To resume, or not to resume
This post is part of a larger series of posts aimed at helping designers present themselves online. Learn more about “Crafting Your UX Portfolio” here.
A lot of the places, usually bigger companies like Google or IDEO, will require a resume of sorts.
“OK, no biggie. There are plenty of templates online, right?”, you think. Unfortunately, a lot of resume templates out there are geared towards business professionals and don’t focus on highlighting design skills.
No sweat. We’ve condensed the most important pieces that a UX designer should include in their resume. Here are 4 important sections you need:
- Talk about your previous work but keep it short and brief; a nice mix between your project elevator pitch and deliverables you produced. Resume is typically time-based, so keep most recent up top.
- Make room for a section on specific design skills and tools you’re proficient in.
- Including any community involvement, speaking opportunities, videos you’ve made, screencasts you’ve recorded, or writing you’ve published (yes, blogs count) is a big plus.
- Bring your personality. Include a personal profile photo or avatar. List out your social media accounts and portfolio website addresses.
Want a nice template to start with? You can download the source file of Brittany’s 2014 resume right here.
Use it to get a head start, filling in the blanks with your own experiences, skills, and talents.
Tailoring your resume to each request
Your resume is your history, not your body of work. It should be tailored to the job. Have a base resume, and then for each job that requests one, tailor it towards the job description.
In the example resume above, you would want to tailor how you talked about the projects, the list of skills, and the toolsets you’re comfortable with to highlight the most important ones for the job.
Next up → “Dealing with recruiters”
