Upgrading the Game Industry Resume

The following is a bullet-point summary of the talk Get Noticed & Get Hired: Upgrading the Game Industry Resume by Sonia Michaels (DigiPen), Mojan Ahmadi (DigiPen), Alexandra M. Lucas (Microsoft), Rachel Thompson (DigiPen), and David Lau (Amazon). The slides for this talk can be found here.

Content

• Prioritize your professional experiences, projects, and skills over your education and credentials. The former communicates your value more effectively.
• When adding new information, include title (job description), place (company name), and dates of your employment
• Aim for 3 to 5 bullet points per experience. Have a purpose in mind for each bullet point, i.e. "What should the employer notice about me through this point?" Think about these points with the following steps:
  • What did you do? Clear actions, typically verbs can start off the bullet point
  • How did you do it? Skills or strategies used
  • How many? Use data to validate your point
  • Why does it matter? Establish the significance of the point
• Use specifics (strong qualifiers and quantitative descriptions) and don't embellish. Apply the "So What?" test to your bullet points -- i.e. why should the hiring manager care?
• Don't be afraid to list points that make you stand out (e.g. one speaker put Xbox Gamerscore on resume).
• Present your skills categorically. A laundry list of unorganized skills is difficult to read.
• Avoid rating your skills on a numerical scale, as such measures are subjective.
• Communicate your passions and interest in issues connecting games and the world with positively phrased, objective descriptions. It's a personal choice of how much of your beliefs and ideals to expose on the resume. If you're submitting just to get past HR cullings, then not much may be needed.
• Communicate that you are a professional and not a student. Avoid "academic" terminology such as "course", "semester", etc.
• Improvement of your resume is a continuous process of finding and fixing gaps. Avoid showing the same resume to the same employer twice.
• Alumni are a good resource for reviewing resumes or getting acquainted with industry.
• Understand the hiring manager's business requirements, the studio's organizational structure, and your fit, talent, and growth potential. Frame your resume around eliciting a good reaction from the manager.

Aesthetic

• Color is OK in a resume, particularly for artists and designers. Make sure the aesthetic is consistent, though.
• Readability is a priority; creativity in formatting of the resume is OK so long as readers can still interpret it easily.
• View white-space on the resume as real estate -- adjust your margins, wrapping, and spacing to maximize its use.
• Make intentional aesthetic choices (e.g. colors, fonts, spacing). Be consistent with formatting, naming conventions, placement of information.
• Personal branding: the goal is to clearly identify all material as yours
  • Color is packed with symbolism. Be aware of biases.(Color Matters may be a useful resource)
  • Fonts can draw attention to your targeted profession. (DaFont and FontSpace are some resources)
  • Icons may contain your favorite animals, objects, or symbols associated with your craft. If you're not an artist, consider commissioning one to create your own icon.

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