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Your portfolio text seems to be really out of date, when did you last refresh it?
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Apr 3, 2012 21:19
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FreakyZoid posted:Your portfolio text seems to be really out of date, when did you last refresh it? oh poo poo, wrong version, I hope I didn't send this to anyone. I'm making a sandwich and I'll fix it when I'm done
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Apr 3, 2012 21:23
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:Anyone looking for a designer? I'm on my second major round of applications and I'm getting some interest but not enough/fast enough to make me worry less about my rapidly vanishing cash reserves. Why would you ever list your salary on a resume ever? That seems so woefully unprofessional. Best case scenario, that shoots you in the foot because they know you'll take $50k when they were looking to spend $60k. I'd like to see your resume cleaned up and condensed. I don't give a gently caress that you were a seasonal employee in 1997. I think cutting that and eliminating the salary info will get you down to a page and change. I don't think the links matter either, they've either heard of the project or they can google it if they're more interested. The mod work is very obvious (and famous, I think) and the Obisidian projects are things that are somewhat famous and easily checked out if there is more interest. I'd like to see your professional and personal work broken out into two segments, rather than run together. Making a pen and paper RPG in your spare time is not what you want to lead with, you should lead with your professional work because you are a professional game designer seeking a professional game design position. Some game logos would help spruce things up and make it more attractive, and do more to jog the memory about those projects than a link. Also, consider columns to help get you to a single page. Consider a different font as well. Also, you don't have any way for me to get a copy of your portfolio. If you don't have a website (and it'll cost you ~$100/yr for hosting + domain registry, so it's not that much) at the very least add a line with "please e-mail to request copy of portfolio" or something. I'm not a fan of your portfolio (it looks like all the images are gifs or something in googledocs at least, and it's awkward to read. Youtube videos of features would be fantastic) For visual reference, here's my resume: http://www.ghostscape.com/mclark_resume.pdf I would rework a lot of the text if I was going to do it again (but I won't be since I start a new job in two weeks), but you can see I'm using different font sizes to guide the eye, columns to let me cram more into the same space, etc. If you find a unique font (but classy, not Sand or Comic Sans or whatever. I'm using Eurostyle,) you'll help brand your resume and make it stand out a bit more. The tiny arial/helvetica you're using right now is a bout a point too small to be nicely read, I think, but that might just be google docs. Your resume really bugs me because it is not selling the amazing info you have in there well and comes off as lacking confidence because you have a lot of cruft in there. You've got a lot of really impressive stuff there, so cut out everything that doesn't impress! e: if that is out of date then definitely fix it  Also another awkward bit is I had to put together a chronology myself by looking at your education and projects, it looks like you went from AP to back to school while working on an RPG in the spare time and graduated in 2011 with your BA? Make that easier to follow - putting all the dates on one page will make it easier to follow.
Sigma-X fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 21:26
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:I'm making a sandwich and I'll fix it when I'm done ... more seriously, I would not list salaries. I have never heard that as a good thing, and there's no way it will help you. Either they'll look at it and go "ok, we can't afford that," or they'll mostly ignore it and still offer you whatever. They might even go "man, that's low, I wonder if he sucks?". They can tell you're a bargain by virtue of your employment history and your needing-a-job already  EDIT: And yeah, anything I was going to say, Sigma-X has already covered. Your resume needs to be massively better organized (break out your shipped titles and put them in a list up top), and you need a portfolio website. That portfolio you have right now is kinda lame, and does not show off your work in a fast, efficient manner. Just do a WordPress thingy with a few photo galleries, it's easy. Shalinor fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 21:27
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The image compression stuff is google docs messing with it. It doesn't look like that when I submit it. But you are right, I need a website. What font would you suggest? I like the idea about video links and I'm putting that into the portfolio now. Converting a portion of my resume into a 1 page professional history only. Question though: does the length really matter? I've had hiring directors in this industry and others say that 2-pages is still considered totally acceptable, but lots of people (not hiring people, as far as I know) tell me to get that puppy down to 1 page or face the wrath of god. I'm just concerned that the 1 page rule is some piece of ancient knowledge passed down since the time of the pharoes that actually isn't that important anymore. And as I consider most of the information on the resume to be relevant (as do many of the people I've had edit it) I'm reluctant to cut parts out to make it smaller. EDIT: And yes, the portfolio is awful and I need to start from scratch on it. I'm not nearly as down on the resume as you guys, though. Salary info is definately coming out, though, you made a good arguments. Comte de Saint-Germain fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 21:43
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I have never heard that anything more than 1 page is acceptable, nor have I ever heard that listing your salary is ok. I don't know who is telling you these evil things.
