By Amy Do

Resume design can feel like a neverending rabbit hole of contradicting advice. Everyone seems to have something different to say- which makes sense! Resume conventions range from industry to industry. This article is specifically designed to guide creatives (graphic designers, copywriters, film and television) through the content generation and design process. Follow these guidelines and you’ll be on track to create a stellar resume! 

DO:

1.) Have a Master Resume 

A master resume is a giant document that lists every job you’ve ever had, from babysitting in high school all the way up to your current passion project. An employer will never see your master document, but it serves as a powerful word bank for resume copy and content generation. It’s so much easier to edit from something rather than create from nothing!

2.) Include a Project Section

A huge mistake I see people make all the time is not including a projects section. A lot of creatives, especially those still in school, get hands-on experience in industry specific skills through classes, extracurricular activities, or personal projects. Those are all valuable and employers want to hear about them! Furthermore, many industries like computer science, game design, film, television, and many design roles are purely project based. This means that a project section can actually take up the bulk of a resume’s experience section. Kickstart your projects section by taking a look at the examples linked in this Career Library handout.

3.) Showcase Relevant Skills/ Key words 

Relevant skills and key words are listed in the job description of each posting. They can go near the top of your resume or in the bottom. 

 When in doubt, listing technological competencies is a great place to start! Don’t forget to include tools you use every day like Google (Docs, Sheets, Slides), Microsoft (Word, PowerPoint, Publisher) and Adobe (Audition, Photoshop, InDesign).

4.) Be Specific

Great! Now you have the key words on there! Now what? Packing your resume full of relevant key words can help, but it doesn’t work to illustrate the depth of your expertise. Someone reading your resume should be able to intuit your understanding of those skills by reading your resume. Your skills section and the bulletpoints in your resume should dialogue with each other to paint a picture. 

For example, in your skills section you might have the following: “Market Research, Presentation Design, Data Analysis”. 

Then in the bulletpoints describing your internship, you can expand on those skills to illustrate your competencies: 

• Conducted market research using SurveyMonkey to poll 500 consumers about their online shopping habits. 
• Analyzed data to extract insights about geographic location, age range, and consumer habits to optimize reach for in home and out of home advertising on behalf of client. 
• Presented findings to C-suite staff, designing data visualizations in powerpoint to propose change in budget based on user insights.

5.) Use Consistent Styling

Ideally your cover letter, resume, and portfolio website should all have a cohesive personal brand. If someone has them all open next to each other, they should look good.

In practice this could mean visually having the same kind of font hierarchy or color scheme. It can also look like having the same handle across all social medias for your professional accounts (don’t forget your Linkedin)!

DON’T

1.) Include a Photo

A lot of online ATS systems and HR departments at large companies will throw out resumes that have a photo on it. A notable exception to this is the acting industry- if you’re auditioning for a role, your headshot is a key part of your personal brand! International companies might also have a space for photos. Omit any photographs or depictions of yourself (animators with hand-drawn avatars, I’m looking at you) to avoid having your resume sent to an automatic no pile! Save the headshot for your Linkedin profile or portfolio website instead.

2.) Go over 2 pages 

A good rule of thumb is: 1 page for undergrad, 2 pages for graduate-10 years in the field. If you have more than 2 pages of experience in your chosen industry- wonderful! Think about how you can condense your most relevant and important recent experiences into an easy to skim document. Not every job you’ve ever worked needs to be on your resume, and the work of paring your experience down can help to frame your mindset for the job interview.

3.) Write blocks of text

Resumes are all about economy of language. Even if you choose to include an objective statement, it should be 2 lines maximum. Descriptions underneath job titles should be in bulletpoint format.

4.) Include your references 

Employers will always, always, ALWAYS, ask for your references during the last stages of the interview process. There’s no need to waste precious space on your initial application sharing other people’s contact information. If you’re applying to a lot of jobs online, including their contact information in your resume can also lead to your references getting spam calls and emails, which is the last thing you want from people who will vouch for you. Omit your references and try dedicating that space to more of your work experience! 

5.) Use more than 2 fonts 

The ultimate goal of a resume is to efficiently communicate your skills. The document as a whole should be easy to read. Having more than 2 fonts can clutter up your page and make things look clunky. There’s still room to play around! Try changing up the font styles strategically to delineate different sections. Some common resume fonts include: Calibri, Open Sans, Georgia, Times New Roman, and any other easy to read serif or sans-serif font. 

6.) Recycle Resumes Across Industries

We creatives often have multiple hustles that range across different industries. For the multihyphenate professional, I recommend the Bucket Method: have one resume for each ‘bucket’ (or industry) of choice. For example, if someone is a concert photographer, a podcast producer, and also waits tables on the side, I would recommend having 3 separate resumes for each of those buckets. The Bucket Method makes applying for jobs easier by lowering the amount of tailoring needed and works really well for those juggling work in dramatically different industries. 

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Not sure what the future holds? Need support along the way? That’s exactly where we come in. Whether you’re a freshman or an alumnus, it’s never too early (or too late) to utilize our services.

Book an appointment with Amy, or another member of the advising community through Handshake, or by calling the front desk at (773) 325-7431.