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Thread: Some resume questions (art-specific & general)

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    Stegodon SilverTygerGirl's avatar
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    Default Some resume questions (art-specific & general)

    I'm revamping my resumes in preparation of looking for a job. I've got a general resume and a graphic design specific one.

    How important is the 'objective' really? It seems pointless to me. My objective? I want a job dammit. Isn't that obvious?

    I went to the career center on campus and got some help and he wanted me to put months for the dates. My teacher just wants years, although that's for the art resume. Months or no? For the general resume, not for the art? Obviously I need to know them to fill out any applications.

    Under relevant activities, I've got Academic Decathlon, a leadership program at a summer camp (which I don't mention is Christian, especially since I'm not), and my webcomic (which I think is only on the art one. I don't have both in front of me.) Any of those irrelevant? I was keeping the camp thing because it shows 'leadership'

    For the art resume, is it important that the resume be in Word format or is PDF okay? Or more acceptable or...? I can make it purtier in InDesign than I can in Word.

    And a mildly unrelated question: I have to write an artist statement. My teacher likes it except for one word. I use 'awesome' and 'awesomeness' referring to superheroic ideals. Can anybody come up with a better word? Cool is basically the same.
    When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When all you have is a bowel disruptor, everything's a poop joke.
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    Content Generator AllWalker's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by SilverTygerGirl View post
    I'm revamping my resumes in preparation of looking for a job. I've got a general resume and a graphic design specific one.
    I recently undertook a Professional Communications course that spent a couple lectures on this. The lecturer is brilliant. So while I like to think I can help, please understand I have never interviewed anyone - my understanding is theoretical only.

    Also, don't iron your T-shirt while wearing it. Warranty void if post is printed, consumed or read.

    How important is the 'objective' really? It seems pointless to me. My objective? I want a job dammit. Isn't that obvious?
    Unless you have a specific and awesome objective, don't bother. For example, one guy wrote on his resume for a job with the materials industry something like merging Australian and Japanese techniques (he had worked here and there for several years in the field). This was too cool to leave out.

    But the general advice is: leave out cliches, leave out things that make you look bad. If your objective, like most people's, is to get a job then leave it out.

    I went to the career center on campus and got some help and he wanted me to put months for the dates. My teacher just wants years, although that's for the art resume. Months or no? For the general resume, not for the art? Obviously I need to know them to fill out any applications.
    Depends. If you have a lot of "Studied from Nov 2006 - Jan 2007" I would leave out the months - just because 2006-2007 might be 2 years, not 3 months. But if they are more "Worked from Feb 2006 to Aug 2007" I would leave the months in.

    I don't know if it matters, as long as you are consistent.

    Under relevant activities, I've got Academic Decathlon, a leadership program at a summer camp (which I don't mention is Christian, especially since I'm not), and my webcomic (which I think is only on the art one. I don't have both in front of me.) Any of those irrelevant? I was keeping the camp thing because it shows 'leadership'
    If it looks good, is slightly different from everyone else and they have not specifically said to leave out everything even slightly irrelevant, then whack it in. If they do ask you to keep it relevant, which has happened to me before, only keep what looks like will be clear in its relevancy.

    Leadership, even the rolly-eye kind, is almost always relevant. I don't know your webcomic (sorry!) but if it is pretty, distinctive and updated regularly (the last point not so important, unless they check everything) then certainly include it.

    For the art resume, is it important that the resume be in Word format or is PDF okay? Or more acceptable or...? I can make it purtier in InDesign than I can in Word.
    They should outline acceptable filetypes as part of the submission process. If not, then .pdf is common enough that you could get away with it, and if they can't read it they'll probably ask you to send it again. If they mention a specific format and you overlooked it or something, then they will trash your resume without hesitating. In general, employers like employees you can and will jump through hoops.

    And a mildly unrelated question: I have to write an artist statement. My teacher likes it except for one word. I use 'awesome' and 'awesomeness' referring to superheroic ideals. Can anybody come up with a better word? Cool is basically the same.
    Formidable, magnificent, stupefying, astonishing, overwhelming...
    Something tells me we haven't seen the last of foreshadowing.

  3. #3
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    I've done a lot of hiring in my various positions over the last ten years or so - I've read thousands of resumes and interviewed hundreds of people. A few pointers:

    - When I see someone put employment years without months it always makes me wonder if they're hiding something, like maybe a long stretch of unemployment. I suggest you put the months. Example:

    Jones Construction (2006 - 2007)
    Bob's Bait and Tackle (2007 - 2009)

    vs.

    Jones Construction (Mar 2006 - Feb 2007)
    Bob's Bait and Tackle (Oct 2007 - Mar 2009)

    The first one is hiding the fact that the applicant didn't work for eight months in 2007, and hasn't worked for the past six or seven months leading up to now.