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Apr 3, 2012 21:49
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Sigma-X posted:
Technically I haven't' graduated yet, so I have to be careful to not use that word. I've "completed me coursework" but until I clear up an administrative problem (not serious, but time consuming) I can't actually get my diploma. Anyway, yes, I have earned my BA while also working on my pen& paper game. I try to make that clear in the opening paragraph of the cover letter, but having it in the resume is better. Does anyone read cover letters?
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Apr 3, 2012 21:53
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mutata posted:I have never heard that anything more than 1 page is acceptable, nor have I ever heard that listing your salary is ok. I don't know who is telling you these evil things. Two hiring managers in the industry have both said two pages is fine, and one HR lady (who does application screening) says it's expected in her field (medicine). I don't know who said the salary thing, maybe I had a fever dream. Either way, it's out. edit: here is the correct version of the portfolio. It's academic because I agree that it's garbage and needs to be totally redone from scratch. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Byxz1J_Ky5aJNU94dTR4WHhTM1N1YkxZb1NoTmVBUQ Comte de Saint-Germain fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 21:55
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Fourthing not to disclose your salary in your resume. In negotiations with recruiters who are trying to get you hired, you should be tight lipped and make them offer the first number so you know how to react.
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Apr 3, 2012 21:59
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:Two hiring managers in the industry have both said two pages is fine, and one HR lady (who does application screening) says it's expected in her field (medicine). Two pages is fine if you have Senior level of experience. And the HR lady is in medicine, are you a doctor? Don't list your salary, that is literally type of thing that will get your resume e-mailed around so we can go "What in the world?"
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Apr 3, 2012 22:00
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http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/571/1/ "Consider a two-page résumé if you are above entry-level positions, but below the executive level." on the other hand: "Always ask a company if they accept two-page résumés before sending one"
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Apr 3, 2012 22:03
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Salary history is gone. "full employment history" will only go on the long form CV style resume I may be able to get it down to one page with some formatting, but I'm already below my font/pt size budget (rolling at 8-9 pt font)
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Apr 3, 2012 22:05
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/571/1/ For instance: I bet that page doesn't stress the importance of a portfolio. Does that mean you should drop it from your application emails?  EDIT: VV The point of the one-page exercise is less to get it down to one page perfectly, and more to get you to realize that you're padding the resume out with a lot of irrelevant garbage data that needn't be there. Less is more. If you actually had the experience to warrant 2 pages, yeah, sure, go for it. You do not. Neither do I, and likely, relatively few in this thread do period. Shalinor fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 22:07
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Shalinor posted:Yes, and if you were applying as a generic office dude at a bank, that generic resume advice might actually apply. Every industry is different, and creative industries, doubly so. That's true, but at the same time I have actual irl hiring directors who handle resumes for exactly the jobs I'm looking for tell me two pages is fine. I'm erring on the side of caution and trying to bring it down to one, though. Columns actually only help a tiny tiny amount. I'm trying to not drop the font size down below 10, but I think it's going to have to go back down anyway. I can remove the references (no one in this industry ever calls them anyway) but that still only gets me a half inch.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:12
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Flex your design muscles or get 3rd party design help. There are some resume design threads in Creative Convention and there's a guy or two in SA Mart who help do this kinda stuff. http://worthdayley.com/worth-dayley-resume-2012.pdf You can actually fit a lot of info on one page, and it forces you to get to the point. Even my resume is pretty wordy, actually, I could probably stand to streamline some more.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:17
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I don't think anyone in the world needs a two page resume. You might have more than a page of data to build a resume off of, which is good, but when you custom tailor a resume for each job you're applying for, cut all that data down to the best-of for one page. If you think your resume looks good at two pages, think how awesome it will look when you cut out the worst half of it.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:20
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We once got a 22 page resume. That's not a typo. Twenty. Two. Pages. I have nearly 10 years of experience and still condense mine down to 1 page.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:23
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You guys convinced me, I'm working on it. I will reiterate though, that absolutely no one I know who actually does this for a living gives half a poo poo. I've been on the other side of that table before and page count never once meant anything. But you are right that it will look better if I can cut out any fat. I've finished the easy cuts, now I have to get clever. Or hire someone else to be clever. ^^^In the above case, page count would matter.^^^
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Apr 3, 2012 22:24
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also I work at blizzard now bro! For actual helpful information that people in the thread might care about: I don't think anyone who does hiring in the game industry actually cares about 1 page resumes. I've never heard it as a negative from either hiring managers or people making the decisions about who gets hired. Good visual design and clear information is way more important than brevity. If your resume is more informative and looks clean and professional and the tradeoff is that it is 2 pages, then that is a good tradeoff to be making in my opinion. Salary information should only be shared if asked for. If they ask for it, though, I'd share it. Only list things that actually matter to the position, and if you can, avoid putting stuff that looks like you're scraping the bottom of the barrel or overloading people with information. djkillingspree fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 22:26
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djkillingspree posted:also I work at blizzard now bro! I know, I just updated that. What's your title now?
