Every now and then when applying for any type of job, I get a request for a résumé. Nothing extraordinary there. But in the creative field, a résumé better be more than a white sheet of Times New Roman puked out in Microsoft Word. After all I’d be competing against other designers, why not let that first knock on the door be a loud colorful one?
I’ll be the first to admit that I hop on google and dedicated creative sites to brainstorm. For example look at what I found after doing a quick search for “creative resumes” www.honkiat.com
Reading résumés can be boooooooooooring, and boooooooooooring résumés (unintentionally) can reflect your personality. I chose to be light-hearted with my approach. Specifically, talking about being the “Grand prize finger painting winner at Sunshine Preschool” in 1986, continuing my timeline to 2021, and inserting a slew of informative fun (somewhat true) graphs.
A few rules I go by when creating a résumé:
1. Keep it under 1 page (more than 1 page makes you seem egotistical)
2. Address each résumé to their respective peers (cover letters are so 1997, and wastes paper)
3. Throw in a few fun facts and/or graphics (a wall full of words isn’t very engaging)
For a final touch, I made two versions: computer friendly and print friendly.
On computer monitors (back lite), less energy is exerted with the color black. And for print, less ink is used on white. You get the idea. Not like I’ll be saving any forests here, but this small step can go a log way into showing attention to detail.
Left: computer version / Right: print version
Who is Cargo (the addressee)? A killer ad agency in Greenville, SC I’ve been working freelance for over 6 months now… See a connection? I’ll save another blog post for that. But till then check out their website: http://thinkcargo.com