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Planning the Structure of Your Resume

Lesson 6 from: Get The Design Job You Want

Ram Castillo

Planning the Structure of Your Resume

Lesson 6 from: Get The Design Job You Want

Ram Castillo

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Lesson Info

6. Planning the Structure of Your Resume

Lesson Info

Planning the Structure of Your Resume

So designing your content into an infallible pdf resume it is about creating a grid system creating a hierarchy based on those ingredients filling in the blanks and choosing this style that best suits you and when I say style there is room for plenty of style through typography alone typography is as we know an art form it can make or break any design piece so when I say customizing through style it could be a simple is that typography colors turn tints fun choice all of this so let's move on to our ingredients list now as you can see here I have drawn out the six grid system six column grid six column greed is the rule that I use for regiments and you'll see why it's just so flexible for on a four page or ah us letter page and you can fit a lot of your ingredients in a very beautiful digesting flow it's not overwhelming it's it's ah really flexible in that sense so essentially we're gonna have one two and three on the first page all right, how does that look? I'm just going to outline...

let's use red so you can see clearly by the way of course have your margins there are I used to like twelve mill around the margin and then you start here at cia grids stop from this point here the in our border so what we're working with this simply that whole section is where you're gonna put your your name you could have your details here you could have your details here I'll show you more about that but essentially that is ingredient one in that whole section ingredients who is your career objective usually that and just go underneath it okay and it would however you want to design it could be two columns it could go across however it's flexible well I'm going to show you the actual designs off these step three star ingredient three is your employment history so that starts right there and you put a subheading employment history in there and that looks like boom boom all right this is just rough just me showing you how to plan you can usually fit your employment history all on that one page then do not be afraid have a page to have a page to you'll see why number four ingredient for education and industry events okay um I would do this I would then split it like that for a would be in by education for bay could be industry events like workshops, seminars things like that and that is simply the heading again dot boom whatever it is okay these looks like schools but it's just important for me to show you the modules ok five which is key programs and software that can go here key programs and software adobe it was shot in design, however looks an infographic and come in bar graphic in a circular way there's so many for graphics literally topping for graphics on google and you'll see what I made how you can execute a pie okay so then we move on tio so that was number five number six is demonstrated design abilities and I'm a seventies personal strength and values again I divide that into this section here this has flexibility gods but I'm showing you how it can work in one one template using this six column grid okay and again your points there if you have five gray if you have a couple more it still fits as well okay and that is six and seven then you've got a whole other page what three pages you crazy yeah three pages why because we want them to enjoy reading your resume and we don't want to crowd everything because you've done a lot of stuff I know you guys have there's always feel is that you can that you put in that that you know you know you should show off so he is generally your references that that the da about them et cetera he your call to action which is nine there eight todo right sir now I'm joined that out for you I start designing it so exactly how I drew it out I've got the I'm just using designed by the way uh and so I stopped planning how it's going to look that's the first page right, so we had one, two and three ingredients one contact details ingredient to would be all your career objective ingredient three would be your employment history that's how would you have the other one? Right? Because you've got it's just not thinking about how am I going? Too late? I don't go on the computer right away. Don't get into that habit. Start just scampering you're the computer can limit you ah blank can't canvas on a page is just going to allow your mind and just be free with that pen or pencil so that's how it could look and then that so we start planning how are we going to structural their information once we've gathered our information, how does that start to look? This is how it can start to look do I want to read that versus having all my information in one page? Well, this has worked for may. This has worked really well. In fact, um it's happened three times already where employers have said to me, can I keep your resume and do I have permission to use it to show other people how to design a regimen and like marzel chucking the need and teach everyone else does that as well? So it's worked for me and like I said, it's it's a six column grid you can move these around and I know you're designers you're very creative you can imagine what I'm talking about how modules can shift yeah you have the ability of three things around only limited by this this is just one way I'm giving you principles ingredients in a way to shift things around that's how khun look can I add more personality? Absolutely I can replace the ram castillo with my typography off my logo right or it could be that I changed these funds altogether I wanted to be more feminine where you can make it through the typography I wanted to be more bold will you can do that through topography I want it to be more subtle where you can do that through tints colors right that's a closer look this is in latin so that's not my real crew curry objective um of course. So now you can start to see it piecing together that's not my real phone number of other way so you know, because the fans gonna be off the hook now it's not so look yeah, these are the details of components. This is how the second page can look starts to look again it's not designed as such. I'm just starting to place my content together but notice the breath of fresh air in there see what I did there industry events, events example eh workshop example bay of them in seminar example say conference there's different types of other things besides education and then we got references easy thank you so much for your time please visit ranks look home for my complete before that's an example of that now my bonus material actually has another template version um but if you've missed all these or you want to kind of digest this it's on there are there any questions on crafting a traditional resume? Thank you had your hand up for a social media yeah um it's already on of course your portfolio online would you put it on a resume? I've seen him on resumes lately and I just didn't know yeah you can absolutely put your your instagram handle twitter handle all those things that we may be looking for in the region absolutely yeah yeah of course a cz long as it's going to add value like what jake was saying to us earlier he's I noticed you know his instagram has a lower following but that's because he puts a lot of just his lifestyle day to day stuff but twitter is one hundred percent work related to design so I wouldn't put you know your face would check out my facebook like you very much for them yes, I have another question do you do you need to like I noticed that he didn't include the line from the reference person like I like to workers marina for example and shays doing this stuff great in this top grade so would you would you include this line or no just the reference like conduct that person they will tell them everything like someone recommending you yeah yes so that's in another version template but I have great questions so to answer that I'll just answer that live right now I would put sarah walters I would put title company ah in one line not to grab this information put it underneath sarah baltar's and I would have a beautiful quite here linking tio yeah absolutely that's a good one put put your linked in recommendations on there if they are one of your um references brought um great question super great question so just to recap list of references and put all their information in that column put the related recommendation quote that they're