Are you looking for a job as a Senior Graphic Designer? Be ready to face the fact that your qualifications and skills may not be enough. You must know how to market yourself efficiently to the employer, and that’s where a unique graphic designer resume can come into play.
Your resume should be a reflection of you on paper (or in a .pdf, as it were). It should carry you as you carry yourself. It should reflect your work history, attitude, and aspirations.
Additionally, preparing for the role of a Senior Graphic Designer allows you to flaunt your creativity on your resume. Unlike other professions, graphic designers can get away with showcasing their art alongside their other qualifications without coming off as unprofessional.
But how do you go about it?
How much creativity is too much?
Where do you draw the line between artistic freedom and professionalism?
Find the answers to all the questions with these 12 effective Senior Graphic Designer resume tips:
Topics Covered:
- Choose the Right Template
- Make a Good Color Choice
- Honesty is the Best Policy
- Don’t Start with the Objective
- Add Achievements
- Flaunt Results
- Include Infographics
- Link Your Portfolio
- Add Contact Info
- Keep it Short and Crisp
- Integrate Your Personality
- Ensure it Reaches the Right Audience
1. Choose the Right Template
Start by choosing the right template for your senior graphic designer resume. Your template should depict your efficiency. Choosing a template that does not match your designing skills won’t do you any justice before or after you land the job. It is advised that you create your own template instead of using the samples easily found online. That way, your employer will have an idea of your creative design abilities right from the start.
2. Make a Good Color Choice
All brands have their brand color, which sends a message to their target audience. It either soothes, attracts, or evokes other emotions in the viewer.
Find out which color best affects your employer and increase your chances of getting an interview call. Different colors tell different stories to your employer and portray your true nature in different ways. Choose the color that best reflects you and the senior graphic designer job you’re applying for.
Also, try not to include more than two colors in your resume as it could negatively affect your chances of getting a graphic designer job.
3. Honesty is the Best Policy
Honesty comes from within. It’s important for genuine relationships including those between the employer and employee. Never convey yourself, or your abilities, in any way that’s not authentic.
Being real on your resume makes your employer understand you better and provide you with the right help, assistance, and tools to succeed in your work. Risk faking anything and you’ll eventually end up in a sticky situation.
4. Don’t Start with the Objective
Every square inch of your senior graphic designer resume is valuable real estate. Be sure not use too much, if any of it, on an objective statement. Feel free to share your story, goals, and dreams in a cover letter, but not in an objective statement.
That’s not to say that covering the basics, such as your name, email, LinkedIn URL, etc. aren’t important. They certainly are, and should be at the top. After that, though, dive right into the details.
5. Add Achievements
Celebrate your victories! Don’t be afraid to highlight that design award you won or complex project you completed. Skills and experience are important, but employers want to know how they will likely translate into job performance. Authentic examples of your past achievements are a great way to show the hiring manager what to expect from you. They also display your confidence in your work, which is extremely important.
6. Flaunt Results
Now, show off (honestly). Describe your past work experience and back it with the results you brought to the company. Statistics and numbers, concrete proof of your performance, can be your claim to fame on a graphic designer’s resume. No matter how big or small your accomplishments were, be sure to back them up with figures whenever possible.
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7. Include Infographics
Senior graphic designer resumes should include infographics. Cut down the text on your resume and add infographics, instead. It can increase your odds of getting hired by making your experience and accomplishments easier to understand quickly. With so many graphic design resumes to go through, hiring managers love the extra effort put in to make them easier to glance at. It’s also an additional opportunity for you to subtly show off your real-world design skills.
8. Link Your Portfolio
Paper resumes are nearly obsolete. While it is a best practice to bring a couple with you to an in-person interview, the digital version is the most important. Going digital means you are no longer limited to showing off your skills and experience on a paper resume. Your personal website, online portfolio, and even LinkedIn page, are just as important.
Be sure to link to your primary portfolio page, whether that’s on LinkedIn or elsewhere, at the top of your resume. Including it with other basic info such as your name and email is a best practice.
9. Add Contact Info
It’s a no-brainer to include your contact info on your resume. Be sure to place it at the top of the resume, clearly visible, and easy to notice just by glancing at it. Consider using a call to action such as “Let’s connect” rather than the traditional “Contact info”. For most technical positions, traditional is better for ATS screening purposes, but as a senior graphic designer, you have more leeway.
10. Keep it Short and Crisp
Don’t stuff your resume with too many details. Keep it short and crisp to maintain professionalism. Respect the time of your employer and only add information that is significant to the hiring process.
Keep your senior graphic design resume to a single page. A cover page can be added to tell your personal story if it relates to the job, but your one-page resume should be enough to give your experience and skills a good overview.
11. Integrate Your Personality
Again, your resume should be a reflection of you, albeit a brief one. Integrate your personality and character into it. Interpersonal, or soft, skills, are often more important than technical ones, so be sure to describe them as well. Technical skills can, and often must change over time with the technology itself, but the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively does not.
12. Ensure It Reaches the Right Audience
Usually, we recommend Microsoft Word documents as they are more easily scanned and read by ATS systems. As a senior graphic designer, though, it’s acceptable for you to use a PDF to ensure it retains its aesthetic value. Your best bet is to have both formats ready and available. Use the PDF when possible, but be sure to have a backup in case their system can’t read it.
Conclusion
Your Senior Graphic Design resume is a reflection of you both as a person and an employee. Some of the traditional advice, such as only using Word format and sticking to traditional styles, doesn’t necessarily apply to you. As a graphic designer, you need to stand out not only in terms of your skills and experience but visually as well. Your resume, online profiles, and digital portfolios are your best opportunity to do just that.
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