Spring Makeover Series: Graphic Design Résumé “shines” through use of performance reviews
In order to help you "spring clean" your resume, Dear Sam will be presenting client case studies all month to provide readers with actionable strategies to make their resumes more effective and yield stronger results in their own searches.
View Client's "After" Resume
Client Background
Jennifer, a graphic designer, was being downsized after 12 years with her current employer. She came to Ladybug Design without an existing resume, completing our client questionnaire to provide preliminary information on her experiences, education, and skills. Jennifer noted that she was "petrified" about the thought of conducting a job search after being employed by one company for so long as she was in a "comfort zone and was afraid of the change." She went on to note that she chose to seek professional assistance as she, "Hadn't thought about writing a resume for over 11 years, so was pretty much unsure about everything."
Resume Strategies
Through our consultation process, I used Jennifer's client questionnaire, a description of her current job, and 10 pages of performance appraisals and self evaluations to acquire in-depth insight into not only her daily responsibilities, but how she had contributed value to her employer over the past 12 years. Combined with an extensive phone consultation to review her background in greater detail, I set out to create an engaging and visually sound resume.
As a graphic designer, Jennifer's resume had to shine, not only in content but also in layout, typography, color selection, and overall design. I therefore started to develop a layout for her resume, knowing that I had to pull out some of the quotes from her performance reviews which were particularly stellar. After developing a unique design, I started to map her performance reviews, noting where her supervisors felt she excelled and selecting the best pull quotes to feature on her resume. I also used these reviews to fuel the accomplishments on her resume, asking Jennifer to provide a detailed list of key projects to ensure we were highlighting the most prevalent aspects of the past 12 years of employment.
My color selections were based on what I felt would accurately portray Jennifer's personality, using a sans serif font to present a clean, modern, and uncluttered look, combined with a crisp green color that would look great when printed or sent electronically. I also used a dark sage green color for specific text I wanted to stand out, highlighted awards and select key results in bold, and used a unique bullet point to reinforce the individuality of her resume and candidacy.
To open Jennifer's resume I used a profile section which featured an overview of her core skills and value, but instead of presenting this from the candidate's point of view, it was presented through her supervisor's comments found on recent performance reviews. Excerpts from performance reviews are a great way to give third party validation to a candidate's claims, and provide engaging content for a hiring manager. I also used a pull quote box to highlight what I felt was a particularly strong comment. This stated, "...been one of the go-to people when we've needed someone we can count on to do a good job and do it right, no matter how creative and complicated..." The pull quote intersects a left column which presents key strengths. These strengths were noted on Jennifer's performance reviews as areas in which she "exceeded expectations."
I then explored Jennifer's design experience with her last employer, using her job description, key project list, and performance reviews to develop a significant amount of information to accurately portray 12 years of employment. Jennifer had held a couple of positions previous to her current employment, but these were for a short period of time, so I chose to byline these experiences as they did not further enhance her candidacy. Following the design experience section, I presented Jennifer's degree and noted that her portfolio was available for review.
Client Comments
Jennifer noted, after reviewing her new resume, that she was entering the job market, "more confident and excited." She also noted that one of the key areas her resume helped her with was boosting her self confidence. She stated, "I've never been able to talk myself up very well. People would ask, 'What do you do?' and I would respond, 'Design ads.' The way Samantha wrote my resume gives me more detail and makes me realize I did a lot more than simply design ads."
Whether you choose to use a professional firm, find guidance from books, or enlist the assistance of your friends and family, be sure you are taking time to explore the "value" you contributed as an employee, accurately portray your responsibilities and achievements, and prepare yourself with engaging responses to answer those general inquiry questions. A good resume that explores all of these areas well, will better prepare you, not only for the rigors of a job search, but for the interviews where you really have to differentiate your candidacy from the pack.
To send your question to Dear Sam for possible publication, please email her at dearsam@ladybug-design.com.