    - I don't know how old you are or what kind of work you're looking for with your general resume, but the summer camp thing may or may not be relevant to the person reading your resume, and things that are not relevant are distracting.

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    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by SilverTygerGirl View post
    I'm revamping my resumes in preparation of looking for a job. I've got a general resume and a graphic design specific one.

    How important is the 'objective' really? It seems pointless to me. My objective? I want a job dammit. Isn't that obvious?
    At your life stage, I would include an objective. The objective isn't necessarily about wanting a job, what it's about is what you hope to do and learn at the job, and where you want to go in your career next. This will help the interviewer see that you are motivated and interested in growth.

    I went to the career center on campus and got some help and he wanted me to put months for the dates. My teacher just wants years, although that's for the art resume. Months or no? For the general resume, not for the art? Obviously I need to know them to fill out any applications.
    I would use months. It's pretty much standard on any resume I've ever seen, and therefore what OneCentStamp said is true...if you don't put them down, people will wonder why. And having gaps doesn't matter for you right now...you've been in school, so no one will expect you to have had steady employment, so why make it a red flag that someone will notice?

    Under relevant activities, I've got Academic Decathlon, a leadership program at a summer camp (which I don't mention is Christian, especially since I'm not), and my webcomic (which I think is only on the art one. I don't have both in front of me.) Any of those irrelevant? I was keeping the camp thing because it shows 'leadership'
    Nothing wrong with leadership, expecially at a young age! And I would include the webcomic, too. Certainly for the art one, but even for the other...I would like to see that, as to me it shows initiative. And while I wouldn't mention that the camp was Christian, you'll want to include the name of it. If it's obvious that it's Christian from the name, don't sweat it, no one will care what kind it was.

    For the art resume, is it important that the resume be in Word format or is PDF okay? Or more acceptable or...? I can make it purtier in InDesign than I can in Word.
    What AllWalker advised sounds right to me on this one.

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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    The objective can be simple and you could and should tailor it to the job you are going for.

    My last one was very straight forward.
    OBJECTIVE: Challenging position in the field of Information systems utilizing strong analytical skills.

    It is a fairly empty statement in my field but emphasized my strong point I was selling myself on.

    The months are indeed important. I have not done a lot of interviews, but I always wondered at long month long gaps. Of course this was in the 90s when their was little reason not to be employed in the IT field and most people were either moving around or going for a first job.

    For tech resumes, qualified bullets were helpful but that will probably not apply for you.
    Examples:
    * Wrote program to speed up production entry by 205%
    * Reduced paper usage by 22% through report distribution via Email.

    As others said, if they specify a file type, use that file type. HR directors are very happy to delete or toss anything that does not follow their rules. If you plan to send out resumes to many places, then have one ready in your preferred printable format but also have one ready to go in Word for places that require said.

    On your interview, ensure you have several cleanly printed resumes on nice paper stock. It might help and shows you are prepared. Few potential bosses do not prefer job applicants that are prepared.

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    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    For tech resumes, qualified bullets were helpful but that will probably not apply for you.
    Examples:
    * Wrote program to speed up production entry by 205%
    * Reduced paper usage by 22% through report distribution via Email.
    Actually, this is a great thing to include on a graphic design resume. For example, say you did the art for the packaging of a pen. You'd want to include it in some way, such as:

    * Created original artwork for BlahBlahBlah set, which sold XYZ units

    This shows that a) you have concrete experience and b) that's how many people bought something with your art on it. Obviously, you'd only want to include the most impressive ones ("Designed packaging for 40th Anniversary Fisher Space Pen, which sold 75,000,000 units" would be nice, but probably not), but getting a few bullets on there highlighting successful projects is good for anyone regardless of what field they're in.

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    Stegodon SilverTygerGirl's avatar
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    Thanks everybody.

    I finally made it to my storage unit that has my old files and got the months of when I worked. I think there's some jobs there that I don't yet have on my resume (obviously not including the places I was at for a week or two.)

    So I think I'll include the objective for the art one and not for the general one (because 'I want to make enough money so I don't have overdue bills while I'm in school' is not really a good objective).

    *sigh* I'm worried about finding a job, because I think people are going to think I'm overqualified. The last job I was I was the 'graphic design manager' for four or five years, with a large paragraph of all the stuff I did (everything from making business cards to writing documentation). In actuality I was the entire department in a company of less than ten people. And now I'm going to be applying for data entry and cashier positions. They're going to look at me funny. Will 'I need enough money to get through school and I don't have the time to work full time' be a good enough reason? For that matter, which should I give as a reason for leaving 'they weren't paying me on time' or 'there wasn't enough work for me' (They weren't paying me, well at all, for several months, because they didn't have money. At the time I was only coming in when there was work which was a for maybe 15 hours a week)

    One last question. I currently have the school I'm going to as '2010 (Projected Graduation)'. My teacher thinks I should take out the stuff in parenthesis. I think I should keep it. Any votes? Next semester should be my last semester, unless I fail classes this one.

