Breathing life into a resume
polycounter lvl 11
Hey everyone!
It's been a long time since I've posted here. My artistic endevors didn't take me very far in the art-side of the industry (though I still keep up with my modeling skills. I find high poly modeling to be relaxing). I did find myself in a position of Community Management and PR on the marketing side of things, however, for a free-to-play games company.
Great stuff! It's been two years now here and it's still a lot of fun.
But enough about my life. The reason why I am here is because I am looking for some advice.
It's been a long time since I've made a resume, and I've seen a lot out there and realized mine is starting to look a little "highschool-ish". Some opportunities are starting to come up where I need my resume to be more polished than it was a few years back.
So my question is how can one update their resume from stale into "normal". I'm not talking about adding colored bars or some crazy logo.
Thanks as always for anyone who takes the time to read. I'm still continually blown away by the art around here. I hope to one day revive my sketchbook with some of the artwork I do in my spare time (though its no where near the caliber around here!)
(I'll also apologize in advance if this is in the wrong section. Mods can move it to wherever is appropriate)
It's been a long time since I've posted here. My artistic endevors didn't take me very far in the art-side of the industry (though I still keep up with my modeling skills. I find high poly modeling to be relaxing). I did find myself in a position of Community Management and PR on the marketing side of things, however, for a free-to-play games company.
Great stuff! It's been two years now here and it's still a lot of fun.
But enough about my life. The reason why I am here is because I am looking for some advice.
It's been a long time since I've made a resume, and I've seen a lot out there and realized mine is starting to look a little "highschool-ish". Some opportunities are starting to come up where I need my resume to be more polished than it was a few years back.
So my question is how can one update their resume from stale into "normal". I'm not talking about adding colored bars or some crazy logo.
I mean something simple like.. Do people still use the word "Objectives" in the first section of a resume? I see this all the time. The word Objective seems so... clinical.
Is it better to list experience over education? (been doing this job 2+ years now with other previous experience in-industry)
Obviously for artists listing the programs your proficient in helps. But do people still list "microsoft office" as something they know?
If you have the option of squishing a resume into one page is it worth it? (ie 1 page or 2 pages but with only a little bit on the one page).
Do people still list "extra curricular activities" on their resumes.. It's this kind of thing that when I was younger I was using to beef up my resume for that job at Tower Records, but seems to lack professionalism now-a-days.
Anyways if anyone has any advice on this type of stuff it would be greatly appreciated. I'd give you an example, but I'm starting fresh on this so I don't really have much in the way of a completed resume set out at this point.Is it better to list experience over education? (been doing this job 2+ years now with other previous experience in-industry)
Obviously for artists listing the programs your proficient in helps. But do people still list "microsoft office" as something they know?
If you have the option of squishing a resume into one page is it worth it? (ie 1 page or 2 pages but with only a little bit on the one page).
Do people still list "extra curricular activities" on their resumes.. It's this kind of thing that when I was younger I was using to beef up my resume for that job at Tower Records, but seems to lack professionalism now-a-days.
Thanks as always for anyone who takes the time to read. I'm still continually blown away by the art around here. I hope to one day revive my sketchbook with some of the artwork I do in my spare time (though its no where near the caliber around here!)
(I'll also apologize in advance if this is in the wrong section. Mods can move it to wherever is appropriate)
Replies
I'd only list the programs relative to the job you want. If you list other stuff you might get recruiters wasting your time with office jobs.
I don't list that I know codewarrior, povray, bbedit, ghostscript, illustrator, and quarkexpress.
Because they're not really relevant to what I actually want to do. and some of them just aren't used anymore.
In our industry, the school doesn't really matter...unless you've been to a renowned school such as Gnomon or Vancouver Film School. Experiences are more important than education. This will show to the employer that you can produce something "professional", other than making "schoolish" works. But anyways, this is my personal opinion.
I don't think Office will be useful to write. I guess 99% of people working in the game industry basically know how to use Office. Most important is the production tools, like 3ds Max or Maya, because you'll use them daily and being able to produce something for the project you're working on.
It depends...if you have enough space on your resume, it can be good, but ONLY if it's pertinent. Saying that you do painting, sculpture, photography, etc...theses kind of activities can help you to get better artistic skills.
Most important thing is to go directly to the subject. Show to your employer than YOU are the guy they are searching for. Don't fill your resume with useless informations. If they want something, prove them you have that. Less is more. Keep it simple & efficient.