If you would like Dear Sam's resume writing firm to write your resume, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call toll-free 1-888-9-LADYBUG.
View Client's "After" Resume
Client Background
Jennifer, a graphic designer, was being downsized after 12 years with her current employer. She came to Ladybug Design without an existing resume, completing our client questionnaire to provide preliminary information on her experiences, education, and skills. Jennifer noted that she was "petrified" about the thought of conducting a job search after being employed by one company for so long as she was in a "comfort zone and was afraid of the change." She went on to note that she chose to seek professional assistance as she, "Hadn't thought about writing a resume for over 11 years, so was pretty much unsure about everything."
Resume Strategies
Through our consultation process, I used Jennifer's client questionnaire, a description of her current job, and 10 pages of performance appraisals and self evaluations to acquire in-depth insight into not only her daily responsibilities, but how she had contributed value to her employer over the past 12 years. Combined with an extensive phone consultation to review her background in greater detail, I set out to create an engaging and visually sound resume.
As a graphic designer, Jennifer's resume had to shine, not only in content but also in layout, typography, color selection, and overall design. I therefore started to develop a layout for her resume, knowing that I had to pull out some of the quotes from her performance reviews which were particularly stellar. After developing a unique design, I started to map her performance reviews, noting where her supervisors felt she excelled and selecting the best pull quotes to feature on her resume. I also used these reviews to fuel the accomplishments on her resume, asking Jennifer to provide a detailed list of key projects to ensure we were highlighting the most prevalent aspects of the past 12 years of employment.
My color selections were based on what I felt would accurately portray Jennifer's personality, using a sans serif font to present a clean, modern, and uncluttered look, combined with a crisp green color that would look great when printed or sent electronically. I also used a dark sage green color for specific text I wanted to stand out, highlighted awards and select key results in bold, and used a unique bullet point to reinforce the individuality of her resume and candidacy.
To open Jennifer's resume I used a profile section which featured an overview of her core skills and value, but instead of presenting this from the candidate's point of view, it was presented through her supervisor's comments found on recent performance reviews. Excerpts from performance reviews are a great way to give third party validation to a candidate's claims, and provide engaging content for a hiring manager. I also used a pull quote box to highlight what I felt was a particularly strong comment. This stated, "...been one of the go-to people when we've needed someone we can count on to do a good job and do it right, no matter how creative and complicated..." The pull quote intersects a left column which presents key strengths. These strengths were noted on Jennifer's performance reviews as areas in which she "exceeded expectations."
I then explored Jennifer's design experience with her last employer, using her job description, key project list, and performance reviews to develop a significant amount of information to accurately portray 12 years of employment. Jennifer had held a couple of positions previous to her current employment, but these were for a short period of time, so I chose to byline these experiences as they did not further enhance her candidacy. Following the design experience section, I presented Jennifer's degree and noted that her portfolio was available for review.
Client Comments
Jennifer noted, after reviewing her new resume, that she was entering the job market, "more confident and excited." She also noted that one of the key areas her resume helped her with was boosting her self confidence. She stated, "I've never been able to talk myself up very well. People would ask, 'What do you do?' and I would respond, 'Design ads.' The way Samantha wrote my resume gives me more detail and makes me realize I did a lot more than simply design ads."
Whether you choose to use a professional firm, find guidance from books, or enlist the assistance of your friends and family, be sure you are taking time to explore the "value" you contributed as an employee, accurately portray your responsibilities and achievements, and prepare yourself with engaging responses to answer those general inquiry questions. A good resume that explores all of these areas well, will better prepare you, not only for the rigors of a job search, but for the interviews where you really have to differentiate your candidacy from the pack.
To send your question to Dear Sam for possible publication, please email her at dearsam@ladybug-design.com.
If you would like Dear Sam's resume writing firm to write your resume, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call toll-free 1-888-9-LADYBUG.
posted by Dear Sam at Sunday, April 01, 2007
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