The first step in order to get a job as a graphic designer is having your portfolio online, in case you still don’t have it, then you might want to take a look at our article on how to build your online portfolio. The second step is making your resume. This is the natural order that most companies follow on their selection processes, when they receive the emails from all the aspirants, first they take a glance at their portfolios and they start discarding people without even looking at their resumes. The ones with interesting portfolios are worthy of having their resumes checked, then another part of the aspirants is discarded based on the resume design.
We are graphic designers, we’re not aspiring for an accounting or secretary position, hence our resume cannot be the same as theirs, which is usually built upon a preset template in Microsoft Word. If a graphic design aspirant sends a resume built upon a Winword template, he will be immediately eliminated without reading a single word about his accomplishments and excellent preparation.
Useful tips for making your resume
Don’t use generic names for the file
If you’re going to send a file via email, do not name it “curriculumvitae.pdf” nor “resume.pdf”. The file name should be something like “RichardiniGraphicResume.pdf” or “cvMishesblog.pdf”. The employers often download all the resumes and then look one by one, so if you want them to remember yours, make sure that you include your name on the file.
Send a print quality file
It’s OK to have a 72 dpi resume to upload in your website or share with your friends. But when you’re about to send it to a company, then a 300 dpi version is the best option, many companies tend to print the preselected resumes to socialize them with other people inside the company, so if yours gets pixelated when printed, it will go straight to the trash can.
Before you send it, print it on Black and white at the lowest quality
As we said on the previous part, many companies print the resume of all the preselected candidates, but don’ think that these prints will be made on full color laser printers, because usually they are printed in black and white, using cheap paper and in the lowest quality possible, so if you decide to use small typefaces, very subtle details or light colors atop dark backgrounds, it’s probable that your resume’s print will be disastrous. This does not mean that your resume should be in black and white, just make sure that it does look good at even the poorest printing conditions.
Your Mom and Grandma are not the best judges
A couple of extra eyes are always useful to help you notice things that might pass unnoticed to you, the problem is that your mother and/or grandmother will always think that anything you make is better than Picasso’s work. That’s why we suggest you to share your resume before sending it to the employer with a couple of friends and people that can give you some real feedback and can help you improve your resume in terms of design and content.
Show it to people outside the design business
In some companies, the crew selection is made by people inside the design business, though in many occasions, the big companies after the preselection phase is finished decide to pass over all the resumes to the Human Resources department, where your resume is going to be seen by people who have no clue about design and the only thing they want is not wasting any time trying to figure out what you tried to transmit in your resume with those crazy designs. So it’s a good practice to show your resume to people who are not related to the design business, take a note at their reaction and ask them if everything seems clear or if there’s something confusing on your resume. Then you can modify your resume by simplifying the parts that presented more difficulties at the moment of reading the document.
Make it one or two pages tops
Nobody is going to stop reading with detail the long paragraphs on your resume, so put only the important stuff and be as brief as possible. Only include what you think is going to help you get the job (if you’re applying for a web design, it’s not relevant to say that you worked as a messenger), such as your personal information, studies, working experience, your portfolio URL, spoken languages, software knowledge and a short review where you tell about the kind of designer you are (so they won’t think you’re a web designer when you strong is actually illustration). If you’re a graphic designer you need to show your abstraction and synthesis capacity.
Pay attention to grammar and spelling
Even if you’re a graphic designer and your thing is communicating through images and not text, I can assure you that not all the people thinks like you, specially those who grammar-obsessive people in charge of choosing the personal, they cannot stand seeing a curriculum with spelling mistakes and something that they often say to aspirants is “if you did not take the time to check your resume, I can’t imagine how’s it going to be when reviewing something for the company”. So if you are not so good with grammar and spelling, take the job of asking other people to help you out with this, so you can be sure that everything’s fine and you can send it, otherwise it will go straight to the trash can.