saying tio I've worked with mark miner is that I say marina yes uh and she has helped us out when we were starting out for two or two years or whatever and she did these tasks whatever whatever the quote was put it on that absolutely yes and one more I'm I come from academic backgrounds what about awards from industry or congressional awards or presidential awards and state conference invitations to speak you can split these up like I said you might have um you might only put your high school in your degree you might have a long list of industry events and what do you have you've got a whole bunch of space there ok put it in there yeah education industry events awards the official details uh definitely put them on there that they sit around this territory here because the things you have achieved their set in stone ram we've we've had tons of questions coming in a bunch of them are similar to this so I just want to get your opinion we have people who are joining from all around the world and they were saying how some of what you're saying contradicts what they've heard from some people and they want to know are there trends based on the country you're in they're saying that in in this part of the world they do it this way this part of the world to do it that way any insight on that uh I haven't found that there are there too many fluctuations in in trends in particular I think what's most important is what you're putting in and how you laying it out that's ultimately what it comes down to it's a communication piece I don't want to limit anyone in the audience if they feel that they don't agree with the style or the structuring if you want tio a ten column grid then go for it what I want to give you guys is what employers are looking for ok if it's a sandwich what's all the things that I need in there these are the things that are of course common there might be some changes like we got a question about the awards you know, if there are subtleties in that I'm sure you can customize this but this is very stripped down it's a base it's a template style foundation off a skeleton almost of what you should put in and how it can start to look but even in its simplicity I'm sure that you guys can agree that I can read it yeah, honestly there is there are instances that happen too many times where I cannot read their resume funds to small everything's jammed on one page a lot of these things are being a culprit of it don't get me wrong this is how I got to this point so hopefully I've answered your question um about that and without the specific ease of specifics rather off the trend then uh hopefully that can help you out um okay then there are queries on nontraditional resume platform so I'm just going to make this very, very simple for everyone because there are off of course other resume platforms out there could be a digital version there are people filming themselves sending out their video like a video resume right there are people doing that this whole bunch um so the questions could be anything from this should I be designing a resume that's completely different and out of the book so I can stand out what about three d object based regime made such as packaging concepts and executions are video recorded resumes any good simply put it all comes out to relevance relevance will create the disruption you're looking for if there's no reason for you to create a video resume are you going to be a broadcasting presenter or something will probably not if you are yeah definitely do one of those are you a video game uh kreda on designer then maybe you could do a video game through building something in code in your browser there's one that exists at the moments got from new york has done it it's it's incredible and you go through it's like a little mario type thing and you go through it's very easy it's not too hard and you collect the points and information and the reward is looking at his portfolio and he's his work but he wants to be a video game designer so I absolutely recommend out of the box versions if it's relevant to you are you are packaging designer well then you can do one ah but then again you're gonna have to post that out so think about ok how am I going to actually get that? There are a whole bunch of different reasons to do it as long as it's relevant is what I'm what I'm saying right if I'm a graphic designer and of course I'd stick to this if I'm a jewelry designer well it's probably best to stick to this so you know there are a lot of facets of design but I don't want to limit you to just sticking to a flat template because the sole purpose of a regime a is to communicate very briefly who you are, what you're after what you've achieved and what you're capable of do not stray away from this purpose it has to be clear has to answer the information once you've jumped through that loophole that I want to know about that any more they want to know they want to get you to the interview now they know ok, you've gone to harvard aware of you know, ok, you've ticked that box next next hurdle this is the one hurdle for that regiment that's going toe answer anything that is overly stylized or gimmicky has potential to be more distracting than informative this happens a lot and that that leads towards I can't read it ah we don't look, um what are you wanting can't see that oh it's not even in there okay, so all right we'll do some hot sitting with some of the studio audience the first person they're going to stay in their seats but it's basically um uh gotten gen up here on the screen so she's being brave enough to show her resume it's okay, jenkins can stay there but um thanks jen for our food allowing us to see your regiment and basically I just wanted to ask you in what after showing all of that this is a kind resume. So what would you say that you could improve on if you had to pick everything I e s o I wrote down a couple points that I thought of one is obviously I want to put it in a pdf format that kind of was really good yeah and I come from corporate america and I'm a photographer which is two totally different worlds, so I think it's really appropriate to do it in pdf format toe ad quotes of references from my photography client and teo have a career objective which I don't have on there and also I mean there's a lot of other things but also to have my website address portfolio exactly yes so she's notice a couple things there in terms of the ingredients but also believe in my point of view it's just utilizing designed to create a bit more hierarchy dry, isn't it there's a lot there and it's quite it's it's quite single leveled we need to bring out those subheadings we need to bring out the ah the styling through you know, do you treat this differently to your heading one heading to to use that concept to your design things like that so that you know there are a lot of things that you can now apply for no matter what rage my so that's a good example thank you, jen for doing that um that's a close up of that you know and remember how said about the duration so this is common, you know, like their numbers but like I then have to calculate in my head how long you've been there right simple thing make it easy for them then we've got um annabelle ok, so anna bills is pdf and she is brave enough to show in her resume that's it's a single page actually, um so if it's coming off a bit pixelated there, but generally speaking you get the idea off the structuring she's obviously used a two column grid and animal anything is that you kind of, you know, off the top your head that you think that you might be able to improve on based on ingredients or capturing I could probably spread it out a lot more because it's crammed in on by references I don't have any on there and I do have some so you're adding those to an awesome um and really very happening values to just re I mean I have a profile and I haven't objectives, so maybe merging the two together that's cool, I mean, look, this is I've done this version, you know, so many of us have key things for me would be, you know, we naturally read from left to right. So did you want me to read your current experience first, or your profile first, or your objective also, am I and my type setting in a way that is as clear as possible? Um, and, yeah, you know, that is it condenses it too much, or would it be better if it was split up in two pages or three pages? Look, only you can answer that. The reality of it is everyone has their own opinion, of course, but for me, if we're talking about communication clarity, we should make it enjoyable for them to read and enjoy that designed piece as well. Yeah, so I'm sure a lot of you can resonate with with those points there.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

