Right now, we’re in a search for a new designer at Gravity and once again, I’m reminded how important it is to proof your work. PROOF YOUR WORK, PEOPLE! Whew, had to yell for a minute there. Design is a detailed profession. Get the details right or you look less than competent.
The truth is, you don’t stand much of a chance to get to the interview stage, much less get hired, if you make dumb mistakes on your cover letter or resumè. The following tips are just a few things I expect in a qualified designer candidate and hope they help you polish your profile and portfolio:
- Find out the name of the hiring person and use it. If you don’t have a name, just start in with your message or use the company name as in Dear Gravity or even Hi Gravity—never To Whom it May Concern. And for pity’s sake, don’t use another company’s name by mistake. I’ve gotten this one many times (See warning above about Proofing).
- Spell everything correctly. If you have typos in your resumè or cover letter, I’ll assume the same will happen in your work, or emails to clients. And here’s a quick tip that Spellcheck won’t catch and it’s a pet peeve of mine: stationery vs. stationary. If you’ve designed the stuff, it’s stationery (remember “e” for “letter”) and if you’re not moving anywhere, you’re stationary (“a” for “stay”).
- Keep your ego under control. Confidence: good. Staccato statements about how you rock: bad. Truthfulness and humility are great qualities.
- Detail your skills and experience very clearly. Don’t get creative with this part.
- Give just a bit of your backstory. A little detail about you helps you stand out and lets me see how you’d fit in with our team—but don’t let hobbies or your love of extensive travel overshadow your skills and experience. What you can do creatively to help me build my business is uppermost in my mind. Lead with skills and end with why you’d be a good hire.
- Show only your top work in your first samples. Maybe 7-9 pieces total. Let me want to see more.
- Read the qualifications and don’t waste my time. If you DO send a resumè from out of state when we’ve said you must be local, or with only 1 year experience when we require 4, acknowledge that you know we asked for something else, but explain why you still think you should be considered. Our last designer search brought hundreds of resumès and I’m sure other agencies are the same. If someone doesn’t match the requirements and doesn’t acknowledge it, they are bounced without a backward glance.
- Remember your resumè and samples may be your ONLY chance to make an impression and snag that interview request. Be professional, choose your samples wisely, and proof proof proof proof proof.
Now the fun stuff. In the interest of helping you get to the next level, we present some classic resumè mistakes that we sincerely hope you do not make. At least with us:
From Resumè Hell:
• “Career break in 1999 to renovate my horse”
• Hobbies: “enjoy cooking Chinese and Italians”
• “Service for old man to check they are still alive or not.”
• “I’m intrested to here more about that. I’m working today in a furniture factory as a drawer”
From Amy Joyce on Resumè Bloopers:
• “Skills: Strong Work Ethic, Attention to Detail, Team Player, Self Motivated, Attention to Detail”
• Woman who sent her résumé and cover letter without deleting someone else’s editing, including such comments as “I don’t think you want to say this about yourself here”
From Ask Annie’s article about resumè blunders:
• In the section that read “Emergency Contact Number” she wrote “911.”
• Misspelled the word “proofreading” in her skill set.
• Experience: “Stalking, shipping & receiving”
• “I am great with the pubic.”
• A candidate listed her e-mail address as pornstardelight@*****.com
From Careerbuilder.com’s Top 12 Wackiest Resume Blunders:
• Candidate explained a gap in employment by saying it was because he was getting over the death of his cat for three months.
• Candidate explained an arrest by stating, “We stole a pig, but it was a really small pig.”
From Fortune Magazine via HumorMatters.com:
• “It’s best for employers that I not work with people.”
• “Let’s meet, so you can ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over my experience.”
• Personal interests: “Donating blood. Fourteen gallons so far.”
• “Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a Midwest chain store.”
From Resumania’s Archive:
• Experience: “Chapter president, 1887-1992.”
• Experience: “I’m a hard worker, etc.”
• Objective: “So one of the main things for me is, as the movie ‘Jerry McGuire’ puts it, ‘Show me the money!’”
• Skills: “I have technical skills that will take your breath away.”
• Qualifications: “I have guts, drive, ambition and heart, which is probably more than a lot of the drones that you have working for you.”
• Qualifications: “Twin sister has accounting degree.”
• Experience: “Child care provider: Organized activities; prepared lunches and snakes.”
• References: “Please do not contact my immediate supervisor at the company. My colleagues will give me a better reference.”
-Barbara Combs
