Portfolio and Resume crit
polycounter lvl 4
Hi everyone,
Just got done with my online portfolio and resume, but before I sent them off I wanted some feedback on it all. I tried doing the resume as best as I could, but unsure about it's overall look and how it reads.
Any help with this would be monumental for me.
Thanks!
My portfolio: http://www.taylorkirkham.com/
Just got done with my online portfolio and resume, but before I sent them off I wanted some feedback on it all. I tried doing the resume as best as I could, but unsure about it's overall look and how it reads.
Any help with this would be monumental for me.
Thanks!
My portfolio: http://www.taylorkirkham.com/
Replies
I appreciate the feedback, I guess it's back to the drawing board!
I've worked in games, VFX and animation for 7 years (and counting) but primarily in production management. I can't give feedback on the quality of your art, but should be able to give a couple pointers on your resume. Be aware though that ultimately it's your portfolio that will get you the interview, but having a solid resume to pair with it will greatly boost your chances. The following is strictly my opinion based on experience, and there are likely going to be people who disagree.
1) Experience on top - When headcount opens up, the team already has an idea of how specialized / experienced a candidate should be. Putting your experience on top, will tell HR / Managers / Leads immediately whether or not you are what they are looking for.
2) Less words - Multiply your resume by a few hundred, and this is what recruiting and management has to sort through everyday. In this respect, less is more. A good way to cut down on verbal vomit is to remove adjectives in regards to your skills, ie: "Strong knowledge" / "Good Understanding" / "Ability to accurately visualize ..." Show it in your reel. The leads will decide from your reel whether or not your knowledge is strong, your understanding is good, or your visualization is accurate.
You're probably thinking "But I am an artist! My focus is my art, not my resume!" But trust me for all the non-artists involved in securing you a job (HR, Recruiting, Management), you'd be doing them a HUGE favor.
Overall, your resume is pleasing to look at. Of course, I could go all graphic design and critique your font and colour choice but something tells me that's not the point, lol.
Good luck on your job search!
Thanks a lot for the feedback on my resume!! I researched tips and examples then kinda just dove into it haha. I know it's far from perfect but this really helps me to get it closer to a professional level. Man it's hard putting yourself on one page.
That handpainted house in your portfolio I instantly recognised it for being a tutorial piece and the tutorial it is from is 3d motive. I might be totally wrong so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I thought the general impression is that people look badly at tutorial pieces in portfolio.
I forgot who said it I think it is Gav, but it went along with if you really understood a tutorial you should be able to do a similar model that isn't what is in the tutorial. So either the person is lazy or doesn't understand the tutorial to apply it to something new.
I totally understand, I actually was thinking the same thing. I guess I wanted to show that I can take a concept and follow it, even put my own spin on it. Maybe I should ditch it then if it has that much of a negative impact on my portfolio?
I'm assuming the resume advice you looked up was more general in scope. Unfortunately games is a niche industry to which not all general resume rules necessarily apply - ie: I've rarely seen cover letters.