Resume Do's and Don'ts- Current Event

My current event doesn't involve a new logo or new design campaign, but I do feel it relates to the current economic situation. I found an article from the LA Times dated this week that features and gives advice on how to format and design a resume in order to maximize readership and likability. Since so many companies and stores are no longer looking for jobs or even laying off employees, it is even more important to stand out and be competitive. I also found this article interesting because we designed resumes for our first project, so it was quite interesting to see what the 'resume experts' had to say about the subject. A screen shot of a picture from the article is show below, followed by the whole article.

Resume do's and don'ts

Email Picture

March 29, 2009

The good resume: Clean, detailed and on point

Specifics are key

• Including plenty of numbers shows recruiters exactly how you'll be good for their budget.
• Explain the how and why of your success by giving examples. For instance: "Saved money by negotiating with providers."
• Skip the Objective section for a Summary that highlights the best parts of your resume early.

Embrace brevity
• Stay away from flowing, ornate prose. Keep the language short and sweet.
• Slice out internships and short-term jobs that don't show off your talents. Prioritize skills that can transfer to the job for which you're applying.
• Keep the resume to one page and avoid flowery graphic design.

Be topical
• Include only awards and interests that exhibit traits and expertise the recruiter can use. The soccer-league reference implies civic-mindedness and competitiveness.
• Language fluency and proficiency in technology are desirable in an increasingly Web-based, multilingual economy. Mention those skills if you can.

Bad resumes: Distracting, sloppy and irrelevant

Keep it simple
• Don't go overboard on fonts, colors, borders, boldface and underlining.
• Avoid clip art and other graphics such as photos. This isn't a middle-school project.
• Skills should be folded into Work Experience. The Personal and References sections are excessive.

Edit carefully
• Switching back and forth from multiple sizes of bullet points to dashes and from "Calif." to "CA" suggests carelessness.
• Check for repetition as well as spelling and grammar errors.
• "Watching a company advance" could suggest laziness, not eagerness. A fresh pair of eyes can suggest better alternatives.

Be relevant
• Details such as your GPA, prom queen nomination or where you went to middle school are distracting to recruiters.
• The Objective should be replaced with a Summary section.
• Offer concrete examples with numbers and anecdotes. Anyone can claim to be a "good people person."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-coverside29-2009mar29,0,1345223.story

Carly's Resume

Visual Message: I wanted my resume to embody the following three words: professional, modern, and unique.  I think that in addition to the information of my body copy, my sense of color attention to detail allow a prospective employer to see various skill sets that I bring to the table. Besides just basic information, my resume includes an element of design, which is significant for two reasons: 1) My resume might stand apart from the clutter   2) My resume displays a bit of my personality and design aesthetic too.

Audience:  My audience is primarily employers on the creative side of advertising or media production. These individuals make a living by being driven and also innovative.

Design Strategy:  My design communicates my intended message because it is not too simplistic nor is it too overdesigned. I think that my wordmark’s arrangement shows that I have an eye for detail but also a regard clarity and functionality.  In other words, it doesn’t overpower the actual information on my resume but it adds the right amount of personality. The visual path and page hierarchy are defined through my use of line, spacing, and font variation. I chose a sans serif typeface for my wordmark and a serif typeface for my body copy because I wanted to ensure that my information was fully legible.  I think the two work well together and I am pleased at my finished product. 

Kelsey McCarthy Resume

Visual Message: I hope that my resume conveys a professional and mature image. I used sans-serif fonts throughout my resume, because I feel it looks cleaner and more professional. The fonts I chose are relatively simple and since they're both sans-serif I used different shades throughout my resume to try and develop a contrast. I wanted my resume to be very professional looking and applicable across a wide range of industries. As a dual-major I have to appeal to more conservative financial entities as well as more creative public relations firms, and I didn't want to alienate either of these industries. I tried to use relatively simple but clean lines, created but the alignment of the text, to look neat. The contrast of the text hopefully helps me convey that by being simple, you can still have subtly touches that distinguish you. 

Audience: I plan on sending this out to PR firms that mostly deal with corporate public relations or investor relations. I also plan to send it out to a few non-profit organizations that are seeking communications experience. 

Design Strategy: I hope that my resume conveys an organized and well-thought out image. My wordmark is relatively simple, but I think that the contrast of the lighter versus the darker makes it nicer to look at. Also, I like the way the "h" in McCarthy tucks under the "s" in Kelsey. That was originally unintentional and just resulted from lining up the "y" that end Kelsey and McCarthy, but I ended up really liking the way it appeared. My wordmark is in the upper-right corner which draws your eye there but the "y"s then point you down to my contact information and lead you back to the left side of the page, to begin reading the rest of my information. The fonts I chose are relatively simple and since they're both sans=serif, I wanted the fonts themselves to be simple and professional across multiple industries. 

Resume--Katie McInerney

Rationale

Audience: This resume would be sent out to the management side of an advertising agency or the marketing department of a graphic design company. It could also be used to apply to in-house positions in a larger company in the advertising department.
Visual message: With my resume, I hope to communicate my knowledge of design and my ability to be creative along with my experience and skills. I feel that having a background in design will be an asset for my career path, which is advertising management. My wordmark complements the rest of my resume with its bold font; it connects with the body text titles. In addition, I connect the sans serif Gill Sans in the title by using the same font for section headers. It combines the sleekness of a sans serif with the stately feeling of a serif font to produce a resume that is both creative and eye-catching as well as sleek and simple, with only a little bit of fanciness. I want to express my ability to organize information, which would hopefully reflect to them my ability to manage advertising accounts, however I also want to show that I can be creative and have knowledge of design so I can communicate with the creative team in regards to advertising.
Design strategy: My name in the wordmark stands out because of the bold font, which I hope will help employers recall my name quickly. The wordmark allows me to line up the body text with one vertical gray line and many invisible lines that help to keep the document looking organized. I chose the typeface for the wordmark and section headers with the intent of making my resume look modern and clean, with a bit of an edge, something I feel is necessary in the advertising world. For the body text and contact information, I went with a serif font to emphasize my managing skills and demonstrate that I am able to be professional. I feel they complement each other because they have two different tones, a clean edge and a professional aspect, and I am able to express two different things, which was my goal. In advertising, you want to be ahead of the trend and aware of your audience, and I feel these both express my ability to do that.