Tag: resume tips | Page 5 | Artisan Creative

3 Ways to Avoid Looking Like a Job Hopper

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012|

In today’s tough economic times, many candidates have been employed by companies that eventually closed their doors, were bought out or underwent massive layoffs. Instead of the average two to five year-spans of employment recruiters are used to seeing, resumes of today often list recent work histories as periods of less than a year at multiple companies. You want to list that great experience on your resume, but a long list of roles with a short duration may leave potential employers questioning your loyalty.

How can you demonstrate your commitment to a company, without having to explain your streak of bad luck? Here are some ways to tweak your resume format to accommodate short-term full-time jobs or a series of freelance positions as you search for a long-term position:

Change your resume format—Instead of listing all of your work experience chronologically, use themes to bring your information together in a way that shows you at your best. Relevant Experience lets you leave out jobs that don’t apply to the current role. Contract Experience lets you list all of your freelance projects in one section, even if they are not long-term roles individually. Reverse Chronological Order is not the only way to construct a resume. Here are some others.
Leave it out—You don’t have to list every job you’ve had for every company. Instead just include your general responsibilities, companies, and brands in separate lists. Then, be prepared to discuss specific accomplishments or projects from your time with each company.
Volunteer—If you’ve been out of work for a while, offer your skills to a non-profit as a volunteer. Those experiences can go on your resume and LinkedIn profile, just as any paid work would. If you have long gaps in your work history these volunteer opportunities can provide recent stories to tell in an interview – where showing passion for a cause or a project can be a great way to sell yourself.

Wendy Stackhouse for Artisan Creative

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Artisan’s Resume DOs & DONTs List: Part 2

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011|

If you’ve ever sent out your resume through an online application – you’ll probably find yourself wondering, at some point, if you’ll ever hear back from that potential employer. Did your resume stand out? Did it contain everything it should? Did you include something you shouldn’t have?

While every employer is looking for something different – most hiring authorities would agree that there are certainly things to avoid on resumes – and other things they love to see. While we can’t guarantee you’ll get a call-back – we’d love to help improve your odds with a few tips!

Last week we discussed some of our suggested resume must-haves. Today, we take a look at some key things to avoid on your resume:

TOP 7 RESUME DONTs

1. Don’t make it longer than 2 pages. Remember you need only include a concise description of your positions and major achievements/successes for those positions in the last 10 years. Your resume should simply whet the appetite of future employers. Leave something to discuss during your interview!

2. Don’t use your LinkedIn profile as your resume. While your LinkedIn Profile can certainly be a great point of reference – and should include much of what you include in your resume – it is not a substitute for your resume. Resumes should be customized for the positions/companies to which you apply.

3. Don’t be vague with dates. Potential employers want to know the duration of time you spent at a company. 2009 to 2010 isn’t clear. Was that 2 years or 2 months? NOTE: If you are a freelancer who has returned to a client many times during a multi-year period, more general annual dates are acceptable.

4. Don’t include salary history. Salary is just one of the elements in negotiating an offer. But it’s a powerful one. Don’t show your hand before you’ve even interviewed. Wait until it’s requested – if it’s ever requested.

5. Don’t list your references; employers or recruiters will ask for them. No need to tell us “Reference Provided Upon Request” either. This is given. You should have updated contact details ready to provide potential employers at any time during an active job search. Make sure references are aware they might be contacted about your professional relationship.

6. Don’t talk about yourself in third person. This practice is not usually received well by most hiring managers. No matter your intention, this normally comes off as awkward, unfriendly, and disconnected – none of which are good if you’re being considered for a position with a new company that doesn’t yet know you. Save the third person for your bio on the company website after you get the job!

7. Do not include a picture of yourself or busy design elements on your resume. They are simply distracting from what’s important – your experience and accomplishments. If you simply MUST have a prospective employer know what you look like – include a link to your LinkedIn Profile and make sure your picture is professional. Chances are – they will be checking you out there anyway. On the flip side – especially for Designers – feel free to include design elements as part of your resume – just make sure they are clean, simple, tasteful, and emphasize your written content, not detract form it.