How to answer any interview question
Key interaction tips to remember during interviews
The anatomy of a perfect introduction email
The most important step to getting the design job you want
The number one tool that gets me jobs consistently
Sample resume templates
14 quotes to empower you at any moment
A checklist of morning rituals modelled from successful people

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Ram’s class was the focused, creative energy shot I needed to engage with design clients in this fast-paced, digital world. Back in my art student days, no one teacher or school gave such energy towards the ‘big picture’. This accomplished youngster generously shared plain-faced truths in the day-to-day world of successful design, complete with real-life examples, templates and suggestions. His A-game guest speakers and role-playing added further credibility. And then, things got even more real when he made mention of the physiological aspects of approaching life as a designer and working with clients: breathing, diet, (water!) personal energy, response and engagement styles. Ram, this ‘Zen designer’, sets the stage for his students to achieve success. Giving back as he does to the industry, speaks to his own integrity. He walks the walk and talks the talk. Thank you for your poignant Creative Live workshops Ram. I’m so looking forward to the onward journey!

Kasia K.
 

Really great class! Encouraging, and inspiring. Ram covered all the most important issues in huge detail, giving a lot of helpful advice. Even being an experienced designer, I found so many great suggestions and tips for myself. Awesome job Ram! Thank you!

a Creativelive Student
 

So glad I purchased this course. Finding the job you really want can seem like a very daunting task. Luckily, Ram is here! It doesn't matter what your profession is, or career level, the knowledge you will gain applies to everyone. Not only will Ram teach you a lot of valuable info, but he also brings in brilliant guest speakers with great insights as well. So much of this course was extremely valuable to me, and I've been in the creative field for awhile. Thank you Ram and CreativeLive! If you are looking for ways to improve your career, you can't go wrong with this course.

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