Sorry spaghetti I don't know of any specific references. But I did just redo my own resume and have only 2 years experience with one firm. What I did is made all my bullet points describe my responsibilities with an example or relate it to a specific job. For example

•Created rendered illustrations for housing developer’s marketing materials.

&

•Redesigned an existing residence to accommodate wheelchair accessibility.

I hope this helps


Good luck!

thanks! are you an interior designer? (I am, at least education wise.) I was just guessing from those two things you wrote

bingo....although i guess I can't technically call myself one without passing the NCIDQ exams first.

i bet you can call yourself one. just becareful on archinect. hehe. jk.

i almost got the urge to take those once(NCIDQ), but realized they are a crock of !@##$@. i think most people chuckle if you do write that on your name.
but since you cant take AREs with your design degree, you might as well take LEED in the meantime. those almost are worth something. although im not sure if they have gotten more progressive since i last saw the LEED points system.

CV's are usually only used in europe. it's the same thing basically with sometimes a slightly different format depending on the country. (for example, in france they tend to have a bit more biographical info, like age, and sometimes a picture attached, and they can be handwritten.)

I have more detailed work information for the work experience that was important/formative/interesting to me, and drastically less for the work experience that I see as simply that--work experience. The whole thing should really fit comfortably on one page, or you're doing something wrong.

Actually, CV's are also used for academic purposes. They let you list every single lecture, exhibit, and publication you've done because they don't have a page limit, and academics care about all that stuff, whereas employers only want the hilights.

awesome.. thanks rationalist and myriam...

No absolute rules for a resume, especially in the design fields. It doesn't hurt to put some thought into the graphic layout of the resume, as long as it complements the actual content rather than distracting from it.

alfrejas24 is on the right track. as i stated in my email to you, there's no real 'standard' to key into. what works for a resume is as much dependent upon your range of experience and the type of job you're looking for as any 'industry standard.'

from the hundreds of resumes that have crossed my desk i can tell you the following (and it's just going to be my very opinionated opinion):

*be concise.

*ask yourself, 'does this convey a sense of my proven abilities?' at every turn. if not, modify it or cut it out altogether.

*similarly, ask yourself, 'does this pertain to the job i am seeking?' for instance, at a certain point, your physical model building skills may become irrelevant, or not something you want to advertise. early on, when you have less experience in the field, it might help an employer to know that you volunteered at the local hospital in the outpatient pharmacy or managed an ice cream parlor.

*legibility, legibility, legibility. in terms of the design and layout of your resume, these are the first three priorities. the fourth priority, personal flair' should be just a whisper: that salt air breeze you catch for a moment as your standing in Pamona which reminds you you're 50 miles from the ocean.

*create a hierarchy of information and use that to generate your format. the logic of your hierarchy will be what you keep coming back to for answers to questions of font size and placement, margins & indents, syntax, etc.

*make sure your format is consistent. this includes keeping the same grammatical format as well, so that each bullet point is the same grammatic structure as the previous.

*run your resume by at least two people related to the field whose opinion you trust, and maybe even fear will be ruthless. And read it out loud to yourself at least a couple times over.

*one page.

*keep sidebar photos and fancy logos off the resume. i see more and more of this and it makes no sense. the amount of info conveyed in a thumbnail printed on our office printer is next to none. You can put that stuff on your sample work sheets, where you can have two images per page and a little room next to each for a brief description.

*this really is an extension of 'legibility' but go easy on the fonts and sizes. MAYBE two fonts but no more than 3 different combos should be on the page. The important thing to remember is this is going to be in front of a very busy person's nose for a couple of seconds max. What gets you extra seconds is ease of navigation and good information, not woweee graphics.

*unless you have some extraordinary hobbies, don't list them.

good luck...

Just a couple of points from me....

1. Here in the UK a CV *is* a resume. Until I read this I didn't realise there was a differerence in the US. Anyway, from my experience the level of detail you go into will depend on your judgement of whether or not it's relevant to what you're applying for. Sometimes it's hard detailing every responsibility you've had (especially as an intern). Generally, I just detail the project outlines and if they want to know more they'll have to invite me in for an interview to see my portfolio!

Also,

2. I'm never sure about sexing up the CV/Resume. I know a lot of people who do and some who don't. Personally I've always stuck with the most boring plain text word document imaginable. It's always seemed to work for me but as I've never been an employer I can't explain why.
At the end of the day, if you're happy with the contents, sometimes it's best to let them do the talking - without it looking like you've fluffed it up with portfolio images. There's not much room for extra graphics and chances are you won't pick the perfect image anyway (not you specifically you understand!)

Also, should any of you want to work in the UK, a CV here can be 2 pages - 3 at a stretch.

resume one page. list firm, position, time there and short blurb of tasks. also list education. do not list high school or your hobbies.

write a personalized cover letter. do some research. find out what high profile projects, publications, awards they have recently garnered and note it. highlight and expand on everything that is in your resume. site your computer skills, marketing savvy, ability to draw by hand etc. tell them what you can do for them. tell them you will be contacting them in two weeks time to discuss the exciting career opportunities at their fantastic firm.

yeah. what vado said.

also, bring a couple fresh copies of your resume to the interview on nice paper. and don't forget to follow up with a quick note after any interview you land and be real when you do it: don't spout a bunch of crap you think they're going to want to hear. ask a question you have lingering. something to convey that you're a sentient being that i'm going to want to work with.

i keep getting these miscellaneous jpg's attached to resume's. what's with that? that's like throwing your work on the floor. have some respect for your work and take a couple minutes to edit what your sending to make it presentable. (like you would for a client or a publication) create a format and couple of sheets you can choose from depending on the office you're talking to.

the people hiring have to fight cynicism just as much as anybody applying for a job. there are a great many crappy applications out there (not necessarily crappy applicants: i'm talking about crappy manner in which one applies). You always want to be a part of the picture you're trying to create.