Resume Help - Interior Design

This week’s résumé critique spotlights an early career Interior Design graduate. Let’s call her Jasmine. Jasmine chose a very artistic header which is not depicted here. While this would not have been appropriate for an investment banker, in a field like Interior Design it was an excellent choice. The logo is very nice; but, Jasmine’s résumé lacks the quality and substance that potential employers want to see. 

Overall Impression: Weak résumé

Jasmine does not have a vast amount of experience, but she can expand considerably on the content and information provided. Below is a portion of her résumé. She used a fairly mundane layout and font in comparison to the aforementioned header.

Note that Jasmine put bullets before the dates in her education. This is not a good use of bullets and is inconsistent with the way she lists her dates elsewhere in the résumé. Another thing that Jasmine overlooked is that she listed most of the months as full names, but abbreviated February as Feb. She should eliminate the months altogether; her employment experiences are brief and it does not benefit her to advertise this fact when trying to get her foot in the door for an interview.

The key with résumé writing is consistency throughout the document.

Jasmine also needs to beef up the content of her résumé. It is not enough to describe a few basics regarding what she did. Jasmine should elaborate on her achievements using the SAR method.  Situation – Action – Results.
S: Situation: Define the situation in which you were involved. Provide a brief snapshot so the reader gets a sense of what was happening;
A: Action: What was the action you took? How did you improve or revise the issue? Provide a brief explanation of your role;
R: Result: What resulted from your work? Include a number or percentage to highlight the impact on a project, to the department, or to the organization overall.


 
If you would like your résumé critiqued, please email Debra@careersdonewrite.com