    Anyway, thanks for the help and putting up with my rambling.
    When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When all you have is a bowel disruptor, everything's a poop joke.
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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by SilverTygerGirl View post
    I finally made it to my storage unit that has my old files and got the months of when I worked. I think there's some jobs there that I don't yet have on my resume (obviously not including the places I was at for a week or two.)

    So I think I'll include the objective for the art one and not for the general one (because 'I want to make enough money so I don't have overdue bills while I'm in school' is not really a good objective).
    Right update all the job info, the more complete the better. This sounds like a good plan.

    *sigh* I'm worried about finding a job, because I think people are going to think I'm overqualified. The last job I was I was the 'graphic design manager' for four or five years, with a large paragraph of all the stuff I did (everything from making business cards to writing documentation). In actuality I was the entire department in a company of less than ten people. And now I'm going to be applying for data entry and cashier positions. They're going to look at me funny. Will 'I need enough money to get through school and I don't have the time to work full time' be a good enough reason? For that matter, which should I give as a reason for leaving 'they weren't paying me on time' or 'there wasn't enough work for me' (They weren't paying me, well at all, for several months, because they didn't have money. At the time I was only coming in when there was work which was a for maybe 15 hours a week)
    The fact the company didn’t have money any more is clearly something to be mentioned if asked about why you are leaving or looking for a data entry or cashier position. In the current financial crisis, no one would be surprised. As to being overqualified, it depends on the person hiring. Some will see you are a student and look for someone with lower ambition to fill their needs and others will figure the position is one that turns over anyway and they are probably getting a bargain while you stay with them.
    One last question. I currently have the school I'm going to as '2010 (Projected Graduation)'. My teacher thinks I should take out the stuff in parenthesis. I think I should keep it. Any votes? Next semester should be my last semester, unless I fail classes this one.
    I would not include ‘(Projected Graduation)' on the resume. If they asked about when you expect to graduate, just say at the end of next semester and do not say “unless I fail classes this one.”


    Good luck and I hope you find something that works well for you and your schedule.

    Sorry for parsing, I usually don't. But as this was not a debate, I thought it worked better.

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    Clueless but well-meaning Hatshepsut's avatar
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    There is a lot of good advice upthread, but I think I have a minority view with regard to the months. If you are only putting something in for the last 5 years or fewer, sure. But I've been in the workforce since 1982. Somehow, I doubt whether anyone cares whether that job I held from 1982 to 84 was June 82 to January 84 or November 82 to March 84. (In fact, they probably don't care much about the job period, so I have extremely terse descriptions for everything that's 10 or more years old.)
    Last edited by Hatshepsut; 15 Oct 2009 at 06:52 AM.

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    Stegodon Jaglavak's avatar
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    Regarding the Objective, all I can offer is an experience I had. I was interviewing for a job at a company I'd been temping at for over a year. My boss and his boss wanted me on board. But apparently some HR dimwit had a lot to say about it.

    So I had to interview, which I thought was just a formality. And indeed the dimbulb plodded through all the standard interview questions. Then she hit me with, "Why do you want to work at this company, and where do you see yourself in five years?" The answer seemed blindingly obvious; I wanted that 50% raise and a stable job.

    Well that got me the thumbs down right there. I could see it on her face and that's the only time she made any notes the whole interview. Apparently I was supposed to pull something out of my ass about how cosmic that particular company was, how I had trekked barefoot across the Himalayas, and how my goal was to be promoted to Boss of Bosses.

    I ended up shoving off for an outfit that wanted me enough to cut the bullshit and actually pay the going rate. My boss was highly pissed off but unfortunately he was out voted. So I guess my advice is to Google up the ten most common stupid interview questions and fake up some bullshit to shovel at them.
    Last edited by Jaglavak; 16 Oct 2009 at 05:31 PM.

  11. #11
    Clueless but well-meaning Hatshepsut's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Jaglavak View post
    So I guess my advice is to Google up the ten most common stupid interview questions and fake up some bullshit to shovel at them.
    Excellent advice. It's easy to forget that not only do you have to prepare to avoid looking like an idiot during the job application process, you also have to prepare to deal with idiots. Being responsible for interviewing or hiring decisions doesn't automatically boost someone's IQ or common sense, and in fact having that kind of power can bring out the worst in some people.

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