Lessons

Lesson Info

Building the Perfect Resume

Two things if you are not a designer or if you have someone in the room on the global audience space, please grab them get them in the room where they are because this is going to apply for any job that you that you are going tio apply for by a resume and introduction email and it's going to be very hands on okay, so part two let's keep the momentum going and keep the energy up it is on building the perfect resume and crafting the perfect intro email for those of you online, you can reach me by facebook's like giant thinkers and at the giant think on twitter and instagram if I miss anything and we don't cover it he online let's get this going so here's a question for you how does it feel to have one piece of paper or a piece of writing dictate the decision on an employer that's essentially what we're here for a lot of pressure, isn't it? I thought building a portfolio is a lot of pressure of it they're not even going to get to that if you don't craft an introduction email or a piece of...

riding or a resume that is compelling so how can we communicate with tone and personality through words? Well, it can be done okay, so I will just show you this snippet off an example it's fifty four words I'm going to slowly raided out this isn't going to be as fast as the other segment. This is quite common I'm a recent graduate of the san francisco design college or ever you graduated and in passionate about design I've completed a two month internship at x y z whatever company designs and I'm now looking for a junior digital design role below is a link to my portfolio please let me know if you have any roles available that would suit now I know I can see all of you in the global audience but raise your hand anyway if you're in this version most of us in the audience I have, um I'm definitely reading this version now I've tried to take that very common snippet of an email introduction and tried to make a little bit better with three words mohr fifty seven words I'll just read you this and let me just start see if you can get a feel if there's a difference design allows me to live consciously and deliberately I'm a recent graduate of the san francisco design college and I'm ready to put my learning into action. My internship at x y z designs has sparked my appetite and so has my recent holiday to london or wherever you think I'm inspired to immerse myself in a company where I can contribute and flourish three more words I'm saying the same thing this is why it's so important to know what you want again it seeps out of every touch point that you can communicate with now there were going to get into writing style as such however if you look at the mechanics of this and we're going to go through the crafting often email later on through the segment but it's really there's a there's a human aspect to this there's tell me about you don't give me a generic copy and paste introduction that you're that most of us have done it I've done it copy paste copy paris copy paste going on our web site all year could work for them get their email coffee at a pace that same thing just changing the name to the company name so let's bring biltmore off a tailored customized approach to our communication your resume and intra email answers the following from your point of view you're putting down who you are, what you want and what you've achieved that's essentially what you're putting down in eurasia may who you are your name, your contact details all those things what you want usually the role and what you've achieved education qualifications courses you've bean to programs you know yeah that's that's pretty standard we all know that but from an employer's point of view all they want to know is are you competent? What can you offer to add value to our company and again, value comes in many different currencies it's not just because you graduated to gray versus someone that just finished a short course with other things would I be crazy not to hire you? Ok, so we're gonna find out what these potts ah, that they really often and how do you present them? Why a resume and an inch our email pairing is so important is really because of these two things it gives a quick, very, very quick a snapshot of your value and it's a first impression that last once they have a first impression that's it there's like there's no second first impression is that it is it's going to stick to them. And if it's and the guests one of the guests were going to bring on today j p style odd, he actually is going toe touch a little bit of this bit in his own experiences, but you could have a very bad first impression that last two it's true, you know, in any interaction. So the key areas in this segment our number one create a clear, relevant and powerful traditional resume from scratch monday tackle any queries on nontraditional resume platforms. We're in indio, rotating with two of our studio guests audience as volunteers today and we're going to craft the perfect ensuring email to an employer that will get you noticed and then we're gonna end with another cracking guest j p stallard who's goingto share about his insights on what employers look for in a resume and an intro email so number one create a relevant, likely relevant and powerful traditional regiment from scratch. Now we need to cover old isis not just linked in lincoln is one it's your online resume we and we know that but an email pdf as well it allows us to inject personality essentially okay, so we need to send that out and usually they're like under two hundred kilowatt it's nothing it's just it'll get through to anyone and it's it's, it's a bit more personal and it gives them, uh, a more of a sense of your brand and your your personality because let's face it linked in great there's that but sometimes they are requesting for your resume, and this is a great way to inject your your personality in that, so I'll just bring on the flip chart, which we'll get to shortly but the structure and content off your resume I'm referring to as the ingredients come down to nine things, this is what you should have in your resume number one your name your job title contact details, by the way, these air in order off hierarchy so what you should put first and what you should put last so name and job tunnel that you are or want to have of course if it's quite vague then then make it just designer just stick to that thank you then we have your contact details of course that should be at the very top somewhere right without fail that's ah that's important I'm sure most of you are doing that one curry objective employment history we're going to go through these individually but education and industry events that you have been part ofthe number five his key programs and software that you know demonstrated design abilities, personal strengths and values references and portfolio website you earl so I'll go through