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Apr 3, 2012 22:27
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As someone who has been involved in game industry hiring for about twelve years, I am much more irritated by a one-page résumé jammed full of 8-point text than I am by a résumé that is two pages long by a few lines. At the three companies where I have worked (Interplay/Black Isle, Midway San Diego, Obsidian), I have never heard a hiring manager or any employee express any consideration over the length of the résumé. Certainly it hasn't, on a practical level, prevented two- or three-page résumés from circulating among the development staff for review. Regardless of a résumé's length, the focus should be on being descriptive but concise. Don't pad it, but don't freak out if it runs a little long. Ultimately, I just want to understand your relevant experience. If my ability to get at that is hampered by the résumé a) being too concise b) being too padded or c) being excessively cramped in order to fit on one page, that's bad.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:27
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vindication actually no, vindication would be getting a job  edit: For any potential employers looking at this, keep in mind that while I may be pretty bad at *getting* a job, this in no way changes the fact that I'm awesome at *doing* my job. Comte de Saint-Germain fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 22:30
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mutata posted:Flex your design muscles or get 3rd party design help. There are some resume design threads in Creative Convention and there's a guy or two in SA Mart who help do this kinda stuff. I have never considered lack of visual flair an issue when interviewing a candidate for a programming or design position. You're an artist, so I'd expect you to have a great resume. On the other hand, I personally think portfolios for designers are pretty much worthless so I may have odd opinions on that one.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:37
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djkillingspree posted:I have never considered lack of visual flair an issue when interviewing a candidate for a programming or design position. You're an artist, so I'd expect you to have a great resume. I genuinely want to know, are you commenting specifically on my resume? If you are, I'm not sure what you're saying. If you're just commenting in general, nevermind.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:40
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mutata posted:Flex your design muscles or get 3rd party design help. There are some resume design threads in Creative Convention and there's a guy or two in SA Mart who help do this kinda stuff. This is a little irrational but ellipses irritate the hell out of me. They make me feel like you're unsure of whatever point you're trying to make or whatever you're trying to do. That said, I'd probably change your headings and titles colors to match your name and your graphics. Comte de Saint-Germain posted:edit: For any potential employers looking at this, keep in mind that while I may be pretty bad at *getting* a job, this in no way changes the fact that I'm awesome at *doing* my job. Dude I made a complete rear end of myself infront of a classroom full of students and in this thread, and still got hired at a company full of lurking goons. EDIT: Heres my design resume: http://www.danmerboth.com/files/Dan_Merboth_Resume.pdf Irish Taxi Driver fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 22:46
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mutata posted:Flex your design muscles or get 3rd party design help. There are some resume design threads in Creative Convention and there's a guy or two in SA Mart who help do this kinda stuff. I didn't want to say anything, considering how bad mine was, but if I got this from a designer I'd find it a little off-putting. For any designer who isn't also an artist (like a UI designer or something) this level of graphical polish a little strange. For an artist, I have no idea. I know a bad portfolio will get your app tossed in the trash, but like djkillingspree said, I don't think design portfolios are that important anyway. I've only had one job where I was required to submit video from my levels, and that company is pretty notorious for having weird hiring practices. Comte de Saint-Germain fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 22:50
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mutata posted:I genuinely want to know, are you commenting specifically on my resume? If you are, I'm not sure what you're saying. If you're just commenting in general, nevermind. What I'm saying is, your resume looks good, but you're an artist. I don't think, for design or programming candidates, that spending a ton of time worrying about the visual design of your resume is a major issue. Or, maybe to be clearer, I think that generally speaking spending a ton of time worrying about getting your resume's look right in the game industry isn't hugely important. You really need to lead with experience and get the picture into the hirer's head that you'd be a good fit for their team/company. That's much more likely to involve your portfolio, titles shipped, a great cover letter, whatever, but much less likely to involve a well designed resume IN MY OPINION.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:50
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Irish Taxi Driver posted:This is a little irrational but ellipses irritate the hell out of me. They make me feel like you're unsure of whatever point you're trying to make or whatever you're trying to do. That said, I'd probably change your headings and titles colors to match your name and your graphics. Yeah I only got my first job at Obsidian because of djkillingspree, so goons are best.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:52
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Oh, I get it. Yes, I see your points. I was more commenting on the organization of information to fit it in a compact but readable format than claiming you need fancy icons or whatever. I do that poo poo because graphic design is my hobby, and I think it doesn't hurt, not because I think it's necessary. The organization of information, though, allows me to fit more information into a more compact format, that's all.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:59
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mutata posted:Oh, I get it. Yes, I see your points. I was more commenting on the organization of information to fit it in a compact but readable format than claiming you need fancy icons or whatever. I do that poo poo because graphic design is my hobby, and I think it doesn't hurt, not because I think it's necessary. I think I'm going to take out a few lines in each job, drop the least notable "dark age" and put stuff in columns and it shoudl all fit on one or one + references
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Apr 3, 2012 23:02
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Comrade Flynn posted:We once got a 22 page resume. That's not a typo. Twenty. Two. Pages. I think I saw the same one, I did the math and it was an average of one bulletpoint per three weeks of employment. I'm two full pages, but I'm a curmudgeon who has been around for 15 years.
