Applied Arts is a new series for the recent graduates and fresh professionals. The series will be discussing how to make your art work for you and to apply your art into a career.
The Résumé
Recently I've been reworking my own résumé and have been surprised how much a years difference makes. My "straight out of art school" résumé is quite different from my "young professional" one and has caused me to reflect. What does a good résumé look like for an art student at the beginning their career? Here are some fundamental rules that have helped me, which I've learned through mentors, friends… and failure in not doing some of the following. (No, I'm not going to tell you what those were!) Also keep in mind, this is coming from an American point of view. European CV's have different rules and typically include things we wouldn't imagine putting into a résumé here (for instance, blood type?).
One Page Only
Please please please -- only one page. This is not meant to be your life story. According to Wikipedia, "A résumé is a document that contains a summary of relevant job experience and education. Résumé is French, and means 'summary.'" As artist's, this can be difficult due to having to list exhibitions (wikipedia also agrees: "For example, an artist's résumé, typically excluding any non-art-related employment, may include extensive lists of solo and group exhibitions.") Don't be discouraged though -- Just be selective. Maybe only include shows that were juried or that you received some kind of special attention for. If it's necessary to include every single show you've participated in and it consumes your page then maybe have a separate sheet of paper just for exhibition information. Then you can keep your working experience and education to the one page. This will allow employers to see the job experience and education information while having a clear separate list of your exhibitions.
Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae, otherwise known as the CV is another form of the “artist résumé.” After doing some research, the technicality behind what exactly a CV is and where it should be used for a job is arguable. The standard curriculum vitae (if we are following rules) is a record of all professional activities and is intended for use in academic situations, whereas the résumé is used for commercial galleries, opportunities for exhibition, grants, etc. Is there really a difference between the CV and résumé, and does this difference matter? Perhaps the CV will need to be the center of a future Applied Ars post.
Hierarchy
I asked a friend of mine who is in the publishing industry what matters most to her when she sees someone else's résumé and she said, "I want to know what I'm looking at. If everything is jumbled and I can't tell what-is-what then I'm not going to bother trying to figure it out." Have your name and contact information in a clear place. What is more important to you: Titles of positions you've held or dates? Does your work experience come first or education? Do you need separate 'work experience' and 'art-related experience' lists? We're art students so we should understand the visual cues. How do we want our audience to see us? If you are working on your résumé and feel as if it is all running together, just add contrast. Maybe you bold or underline certain items to make them jump more. Use a color or bring your point size up to draw attention. Bullet points instead of paragraphs? Pick a system that works for you.
Meaningful Descriptions
Your father is going to look at your sheet and gawk at the fact that no where listed is the fact that you're a "hard, motivated worker". Let daddy know that those kind of descriptions are a thing of the past. Now you don't NEED to say things like that, because you have the experience to back it up. It's good to be descriptive, but in the right way. Be specific about what you actually did at your internship. "Created web viewing pdf's and produced assets for client websites" instead of "was a go-getter".
Let the Content Drive
I know as an artist, sometimes you want your résumé to showoff your crazy skills and personality. In all honesty, it's important to have a visually appealing résumé, but it's not good if the potential employer can't read the information clearly and quickly. That means leave the full-bleed image of your pet cat for something else because no one wants to read copy over an overbearing photograph. Keep it clean, kids.
Critique Time
One of the best things I did was let a variety of people read my résumé. In the past, I had an art professor and maybe a few artist friends review what I had written. Not to say that their advice wasn't helpful, it certainly was, but there is added value to seeing what others think as well. In the end, the person reviewing your résumé may have never been an art student. Sometimes HR people review before anyone else does. Maybe your future employer is a marketing guy looking for a designer because he doesn't know about design. So bother your business man father or techy friend and see how it changes your perspective.
Switch it Up
This may not apply to everyone, but I know I have separate résumé's depending on who I'm sending it to. For instance, I no longer include my list of exhibitions on my design résumé because I feel they are over a year old and do not give a good impression of my most recent experience. Yet, if I were going to send it to an art gallery for a position, I would be sure to include it.
The Devil is in the Details
Last, but not least…just when you thought you were done. SPELL CHECK! GRAMMAR CHECK! Font choice. Paper choice. PDF or word doc? (I recommend having both versions) All these small things showcase how detail oriented you are. But please don't use the 'cloud pattern' paper from Staples.
The Short List
• Name
• Contact Info
• Education (including any honors/scholarships/awards)
• Experience (freelance, teacher assisting, internships, art director, etc)
• Skills (fluent in any languages? Know how to use all of creative suites programs? Can write some mean HTML? Know how to frame, matte and display artwork?)
• Extras (anything you want to include that didn't fit above. maybe you won $10,000 for running a marathon? I dunno!)
My words are not final, of course, but I hope they may aid someone out there. Please feel free to add your own rules in the comments! Here are some examples from our gracious friends Matt and Maria, and if you'd like to contribute yours to the mix, please don't hesitate.
Recently I've been reworking my own résumé and have been surprised how much a years difference makes. My "straight out of art school" résumé is quite different from my "young professional" one and has caused me to reflect. What does a good résumé look like for an art student at the beginning their career? Here are some fundamental rules that have helped me, which I've learned through mentors, friends… and failure in not doing some of the following. (No, I'm not going to tell you what those were!) Also keep in mind, this is coming from an American point of view. European CV's have different rules and typically include things we wouldn't imagine putting into a résumé here (for instance, blood type?).
