Your Resume: The Hidden Design Piece — part 1

by Tyler Dockery of Dockery Design.

PART 1:  Back To Design Basics: Understand Your Target Audience

You would be surprised how many resumes a design firm receives every month. Some are plain, some are fancy, some come with cover letters, and some are really “over the top”. But one thing remains the same— We don’t know any of these people, but they are all vying for our attention. Some are sending us resumes because they send a resume to every design firm in North Carolina, and Dockery Design happens to be one. Others have obviously researched our company, know what we’re looking for in a new hire, and can explain why they are a good fit for us. But all of these people have to grab our attention with their resume, just to get in the door. So I’ve included a post here with some hints and tips for designers (both graphic designers and web designers) on how to increase the effectiveness of their resume.

Use Your Resume As A Portfolio Design Piece
The hardest thing to do when getting hired, is to convince someone that you’re smart, and you know what you’re doing.

As a designer, your resume will likely be the first thing a potential employer sees. It will need to communicate the basic information about you needed for the job— but if you stop there, you will do yourself a terrible disservice. Use your resume as an opportunity to show your design skill, copywriting ability and typographic style. Treat it with the skill and attention you’d give to any high-importance design project for an important client, and it will pay you back in droves.

GATHER RESEARCH
Your resume is really targeting a specific client in the best case, or an entire niche client-base in the worst case scenarios. Get to know your target audience, although chances are you probably already know them. Write down on a sheet of paper the things you know they are looking for— what professional skills, what software packages, what education, what experience, etc. On a second sheet of paper, write the name of the companies you want to work for. Visit their websites or blogs. See the words which they use to describe themselves. Add these terms to your list- if they describe themselves to clients this way, they will identify with those characteristics, and have a better sense of why you are right for them.

SIZE UP THE COMPETITION BY LOOKING TO THE EXPERTS
If you need to, find other professional designers who work in this field by searching the internet. Some will have resumes or CV (curriculum vitae) available online, and you can view them. Use this as an opportunity to compare your design resume with theirs. Are they using a different convention than yours? Are they dividing their resume into the same sections that you are? Do you need to add new sections to your resume, or dredge up old activities or group affiliations? Is it possible you may need to include NEW activities such as volunteer opportunities or joining groups. Are their design elements or ways of presenting your resume information that you should consider? How does the overall design of the professional resume compare to yours? Do you need to step up your game? Have a look at the language in their design resume. How does the language in your design resume compare?

LETS TALK PORTFOLIO
Ok, let’s talk portfolio.  Again, this is the research phase only.

You WILL need to have a portfolio which is specific to these employers (this employer). When looking at the resumes above, how have the portfolio pieces been associated with the resume? Are they attached in the PDF? Are they linked to an online portfolio? Is there a simple link to a personal website? If there is no mention at all of the portfolio or personal site— because if there isn’t, you should ignore that resume, just like many employers will.

Come to a decision about your portfolio pieces. Do you have real-world examples of work in this field? If not, you probably need to create some from scratch. Employers are looking for your skill, expertise, and understanding. They’d much rather have your conceptual work that is great rather than have some real-world examples which are only so-so. Look to have at least 8 good pieces that relate to the field.

WHAT’S COMING
In our next installment, I will discuss what to do with your resume, and what physical steps you should take in the preparation process. Have you followed different steps in the research process of your design resume? Send us a comment, and let us know!

Tyler Dockery is a Design Consultant, Educator, and Business Owner in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. He is the creative lead at Dockery Design, a graphic design firm and web design studio. Learn more about us at http://www.dockerydesign.com