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6
Feb

Yer Resumay

by Dave Hile

As the person in charge of hiring creative staff for our ad agency I see a lot of resumes from young designers. Over the past four or five years I have witnessed an alarming trend. Even with tools like Spellcheck, it’s not uncommon to receive resumes with several misspellings and grammatical errors, often in the first paragraph of the cover letter. When I get these resumes, I often don’t take the time to review the candidates’ actual design portfolios. I know that I don’t want a person on my staff who can’t communicate effectively with our clients.

I’ve been asked on occasion to speak to graphic design students at several colleges. They are always amazed when I tell them that one of the most important classes they can take in their design curriculum is English 101.

With this in mind I am providing a list of what I think is important in a creative’s resume. These tips seem like no-brainers but you’d be surprised how often they are ignored.

  1. Make sure your cover letter and resume read well. Have someone you know that has a good grasp of vocabulary and grammatical skills review your draft.
  2. Avoid being too informal. I receive online resumes without any capitalization, a common web protocol among high schoolers and college buddies, but totally inappropriate for the business world.
  3. Go online to review the targeted company to see what services they provide and what kind of creative work they do. As a favor I interviewed a friend’s daughter who was fresh out of design school who began the interview with, “So what kind of work do you guys do?” Write your cover letter and qualifications to align with the creative services the firm provides.
  4. It’s fine to mention what you want to get out of the experience of working for the company, but put the needs of the firm first. They are going to be paying you hard-earned money, so they need to be assured that you are going to be a diligent, enthusiastic employee who is eager to do whatever you’re called upon for the betterment of the company.
  5. Oh, and have an amazing portfolio.
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This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 6:46 am and is filed under Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

4 Responses to “Yer Resumay”

  1. Anna wrote on February 12th, 2009 at 3:50 pm :

    Not only is Dave tan and muscular, he’s also wise. But seriously, submitting a misspelled or grammatically incorrect resume or cover letter is a quick way to assure it ends up in the trash. It is important to be able to communicate well with clients, and writing is one of the most obvious indicators of good communication skills.

  2. Dave Hile wrote on February 12th, 2009 at 4:39 pm :

    Anna, I appreciate the second part of your comment regarding resume applicants needing good communication skills, but I’d like to point out to the readers the “tan and muscular” part. If anyone takes anything away from reading your response, it should be my being tan and muscular!

  3. Cindy wrote on February 17th, 2009 at 3:46 pm :

    As a marketer who also reviews resumes on occasion, I have a pet peeve to add to your list. If I get a cover letter–or cover email–addressed “Dear Sir” or “Gentlemen,” it goes right in the recycle bin.

  4. Dave Hile wrote on February 19th, 2009 at 2:39 pm :

    Excellent point, Cindy. I’d much rather be addressed as “Dear Ann Arbor Marketing Professional,” than “Dear Ms. Hile”!!

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