Resume
Your resume is your introduction to an employer. It presents a snapshot of your work and educational experiences. You decide what should be included based on a job description and employer needs.
Resumes have their own particular language that you’ll need to learn. Employers will scan your resume rather than read it carefully, so you want to present your information quickly and with maximum impact.
What is a resume?
In the United States, a resume is a one-page overview of your experiences and skills that are relevant to a particular job position. It is a key part of any job or internship application. Your resume lets a potential employer see what you’ve done in the past in order to get a feeling for how you meet the requirements for their position. The goal of a good resume is to convince the employer to interview you.
A resume should present your experiences and background in an easy to digest format. List your experiences in sets of bullet points that show what you did, how you did it, and the result or outcome.
Formatting Checklist
Style, Appearance Tone
Ensure your strengths are highlighted for your specific audience and that the resume is polished and easy to read.
Fills one page with out overcrowding. If you have a great deal of experience (graduate students, alumni, career changers) it is fine if the resume continues onto a second page.
Has acceptable margins, minimum 1” on each side (including top and bottom) of the page.
Font style and size is readable (10-12pt).
Formatting is consistent throughout.
Date formatting is consisting throughout the entire resume.
Most relevant information appears on the top half of the page.
Section headings reflect the content, and content supports headings.
Section titles and descriptions are relevant to the targeted opportunity.
Resume is targeted to the internship, job or program.
Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation
Ensure your resume is polished and ready to submit to a hiring manager or design manager. Hiring managers sometimes reject resumes for simple errors.
Spelling is error-free.
Punctuation is error-free.
Spacing is error-free.
Verb tenses are used correctly. Use past tense for previous experiences and present tense for current/ongoing experiences.
Pronouns are used correctly.
No other grammar errors are present.
Contact Information
Ensure a recruiter can easily reach out to you. Make sure you are checking the phone number and email address on your resume.
Name is on your resume. Use your professional name.
Name stands out and is readable.
Include city, state, and zip code of residence if within the United States
Do not include street address.
Include phone number.
List professional email and hyperlink it.
Give portfolio website and hyperlink it.
Types of Resume
Various types of resumes address different needs and career-related interests. Different resume types are appropriate at various career stages as well. In the United States, there is a clear difference between a resume and a CV (Curriculum Vitae). In Europe, both terms are used for what Americans call a resume.
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A master resume is a resume document that functions as a source to help you create other resumes. This resume lists all of your skills and experience in one place so that you can later choose relevant information to tailor your resume for each position you are applying for. It is not meant to serve as a template—and is not meant to be submitted for a job application.
Continuously updating your master resume will help you keep track of all your experiences and will help save you time during the application process.
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A professional resume is the one you will submit to internship and job applications. It should offer employers a quick overview of your relevant skills, employment history, education background, and accomplishments. Based on this information, they can then make an informed decision about whether or not they want to interview or hire you.
A chronological resume format is the most common for a professional resume. It begins with the most recent work experiences first and continues in a structured order.
Other professional resume formats you may encounter are the Chrono-Functional Resume and the Functional Resume.
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Whether you’re applying for exhibitions, residencies, grants, or art awards, you will likely need to apply with an artist resume. Depending on the particular job and field of interest, artist resumes will highlight a number of skills and include sections that are not present in a standard resume. An artist’s resume is generally shorter than a CV, and may include job experience as well.
An artist resume may include the following:
—Bibliography: Includes articles on your work, media interviews, and reviews of your artwork
—Exhibitions: List the exhibitions you have participated in along with details such as the name of the exhibit, place, and space. You can divide this section into separate categories such as group shows, solo shows, and invitational exhibitions
—Collections: This section can be divided into corporate collections, private collections, and permanent public collections. Seek permission before referencing the name of the private owner of your work in your resume.
—Publications, Productions, Shows: For authors and performing artists, you may include a list of your publications, productions, and performances.