Do not include your portfolio works
Even so, don’t you ever forget about including your portfolio’s link. Some companies only ask for a physical portfolio and if they do, you can attach it on a cd, an USB or a small book with your main works included (personally I prefer to carry the cd so they can keep it).
If you’re going to include your picture, please don’t use the one in your passport.
Come on!, you’re a designer and your resume should be a clear example of that, don’t put the 3 x 4 blue background picture that you used in your school id or the one you currently have on your passport. If you have decided to include a picture (some companies ask for it while others don’t), show them how you really are, let the photo show more than just the physics and give them a little bit of your personality, though you cannot cross the line by putting a picture of your ultimate binge or a nude picture showing all your attributes.
Show up your style and give some personality to your resume
If your thing is children illustration, make sure that as soon as they see your resume, people can realize what your specialty is without having to read a single word. If you want to inform that you’re really good at making infographics, then why not making your resume as a nice infographic?, just be creative and harness your abilities.
Great examples of graphic designer resumes
And to finish this article, nothing better than a juicy roundup with some of the finest graphic design resumes around, so lay down and enjoy this final part of the article, we hope you’ve enjoyed it and we’ll see you soon, bye.
I'm a Graphic Designer from Colombia who doesn't like coffee unless it's a nice smoothie with sweet condensed milk. Although I love photography and illustration, my true passion is UI Design and football (soccer). I'm Mishës co-founder and a great dreamer.
If you’re a designer don’t do shit like this I’ll explain why. When you have a stack of 300 resumes you are going through, and you get 20-30 of fucking these, you end up twisting them all the fuck over the place. And then have to start taking notes and trying to figure out their witty line graphs and pie charts of their skill levels… Yeah that shit gets old quick.
Note to designers… If you want to get hired here’s what you do…
Print your resumes on some nice paper stock and leave it vertical … ya know like 99% of the reset of the population does. Make sure you use your white space properly because most people will make NOTES ON YOUR RESUME.
Setup your previous job descriptions like this:
Company Name 01/2011 – 06/2011
Company Title
Description paragraph – don’t make this portion text heavy, just give a good description of what you did while you were at the company and any goals or special projects you make have worked on.
3 to 4 bullets of special things you want to stand out.
At the end include a section for software and skills. No one cares if you know office, your mother knows office, no one gives a shit. Also no one cares how many words or keystrokes per minute you type. You’re applying for graphic design/web design, not data entry.
Be HONEST with your skills assessment … don’t put “Expert” or “10/10″ of something and not know half what something does. I have been using Photoshop since it’s first release and I don’t claim to be an expert. Why? Because there’s always more to learn… Even if you feel like you’re King Shit and you can make that program bend over and sequel like a pig there’s always someone out there that’s better than you… Plus you’ll feel like a real asshole if someone asks you a question and you have no idea what they’re talking about.
If you want to do anything say how long you’ve been working with a program and what your strengths are in it.
Finally… have a hard copy of your portfolio or at least bring in a tablet or ipad or laptop, bring SOMETHING to show… Also a good creative director will always ask questions so be prepared to explain the “meaning behind design”.
*slowclap*
Good advice. Seriously half of these resumés look like utter shit and I’d only call the people back to smack them upside the head.
Hahaha don’t you think you’re being a little bit too harsh?…
Nope. Just right.
That’s what I came to say. No one is going to spend the time to figure out your clever infograph. Usability is just as important in a resume as it is in a website. Don’t make someone else have to think about how to read it.
That’s right, after all we’re talking about graphic design, not art curriculums, which is a HUGE difference…
If you had a hard time “figuring out” these resumes, you likely should not be in a position authorizing you to review documents or interview anyone. They were extremely visually appealing and made great use of format and design to further improve flow, syntax and readability. Personal preference is one thing; but these resumes wouldn’t require my savvy 6 year old niece or nephew to put much thought behind the content.
Here’s to hoping my generation, and my niece/nephew totally wipe out archaic thought processes.