these individually so you're not ah frantically rushing any night we're going to go through them so this one he ingredient one your name job title contact details pretty self explanatory this includes your online portfolio u r l so have that in their contact details is it necessary to put your address? Probably not at least have your email you're you earl and your phone number your career objective is ingredient number two some people do this some people don't I say that you must have it in my experience it is the one thing that puts your entire resume in context without them even needing to read what where you've gone to school or university or that's in the background what they want to know is this up front have you got a role to feel for you? What do you want and it's so you know what? You want first and have a bigger role for that, so it is just a three to four sentence introductory blub on who you are and a specific role you're applying for literally spell it out for them, okay, I've read on mine a couple times more than a couple um so how that looks like is this something like ah similar to to the first email snippet you could say that I believe design is a platform for me to live in enriching life for war does I mean to you and then say that I'm looking for a job in this industry or this sector as a senior designer specializing in digital design? Tell them tell me what you want and don't make don't sugarcoat it or anything like that. It's it's literally what you want, what job you apply for, what's the role and then you can continue on and mention maybe things that you're passionate about. Um for may, I've written something like on and it's in my linked in profile actually, I'm I'm passionate about, uh, conversations and uh and I want to surround myself with people that are passionate about creating conversations and that love what they do every single day something to that effect and then number two so we've covered that so so it's just a it's a three to four sentence blow back on your career objective a k ingredient three list your employment history most of us know this one, but there's a way to do this one properly that I found works without them getting confused. So first of all, your employment history should be relevant to the job you're applying for ideally off course and it's going to be in chronological order from where you are president downwards or any type of work you've done in the past in ten ships are included unpaid work, placement of volunteer work see that's where their case, a lot of people starting out, especially the like, but I don't really have any experience to put first as a designer fair point, get something to put on that page that includes volunteer work that includes internship that includes volunteering half a day ah, for let's say a two month period that's volunteer work. Yes, um, in a court what I think ingredient to, um it was just a little bit before you got into this part ofthe career objective. Yes. Yeah, the only question I have is let's say that you've you have put in for a pacific role and you have that blurb like, you know, I want to be the specific designer and you put in your resume for that and you didn't get any response is now if you are pretty good at other aspects or other careers what I changed that particular blurb or what I keep it there when I'm sending my resume to other companies well your your primary target that's a good question that the should you adapt and change a regime may depending on what you're applying for? Is that the question yeah uh if that is the case yes, but in my experience what would usually happen is they might say and I imagine that you'd have one primary goglia one it would be ideally if you could pick let's say the title is and midway graphic designer let's just say uh they will actually reach out and respond to you and say look, we actually don't have a military role available at this time however we are accepting, you know, senior design roles often we have more senior designers, so we'll keep your work on file and we're gonna contact and feel free to get in touch with us later later down the track you know like that I think there's how this theory that there's no part that there's not um huge let me reword this it's important for you teo tackle plan a you don't really need plan b it's going to distract you from plan I go for it and go for what you want don't sidetrack and I think that's where a lot of the a lot of the audience can control eight to that you know like what's my backup plan go for what you want and be certain that you want that you know what give me an example of what you were thinking a role versus another role where you have to separate region eyes um well like for example of you have a production artist versus a two d artists yeah um and I kept putting in for production artists wouldn't get that so I'm good at to the e r so it's a simple case off having two versions yet a simple case of doing that while we're on that slide just a quick clarification from the chat room shelly posted this this question three people voted on it can ram comment on the career overview versus the career objective you may be defining these little bit I know that sometimes there's overlap but people are curious for some people who have been doing this for a number of years when do you have an objective versus an overview of your career? Yeah, I suggest you don't put a career overview okay I said that she put a career objective because the rest of the stuff is the overview the rest of the content is your overview on you you wouldn't have put your employment history in order and curated that that's very over overview so in my opinion it should be the objective because it's what what they want to know is is your what you want and then you gotta back up but that you can do what you say that you are applying for the overview is a summary I think that they get that with the regime may they get that with your introduction email almost they get that with your portfolio so we're not uh so put work that's relevant that's key number three here on the list is a list with the name of the organization the date you were there month and year this is crucial and the duration okay this is a really important duration is going to make life easier for the person sometimes we see a bunch of numbers when they're scanning they just want to know in in in years or months how long you have been there just scan okay you were there for six months all right? You were there for a year and half you were there for nine months. You were there for three years ago. The dates are therefore making it official but you need to have the duration there they're scanning that enough time for mom boom make it really succinct for them and easy for them and then a sentence or two on your responsibilities or duck point key responsibilities off those roles we're going to get into how this looks so don't worry we're