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A CV is an overview of all of your artistic achievements. CVs are may be used when applying for gallery shows, residencies, grants, graduate school, and teaching positions. Unlike a resume, a CV can stretch to many pages, depending on your experience, and it will continue to grow with your career. You will customize your CV to highlight your most relevant achievements for each type of application. Click to download the CV resource
ATS-friendly vs. Non-ATS Resumes
An Application Tracking System (ATS) is software that helps companies organize job applications. In short, an ATS automatically collects, scans, and ranks applications for a company’s open positions. If you are uploading your resume through an employer’s website or through a job board site (though not ArtCenter Connect), chances are good that your resume will be scanned by an ATS before it is seen by a person. You could be eliminated if the software doesn’t see the right keywords.
As an artist or designer, you’ll probably want to have two versions of your resume design, one which is optimized for ATS software and one that is designed to be seen by a human being first. We’ve put together a whole webpage to help you create an ATS-friendly resume. You can also use software like SkillSyncer to optimize your resume for Applicant Tracking Systems.
Highlighting Your Experiences
Experiences to Include
You can include a variety of experiences on your resume. Relevant job and Internship experiences are the most obvious, but if you can also include projects that you’ve done in your classes.
Show, Don’t Tell
You want to share specifics about your experiences that demonstrate your skills rather than just mentioning them.
For each item on your resume, you need to answer three key questions:
What did you do?
How did you do it?
What was the outcome?
Use Keywords
You need to customize your resume for each position you apply to. Most importantly, you need to include keywords from the job description. Employers will be looking for these and filtering your resume out based on them. To identify keywords use our resource: Aligning Yourself: Job Description. We also have a video below on how to analyze a job description and find the key points you want to highlight in your resume.
Write Great Bullet Points
This basic formula will help you write bullet points for your experiences that show the reader what you can do by describing what you did, how you did it, and the outcome. Put this information in this order: action verb, what, how, impact/results. We have a list of action words to help you with this process.
Action Verb |
What |
How |
Impact/Results |
Final Bullet Point |
| Collaborated | with # designers | via zoom and in-person | met project deadlines | Collaborated with 5 designers via zoom and in-person to meet project deadlines |
Action Verb |
What |
How |
Impact/Results |
Final Bullet Point |
| Designed | social media outreach mataerials | using InDesign and Photoshop | increased followers by 15% | Designed social media and outreach materials using InDesign and Photoshop, increasing followers by 15% |
US Resumes vs. International Resumes
Resumes and CVs differ around the world so it’s important to research the resume norms of the country where you’re applying before submitting your application. GoinGlobal is one resource for this research. Below you will find common differences in resumes , but the most important things to note about US resumes are that they do not include personal information such as age and marital status, and they do not include photos.
Dos and Don’ts for Resume Writing
Do
Tailor your resume to each specific position and organization.
Have a clickable link to your website portfolio. If you don’t know how to do that, here is a guide.
Proofread, proofread, proofread! Do not rely on spell check and grammar check. Pay special attention to your phone number, email address, and website. Share your resume with friends, mentors, industry colleagues or The Writing Center for proofreading and feedback. Schedule an email review or career advising appointment with CPD.
Keep the resume to one page. (CVs and resumes for senior-level positions may be longer.)
Be honest. Most of what is on a resume will be reviewed during an interview.
Don’t
Include personal information such as marital status, birth date, reasons for leaving previous positions, or photographs.
List salary requirements. In California, companies must share a salary range for a position, and they cannot ask you for your previous or current pay. Discuss salary after you have an offer.
List references or other contacts. Do not say “references available upon request.” See below on how to handle references professionally.
Giving References
Choose references wisely, and always ask your references for permission prior to listing them. Select people who know you well and will give a good reference.
Always let them know what position you are applying to, and send them a copy of the job description and your resume for their information.
Only include references at the request of the employer. If references are requested, they should be in a separate document with a heading that matches your resume, website, logo, etc.
References should be formatted to include the following information: First and Last Name, Company Name, professional title, professional email address and direct phone number.