I agree that a few of these might be visually appealing specially if you’re going into a graphic design position, however, some are too heavy on the graphics leaving little to no use of white space which is VERY important. Sometimes less is more…
Hey mate, I totally agree with you, sometimes we can get carried away by shapes and colors, forgetting about the true essence of a C.V, which is telling people who we are…
Hey man, thanks a lot for such a humongous comment!, these are the kind of messages we need to help us grow and open up the debate. Regarding the fact of using charts and graphics, this has become a strong tendency since the past couple of years, so far we think it’s great as a way of showing up your skills, though using them in excess can leave you with a cluttered c.v that nobody is going to read. The tips you’re giving are for those who want to play safe, which is absolutely valid indeed, however, we consider that as designers, it’s important to stand out and show a little bit of your abilities right in your curriculum, the problem emerges when things get way too crazy and the c.v stops being a c.v. The final part when you talk about carrying your portfolio is a terrific idea, you made us laugh on this part hahaha, we felt like cavemen that still carry their flashdrives and cd’s, that’s one great use for tablets that we hadn’t noticed before. Thanks again for your feedback and we’ll keep giving our best in the next articles!…
Nice post M_nus, I have a question for you. I’m trying to get a Graphic Design position, weather if it’s with a magazine, print shop, web design or local small business or what ever. I been doing Photoshop for at least 8 years now, I have been doing some freelance graphic and web design for small local business. Never worked for big companies.
I have CSS/HTML and Photoshop experience, but not in illustrator, Indesign and etc. But I want to gain more experience in that field and learn from pros. What can I put in my resume for me land a Graphic design job,to get hired. I’m a fast learner, great communications skills, a team player, good judgment and willing to gain more knowledge from others in that field. What can I put/write/say that would give them to give me a chance.
Heres my Portfolio, still working on it, and need to get a domain name before putting it out there. http://www.rjapz38.wix.com/rjapzdesigns
Robert
Hi Robert, thanks for leaving your comment, sorry we didn’t reply before!. If you already know CSS/HTML and Photoshop, you can easily become a professional web designer, from there you can join an in-house team (see http://www.mishes.com/articles/in-house-design-agencies) and start to learn from others while you share your PS and CSS knowledge with them. The important thing is that you let clear that you are willing to learn and contribute with what you already know!…
Thanks for your comment. Helped me a lot! You should write an article about this because fresh graduates looking for jobs in graphic/web design tend to think that these types of resumes will get them the job when all you have to do is send something simple and straight to the point.
Again, thank you for your comment!
Hey Jane!, We’re glad you found the article useful!, what new articles would you like to see in our blog?…
I always find these resume sites inspirational and it is lovely to see some new examples. I did my own timeline resume infographic ages ago, after being inspired by sites like this: http://duncanmckean.com/cv
Great and helpful article, thanks for tips.
For a position in a creative field such as graphic design, submitting a professional, clean-looking resume helps you put your best foot forward.
Thanks for the article. I think a couple of these are pretty cool, but most are waaaay too busy and I have to agree with the long comment by m_nus.
The main thing that stands out to me is that most of these people don’t have a bunch of employment experience just yet. So it looks like a junior person just trying to fluff up their page. If applying for a more senior position, or any position where the HR department has the responsibility to review, these are much more likely to end up in the trash.
You’re right Zana, in fact, the more experience a designer gets, the cleaner and more organized it gets, funny isn’t it ? hahaha. Definitely the best c.v is the one that shows your skills but at the same time is easy to read and understand by anyone…
Here is mine cool visual resume. I would appreciate if anyone can criticize it.
Nice post, great collection
You can tell that most of these are fresh grads. Less is more. If you’ve actually had to hire someone before, it can be a daunting task not only to review hundreds of resumes in a short timespan, but to eliminate 99% of them. In that regard, I’m not wasting my time on a confusing infographic. You go to the bin. Same with typos. I can gather your skill level from your portfolio.