just going through the ingredients now ok? So the fourth ingredient is education and industry events from high school upwards usually and any relevant courses, workshops or seminars you've attended that's why it's key to also participate as much as possible? Ah so be honest there is merit in putting creative life courses that you've attended easily now without a doubt so online courses that you've done uh put it in there any short courses are you know I've done loads of just a three day where course master class here or two day ah class on, you know, adobe photoshopped master siri's and I've done these different ones um adam, just it just makes your education and your knowledge have so much more social values social proof it and you're going it's going to be a head turner pretty much you know? So you you wanna put stuff that's relevant and it could go before the third segment. Of course, if you haven't had much employment history, especially for those that are starting out the ingredient number five is key programs and software, so at the very least, if you're a designer, you port specifically a graphic design and you put a daily photo shop in design illustrator and microsoft office usually you'd still need to know a bit of that so at least put those and I'm going to show you how to lead lay these out but put off course whatever programs are relevant to you it could be after fix it could be some other motion graphics program it could be anything victor works three d all that label your proficiency level as an infographic this is super impactful and I'll show you how that looks like but essentially it is on a scale of one to ten how good are you? How would you believe you are in that program and of course your experience will reflect your proficiency so don't be putting ten ten, ten on in designed furnish often illustrator when you just started out on you won't have the year experience or something like that um just be honest to yourself off course if you if you feel that you aren't confident in it, then don't put that there just still label the k programs and software, but you see the lady that yeah, I'm quite confident that I'm at least seven in photo shop put it there if you believe that your seven half put it there if you if you think that you know I've had a good three is experienced now I think I've gotten at least eighty percent of in design on and I could use it quite well and quite fast put that you're eight out of ten ingredients six is listing your demonstrated design abilities, this is kate demonstrated design abilities, I would only put a minimum of five and a maximum of ten. This can look like any of these points idea and concept generation, corporate identity typesetting and formatting environmental graphics. If you have done that idioms and landing pages, or any other particular stream of digital media that you have done responsive websites, image, retouching, whatever you feel that you have done, and ideally it would be in the arena of what you're applying for. If I if this, if this role this job description apparently is telling me that the candidate the applicant must be proficient in in design and in australia and photoshopped, right, take that box also must have some experience in environmental graphics and some digital expert knowledge, such as wire frames, idioms and landing pages that's very common list it then simple is that you're answering what they want immediately through this one piece of paper before they have any peek at your portfolio. You're saying that you're doing what that what they're looking for. So again, going back tio ah, answer here, who was asking that versions and things like that have different versions, then have different versions if you're applying for a different role that has different demonstrated and design abilities, do it and create another one ingredient, seven is where we list your personal strengths and values a lot of people are doing this this is cool, but I just feel that you shouldn't make it so uh generic really dig deep to see who you are if you're not open minded and optimistic then don't put that if you're not punctual and I put punctual there's so many things about like generic things that like a team player jeez like what if I thought your boy, you're going to catch it and you can throw back that's a team player? Um it should be in line with your values and it should show a little bit about who you are, so some examples he could be open minded and optimistic strong communicator see that values also in line with probably their values we want strong communicators I'm a conceptual thinker are you really yeah, I do I don't just designed straight to the computer when I when I want to problem solve can work collaboratively and independently that's a better way of saying it because that makes more sense because a lot of times I'll need you to just take a project but also you have to be okay with having a bit of a team that we're working on for for logic projects do you have a high attention to detail that's a big one? The heavy is huge and are you an attentive listener? Well that's that's a good example but again you thes could be anything but make him relevant to the job you're applying for and make them honest to who you are. Ingredient eight is two to three references a lot of people ah in my experience have put on and I even used to do this references available upon request that's a hurdle I suggest that you just list them there on the page and notify your references hey, I'm applying for jobs at the moment you may get a call you may get an email just a heads up why have you got it as a upon request if they're allowed you to be a reference after them to be a reference um then it's important for you to um put on there they'll be fine with it uh also um you have to just put their name their job title at the company they work for all worked for at the time and contact details phone number and email is fine then you a list people are so the people you're listening have to be people other that you've worked for specifically that would be great, but generally someone that can vouch for you that really knows who you are don't make it be your mom she or your grandma she's going to say lovely things about you no matter what anyone says or what you've done of course if you can do it, if you can link what you're saying that my demonstrated abilities are these and I am, um, I am an open minded person, I'm optimistic. I'm committed to the task. I've got attention to detail. These people should vouch for all the things that you are putting on that page list, people that converts for your work ethic and skills in general. Ok, and the last ingredient is ingredient on your portfolio website. You, earl, link them. Teo teo page, of course, so just simply spell it out for them and say something like, thank you. Please visit, insert your your url to view my complete portfolio. Gotta have a call to action.