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How to tailor your resume for a Graphic Designer role

A screener on a Graphic Designer posting clicks the portfolio within seconds, so the resume's whole job is setting up that click well. Tailoring means moving the portfolio link to the top. That match, more than any other line on the page, decides whether this resume gets a second look.

Four moves for this posting
  1. Put the portfolio link at the very top, curated to your strongest pieces, matching the industry the posting names; no link found quickly reads as no interview granted.
  2. Name clients, brands, or industries served with the deliverable, matching the posting's own category; specificity here separates a real client history from a general skills claim.
  3. Attach one number somewhere in the resume, a redesign tied to a metric moved, matching any business language the posting uses; designers who speak in outcomes get paid like it.
  4. Match your design category, packaging, digital, brand identity, to the posting's own focus; category match signals your portfolio's strongest section is actually relevant to them.
The fact behind this

Recruiters spend about 7 seconds on a first resume scan. (Ladders eye-tracking study)

Before you tailor anything

Start with the version a recruiter opens right now, then make these moves against it.

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