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Apr 4, 2012 01:25
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Any senior engineers in here still looking for work? I have a contact with a well-funded studio down in SF that seems quite desperate for senior staff. (hit me up at megan@glassbottomgames.com if you are, I'll introduce you across, yadda)
Shalinor fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Apr 4, 2012 |
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Apr 4, 2012 01:25
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:I think I'm going to take out a few lines in each job, drop the least notable "dark age" and put stuff in columns and it shoudl all fit on one or one + references Not sure if these points got covered already (because you've gotten game dev BLITZED in this thread) but here's a few notes: Education: Not directly related to games, don't care. Did you get your Bachelor's? The wording is ambiguous. If you did, put it in your qualifications (Bachelor's Degree in Blah Blah) as a single line. If you didn't, drop it from the resume. You've got enough game experience that no one cares what you did in school at this point. List your credited job title with each game. It helps if I can see "Junior Designer" first to get a handle on what you do, then get the details afterwards. I don't need it in a sentence. Thing to get more room: If you have a point that is running onto a second line by 1 or 2 words, think long and hard about how you can shorten the sentence to keep it on one line. If you want, I'll send you my last resume that landed me my current position. I'm not perfect, but maybe it'll give you some ideas about formatting, etc. I just don't really want to post such personal info on a public form.
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Apr 4, 2012 01:56
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Comte, I am sure you are the coolest person, but I eternally curse your name if you designed the Museum level in Alpha Protocol.
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Apr 4, 2012 02:56
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Kunzelman posted:Comte, I am sure you are the coolest person, but I eternally curse your name if you designed the Museum level in Alpha Protocol. soz
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Apr 4, 2012 04:47
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This is going to sound totally dumb, but... I want to see more workspaces.  I'm fascinated and love seeing how other people arrange their desks at work.
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Apr 4, 2012 05:39
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Comte de Saint-Germain posted:Salary history is gone. I hope you don't feel this is overstepping a boundary, but I took a crack at getting this down to a 1-page. I removed what I felt was unnecessary info, tightened up some phrasing, played with formatting, etc. I'm using Calibri as an alternate to Arial for a clean sans serif font that's easier to read at small sizes (10pt). It might have just been google doc's and their lovely zoom but I found your regular .pdf hard to read. I don't think the Skills and Quals section is necessarily well done, but it's the only way I was going to fit it in there Probably the most important section is where I hosed with your Education and probably turned 2 separate colleges into one. If that's the case, then I would remove the indented UNM and put that on the line with each date/descriptor. I don't think this is perfect and obviously I lack the specifics of your responsibilities and may have inadvertently misrepresented you in some way while condensing bits but maybe it will help in identifying more of the areas you can tighten up? I have these up on my hosting at the moment (I nuked your contact info as well) and can pull them down whenever you want me to do so: https://www.ghostscape.com/coolman_redux.pdf https://www.ghostscape.com/coolman_redux.odt (the openoffice document file I built the pdf from. Open Office is a free alternative to MS Office because I'm too lazy to buy a cheap copy through our employee purchase plan)
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Apr 4, 2012 06:08
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Desk cleaned out, box containing 8 years of memorabilia brought home, and LinkedIn is now current: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jeff-lydell/2/345/82a Time to find the next gig.
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Apr 4, 2012 07:30
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Hazed_blue posted:This is going to sound totally dumb, but... I want to see more workspaces. 
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Apr 4, 2012 07:36
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To be honest I'm more put off by overblown writing ("spawned within me a seething hatred for all things boring, bland, and repetitive." ) on a CV than by it being two pages long. And long run-on sentences that should be split up. And listing things like "movies, music, socialising" under personal interests. But if the work you've listed and shown in your portfolio is good, that trumps any and all style issues.
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Apr 4, 2012 08:27
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