Jess Bedford, for Artisan Creative

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Artisan’s Resume DOs & DONTs List: Part 1

Thursday, December 8th, 2011|

In our line of work, we review hundreds of resumes each week. While no two resumes look the same – there are definitely things that work. And things that don’t.

Does your resume get a passing grade? Here’s a quick checklist before you apply for another job:

TOP 7 RESUME DOs
1. Proofread! There is no quicker way to end up in the “No” pile than a misspelled name, word, or obvious grammatical error in your resume (portfolio or cover letter). Review your resume for grammatical errors both on the computer and in a printed copy. Have at least 1 – 2 other people review it as well.

2. List both your email and phone number. Even if you prefer one method over the other (and note this on your resume) – it is best to offer alternate ways for employers to get ahold of you. Feel free to add your LinkedIn Profile and/or Twitter Handle as well – so long as you check each of these regularly. Nothing annoys employers more than for interview requests to go unanswered for days (without good reason)!

3. List your physical address. Even if you do not list your street address – let employers know in which city you are located. Without this information (and especially if your contact number is not local), you could be easily discounted for positions that require “Local candidates only”

4. Include a Portfolio / Website link of your work. If you are in the creative field, your portfolio is just as powerful as (and in some cases even more powerful than) your resume. Make sure your resume includes a link to your work. And that your link is working! If you’re working is a PDF instead of a site, attach it to the end of the resume so prospective employers are sure to see it!

5. Provide a brief “Overview”. This should be a 3 – 5 line paragraph or 5 – 7 bullet points customized for each job you apply for and summarizing your key skills and specific experience for that position. It should also mention what kinds of opportunities you are currently considering (full time, freelance, on-site, telecommute, etc)

6. Describe your positions in detail. Because job titles vary so much from company to company, it’s important to include a concise description of your role – as well as list your major achievements/successes. As a general rule, this applies to positions in the last 10 years. Any relevant work prior to that can be summarized with just a 1 – 2 line description of your major responsibility and the team/company of which you were apart. *NOTE: If you are a freelancer, you need only describe your position & capabilities once. Then just list your clients.

7. Differentiate Contracts or Freelance work from Full-Time work. This helps employers distinguish between a “job-hopper” and a genuine freelancer.

For more Resume Tips, check out part two next week with our Resume Donts.

Jess Bedford, for Artisan Creative

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Seize the Summer: Reach your Career Potential

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011|

With summer in full swing, it might be tempting to kick up your feet with a cold one and enjoy the weekly BBQs with family and friends. But summer is actually the perfect time to hone your career-advancing skills. Many people have New Year’s Resolutions but Half-Year Check-Ins can be just as useful.

While everyone else is whiling away the longer days, you can seize the season to make sure you are reaching your full career potential. In order to be the star student who’s ready from the get-go on the first day of class, one needs to plan ahead and not let your mind turn to mush in the warm summer months. Read through these tips to get ahead.

Review both short-term and long-term career goals. The summer is the perfect time to take stock of where you are versus where you’d like to be. Don’t wait until December to check in and determine your next course of action.
Update your resume, portfolio, and online profiles. You’ve been busy meeting impossible deadlines and countless client revisions. Now things are slowing down for the summer and you can catch your breath. Don’t forget to update your “sales kit” of resume / portfolio / online profile (LinkedIn, CreativeHotList, etc.) to reflect these valuable projects.
Look into potential skill-enhancing classes to take in the fall. Whether it’s a Marketing class via UCLA Extension or an Animation/Visual Effects class at Gnomon, course catalogs come out months in advance of the first day of class so now’s the time to plan ahead.
If you haven’t already, include industry blogs and self-improvement tips in your summer reading plans. We know everyone wants to read about that girl and her tattoo, but throw in a good measure of fun and insight, too. (Just don’t watch cat videos until 2am. At least not *every* night.)

Of course, all of the above can be done outdoors, under a beach umbrella, or on your backyard lawn in the afternoon. We’re not humorless headmistresses. We know you want to get out there and enjoy the sun. But remember summer should be both restorative *and* productive. The key is in the balance of play and work.

Good luck!
Jo Szeto – for Artisan Creative

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