).

  6. I’d align the top of the text on the second page (if 2 pages) to come to the top of where the content (profile) starts on the first page. having more space on the second page at the top is OK and standard with letterhead and that type of layouts.

  7. bottom margin on the second page should be the same as the first.

  8. you have one line space between the job description and also only one between that and the next job title. should be more between different jobs to have better readability.

  9. Kinda odd that the section titles have a ragged right edge and don’t align. also that “work experience” is on two lines. maybe tweak the layout so that they re all left aligned but the longest one (work experience) ends before the next column starts and keep that rule constant.

CONTENT

  1. consider rewriting the profile thing. to me at least, it doesn’t really say much.

  2. FIFA thing sounds good. I’d like to have some more info. what did you actually do, how did you work with them, etc.? from what you wrote it sounds awesome though a little unbelieveable if you did the website and all that other work you mention. just sounds puffed up, but of course i don’t know what you actually did.

  3. I’d put all your job description in past tense. Ie. instead of “Assist Senior Designers with end user research, conceptualization, product development, rendering, and 3D modeling on select projects for both IRWIN Industrial Tools and BULLDOG Hardware”
    should be Assisted Senior Designers…"

  4. “clientèle” on the J Kersh item i think you should lose the accent. seems pretentious and unnecessary.

  5. as mentioned ditch the work experience content.

  6. Skills section content begins with a “-” though nothing else does. ditch the dash.

  7. maybe rename or re-section the software skills and other skills differently. maybe “software proficiency” and “skills”.

  8. publications sections seem a bit vague and would help if you mentioned what project was featured, etc. just listing the mags seem a bit too much. being a recent grad it would help if you tie this section and exhibitions to your actual projects that would be in your portfolio.


    Otherwise, some good stuff and appreciate you are asking for advice to improve. hope my comments can help.

R

Thanks for the awesome advice.

It came up today in class that I should drop the “Profile” portion of the Resume… What do you guys think? Is this necessary to have for a resume to kind of give a bit of insight to who you are when applying?

I guess I will try and combine it down to one page but keep a majority of my sections and work… Im going to rework my “header” to be a bit more thought out and “designer”.

Thanks

I took a lot of the critique from R and in class and formed a new “Resume”

I am much more pleased with this version but would love some input from R and who ever else wants to chime in…


Updated 1pg Resume
http://www.jkersh.com/James_Kershaw_Resume2009.pdf

Looks good. I like.

only 4 quick things I noticed (didn’t read it all in depth yet).

  1. I’d align your name/logo with something. Kinda floating now. Either to the the same left edge as the Internship/Coop title (which looks like its is actually too far to the right by one space compared to the IRWIN), or to the “Experience” title.

  2. not sure if maybe the text under skills and achievements should align the the other job texts (moving it to the right).

  3. the IDSA achievement seems to be more bold than the others.

  4. adjust your tracking on the FIFA job description so you don’t have a widow (single word on the last line).

overall though, very clean and pleasing to the eyes with a good flow and content.

R

PS. might also want to add your URL to the contact info area under your name.

great to see someone asking for advice then following it! :slight_smile: