written by: Lance Powell

In our last exciting episode…

We briefly went over several do’s and don’t, and explored the various options that are open to someone pursuing a career in visual effects, and interactive games.

In this section we’ll cover some more specifics regarding the use of action verbs to describe your job role, and outlining your job experience. This is one of the most important sections of a resume, since it is a way of effectively communicating your job, and its specifics. So pay attention, this section requires detail of mind.

In the last section of Resumes 101 part 1 - we covered the basic principals of a resume: layout, and length with touches on structure. We all get to the struggling point on describing our job, the company and experience. Rare is it as simple as:

Experience:
Super Burger Burger
Flipper #1 - I flipped burgers.

Nope. Never does it ever get that simple. Describing your experience needs to read like a script of the latest and greatest action flick. It has to tell the story of you, while seeming grand, with an explosion of fiery embers through to your Education. Why? Great question:

Why: The last section talked about the mindset of the people reading a resume. We’re talking about people who are receiving dozens of resumes a day. And bet you a dollar, their only role isn’t to read resumes. Nope. Chances are, they have 100 things to do in the span of a few hours. So, keeping that in mind. What’s going to set your resume apart from anyone else’s? Verbs! That’s right. Words that read clean and simple, yet having impact. Your structure will help read through the resume quickly.

Webster’s describes a verb as: The part of speech that expresses existence, action, or occurrence in most languages.

Webster goes on to describe structure as: Something made up of a number of parts that are held or put together in a particular way.

Example:

Experience: Titan Interactive | Art Director [1998 - 2000]
Titan Interactive, is a leading developer for both PS2 and Xbox titles. As the Art Director, I worked on titles such as: Hercules meets Xena, and Robo Chicks. In addition to:
Executed the creative concept and storyboards
Produced over 45 minutes of in-game animation
Oversaw the lighting, and texturing creative direction
Managed a team of 8
Effectively interacted with peers to meet project and milestone deadlines

Now, John Doe just summed up his role by using words that communicated a command at hit position. Dissecting, let’s look closer at the layout and structure:

Titan Interactive | Art Director [1998-2000] <-- Company name, title, employment date is a must

Titan Interactive, is a leading developer for both PS2 and Xbox titles. As the Art Director, I worked on titles such as: Hercules meets Xena, and Robo Chicks. In addition to: <-- This one line sentence tells us what kind of company it was, and briefly what you did.

Executed the creative concept and storyboards Produced over 45 minutes of in-game animation Oversaw the lighting, and texturing creative direction Managed a team of 8 Effectively interacted with peers to meet project and milestone deadlines <-- this block uses action verbs to describe your duties in your position. Adversely, here’s an example of what NOT to do:

Example:

Experience: Titan Interactive | Art Director
My duties at Titan Interactive were many. For one, I was the Art Director on several titles like Hercules Meets Xena and Robo Chicks where I oversaw the creation of art assets to make the game. I also oversaw the lighting and in game animation which I used to show clients for milestone achievements. Secondly, I worked with producers to meet deadlines, and with my team to create amazing games. My other duties were: Render Master. Animation Master and concept designer.

Ugh. Okay, I must admit - mine looked like that 7 years ago. Or at least damn near close to it. Dissecting this, we see the following:

Experience:
Titan Interactive | Art Director <-- No date? So, when did this person work there? How long was this person there? And so on. Trust me, they will grill you on dates IF you make it to an interview.

My duties at Titan Interactive were many. For one, I was the Art Director on several titles like Hercules Meets Xena and Robo Chicks where I oversaw the creation of art assets to make the game. I also oversaw the lighting and in game animation which I used to show clients for milestone achievements. Secondly, I worked with producers to meet deadlines, and with my team to create amazing games. My other duties were: Render Master. Animation Master and concept designer. <-- What, is this person mental? For one, this is to long. If there are 4 places of employment all at this length, this resume will be scanned over, and laughed at for weeks. Or else, it will end up holding coffee drippings in someone wastebasket.

Summed up: A resume is a tool, it’s a first foot in the door. Why not make a first great impression?

Questions, or further examples. Email me: lance@thescratchpost.com

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