As a seasoned leader in the design industry, with over two decades of experience and having brought over 100 designers into various teams, I’ve witnessed firsthand the limitations of traditional resumes in the creative hiring process. The evolution of recruitment, especially within design, has led me to a critical insight: conventional resumes simply don’t suffice when it comes to truly understanding a designer’s capabilities, creativity, and personal brand.
The shift from appreciating well-crafted, visually stimulating resumes to a reliance on Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) has been stark. These systems, while efficient, often overlook the essence of design talent, focusing on keywords over creativity. This marks a significant departure from the past, where a designer’s resume was a testament to their aesthetic sensibility and ability to present themselves as a cohesive brand.
The Case Against Traditional Resumes
I will start this off by saying, if a designer sent over a resume in Microsoft word, I wouldn’t even open it. I knew there would be no design, typesetting or personality. Now, due to ATS systems and the nature of the industry I don’t even look at them. I look for a website link and go directly there.
So my approach to hiring has evolved over time from the design of the resume/branding to prioritize the story behind the designer. I’m interested in the breadth of their experiences, how they’ve navigated their career, and the unique perspectives they bring to their work. This narrative is best captured through their website, which I prefer over a static resume. The website offers an immersive experience into the designer’s world, presenting their work, thought process, and personal journey in a dynamic and engaging way.
This preference, however, is not without its challenges. The traditional hiring ecosystem often mandates resume submissions, underscoring a fundamental misunderstanding of how creative talent should be evaluated. The importance of specialized recruitment agencies in design becomes evident here, as they possess the nuanced understanding necessary to identify and advocate for top design talent.
I would advise that you have 2 versions of resume, one that is a branded pdf that feels consistent with your site that you would email directly to people and a bullshit text only version to try to beat the ATS systems.
Your Brand and Voice in Motion
We are in the digital age, your website has emerged as the thing you need while looking for a new role in design. This is your chance to offer a richer, more detailed narrative of your skills, experiences, and personal journey. Through your go deep, tell a story from the moment they land on the page to your case studies, about page (one of my favorite pages) and even talking about your experience as a professional. Then give that narrative a personality and visual design that screams you, are you an illustrator bring that to the site, are you a fan of bright bold colors, let’s see it.
Just be authentically you in every pixel on the screen.
Educating Recruiters and Embracing New Approaches
A significant part of my role involves educating internal recruitment teams on the specifics of hiring for design roles. I emphasize the importance of evaluating portfolios over resumes, guiding recruiters to understand the depth and breadth of a designer’s work. By sharing examples of compelling portfolios, I aim to shift the focus towards the qualitative aspects of a candidate’s contributions and the stories behind their projects.
Looking to the future, I advocate for a dual approach to the “resume” in the design field: either reinvent it as a digital extension of the designer’s brand, incorporating interactive elements and direct links to portfolio pieces, or move away from it entirely. The latter, in my opinion, represents the ideal scenario, where a designer’s personal website serves as the ultimate showcase of their career and creative journey.
A Call for Change in Design Recruitment
The design industry requires a recruitment approach that values creativity, storytelling, and personal branding over traditional metrics. By focusing on designers’ websites and portfolios, we can gain deeper insights into their capabilities and ensure a fit that goes beyond skill sets, aligning with vision and values. This paradigm shift not only enriches the hiring process but also celebrates the essence of design itself.