One Page Only
Please please please -- only one page. This is not meant to be your life story. According to Wikipedia, "A résumé is a document that contains a summary of relevant job experience and education. Résumé is French, and means 'summary.'" As artist's, this can be difficult due to having to list exhibitions (wikipedia also agrees: "For example, an artist's résumé, typically excluding any non-art-related employment, may include extensive lists of solo and group exhibitions.") Don't be discouraged though -- Just be selective. Maybe only include shows that were juried or that you received some kind of special attention for. If it's necessary to include every single show you've participated in and it consumes your page then maybe have a separate sheet of paper just for exhibition information. Then you can keep your working experience and education to the one page. This will allow employers to see the job experience and education information while having a clear separate list of your exhibitions.
Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae, otherwise known as the CV is another form of the “artist résumé.” After doing some research, the technicality behind what exactly a CV is and where it should be used for a job is arguable. The standard curriculum vitae (if we are following rules) is a record of all professional activities and is intended for use in academic situations, whereas the résumé is used for commercial galleries, opportunities for exhibition, grants, etc. Is there really a difference between the CV and résumé, and does this difference matter? Perhaps the CV will need to be the center of a future Applied Ars post.
Hierarchy
I asked a friend of mine who is in the publishing industry what matters most to her when she sees someone else's résumé and she said, "I want to know what I'm looking at. If everything is jumbled and I can't tell what-is-what then I'm not going to bother trying to figure it out." Have your name and contact information in a clear place. What is more important to you: Titles of positions you've held or dates? Does your work experience come first or education? Do you need separate 'work experience' and 'art-related experience' lists? We're art students so we should understand the visual cues. How do we want our audience to see us? If you are working on your résumé and feel as if it is all running together, just add contrast. Maybe you bold or underline certain items to make them jump more. Use a color or bring your point size up to draw attention. Bullet points instead of paragraphs? Pick a system that works for you.
Meaningful Descriptions
Your father is going to look at your sheet and gawk at the fact that no where listed is the fact that you're a "hard, motivated worker". Let daddy know that those kind of descriptions are a thing of the past. Now you don't NEED to say things like that, because you have the experience to back it up. It's good to be descriptive, but in the right way. Be specific about what you actually did at your internship. "Created web viewing pdf's and produced assets for client websites" instead of "was a go-getter".
Let the Content Drive
I know as an artist, sometimes you want your résumé to showoff your crazy skills and personality. In all honesty, it's important to have a visually appealing résumé, but it's not good if the potential employer can't read the information clearly and quickly. That means leave the full-bleed image of your pet cat for something else because no one wants to read copy over an overbearing photograph. Keep it clean, kids.
Critique Time
One of the best things I did was let a variety of people read my résumé. In the past, I had an art professor and maybe a few artist friends review what I had written. Not to say that their advice wasn't helpful, it certainly was, but there is added value to seeing what others think as well. In the end, the person reviewing your résumé may have never been an art student. Sometimes HR people review before anyone else does. Maybe your future employer is a marketing guy looking for a designer because he doesn't know about design. So bother your business man father or techy friend and see how it changes your perspective.
Switch it Up
This may not apply to everyone, but I know I have separate résumé's depending on who I'm sending it to. For instance, I no longer include my list of exhibitions on my design résumé because I feel they are over a year old and do not give a good impression of my most recent experience. Yet, if I were going to send it to an art gallery for a position, I would be sure to include it.
The Devil is in the Details
Last, but not least…just when you thought you were done. SPELL CHECK! GRAMMAR CHECK! Font choice. Paper choice. PDF or word doc? (I recommend having both versions) All these small things showcase how detail oriented you are. But please don't use the 'cloud pattern' paper from Staples.
The Short List
• Name
• Contact Info
• Education (including any honors/scholarships/awards)
• Experience (freelance, teacher assisting, internships, art director, etc)
• Skills (fluent in any languages? Know how to use all of creative suites programs? Can write some mean HTML? Know how to frame, matte and display artwork?)
• Extras (anything you want to include that didn't fit above. maybe you won $10,000 for running a marathon? I dunno!)
My words are not final, of course, but I hope they may aid someone out there. Please feel free to add your own rules in the comments! Here are some examples from our gracious friends Matt and Maria, and if you'd like to contribute yours to the mix, please don't hesitate.
Fiona Clark (aka Wee Fi) is an artist working and living in New York City. Fiona graduated in 2007 from Hartford Art School with a major in Visual Communcation Design and minors in Photography and Art History. After graduation she found herself freelancing with the staffing agency, Creative Group, before landing a job as junior designer at the rich media company, Basik Group. If you'd like Fiona to answer your questions about life after art school, please email her at fi@wee-fi.com.
A great resource for students/recent graduates! I seem to notice many resumés from students are focused on the design of the page rather than what's on it. I think my resumé also changed drastically in layout and content after being out of school a few years.
Thanks Fi!
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=701577576 | 10/18/2009 at 07:19 AM