A Goldmine of Great Portfolio and Firm Interview Commentary and Advice

[landplanner]

Thank you Henry, I think this could be very helpful to many here. But takes some real effort, like having to read it first.

[ida]

“…don’t be weird”

damn…

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

It is under “People Skills” in Landplanner’s post. I  liked that one, too.

[William Lampkin]

Great Post! Thanks for the information. I like to check the job postings on Archinect just to keep tabs on the industry but I will now go and look further into the site.

Thanks!

[Jason T. Radice]

I don’t know if this is ‘resume’ is lumped into the entire application package (resume/cover letter/work samples), but the general consensus from career HR professionals (I know a number of them personally) is just the opposite of this. The particular person who wrote what they look in this posting for is certainly an anomaly.  

The above mentioned descriptive “wordy” resume is almost always a no-no. The information he is describing should be found in the cover or introduction letter, not the resume itself. The cover letter should BREIFLY restate your qualifications and should explain what makes you special and how you would fit into the firm you are applying to. And yes, you should rewrite your cover letter for very submission, even slightly (it should not be a form letter). The cover letter should be no more than a page, but you can use smaller type or margins if needed. Just keep it concise, and it should be well organized like the resume.

 

The purpose of the resume or CV should not be conversational, but rather a brief history of what makes you a fit for that firm based on education and experience. You should put a brief description of what you did or what you have learned, but it should not be more than a sentence. More than that and the HR person, who has to go through hundreds of these things nowadays, will file it in the circular cabinet. This is the same reason you do not direct them to view your website or external link for work samples…it generally won’t happen. Your entire package should take no more than a minute and a half to two minutes for a person to sort through in the first round of sorting. I know when I did hiring; the resume was the least important factor. Work samples were #1, followed by the cover letter and then the resume. The resume is a check list for HR to see if you meet the basic qualifications of the position. That is why the names and dates are so important to have clearly distinguished. I’ve had interviews where the firm principals haven’t even read the resume until I put hard copies in front of them (yes, always bring hard copies of your package, especially work samples that you can leave with them). They had only read the cover letter and work samples after HR or the head-hunter sent the recommendation over. Well organized into headings and easy to read are paramount. No pictures, no fancy fonts, and lots of white spaces. This can be more than one page, with your education and work experience always on the first page. Other less pertinent information can be put on the second page. You may use a letterhead across for your entire package to set yourself apart, if you can conjure a good one.  

[landplanner]

Jason:

Thank you for your excellent “on the ground” and more recent account of what HR people are really looking for and what matters in the first screening. We both know it is exceptionally rough out there, and getting through the first few minutes of initial screening, will determine if one even makes it into the “A” pile and will hear, in an affirmative way, back from the design firm they applied to. I think many here will appreciate your counterpoints and insight.

[Jason T. Radice]

Thanks. This system is pretty standardized and traditionalized through all manner of industries, but of course, the creative arts (of which LA is one) expect a bit more. My suggestions are not to say you cannot be creative with what you produce for an application, but it should contain a STRONG structure and logic to its organization, and don’t take it too far. Gimmicks can be off-putting. My resume package is the evolution of over a decade of constant refinement using marketing strategies, professional HR feedback and direct feedback from interviewers. If you do have an interview, do not be afraid to ask what drew them to contact you.

Keep in mind that the entire package is a direct reflection on your capabilities. As stated in the initial post, the cover letter speaks to your writing skills, so spend a lot of time refining it. The quality, clarity and structure of the resume speaks to your organizational skills. Everything about your first impression should scream quality and professionalism, from the ease of reading on the PC to the whiteness and weight of the paper for hard copy submissions. My suggestions are tailored more for the private sector design oriented firm (which is my target audience) and have had some pretty decent responses over many years I’ve been using them. Although nobody has bit the hook recently after the interview, it did get my feet in some pretty impressive doors I never thought I’d walk through, particularly in this crummy job market. 

Beware, there is more than one type of appropriate resume. There are resumes specifically for government or educational employment, which have completely different standards on how they have to be written. The government resumes usually rely on (and what the computer screening looks for) action words like “supervised” or “budgeted”. And many government applications used to be TIMED for completion. They need to be VERY detailed with obscure information such as exact start/finish dates of jobs and graduations. That stuff can take some time to collect, especially if you are old like me. There are lots of web resources to help guide you for what kind of position you are looking for with those jobs, and applications can take an hour or more to complete. Education jobs usually require a pure Curriculum Vitae type of resume, which are much more verbose and detailed, and much longer as a result, often several pages.

Anyways, always glad to help. And that is what is great about this site…we are all in it together, and there are lots of people here willing to help with all types of experiences and specialties. Using this site for portfolio reviews is fantastic. It is always interesting to flip through other people’s work to see the creativity and different ideas that are out there. I wish there was something out there like this when I was just starting out.

[landplanner]

Jason:

 

Your comments made me re-read that “resume” advice I posted to begin with. At second and third look, particularly based on what you have added here, that advice would be best taken and applied to the cover letter. If you could cover that kind of ground in a cover letter (no way it could be one page) and do it masterfully, you would certainly stand out and advance to the “A” pile.

[Author]

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