Creative · free guide

How to tailor your resume for a Illustrator role

A screener on an Illustrator posting reads for style range, clients, and licensing literacy, always after the portfolio. Tailoring means naming commissions and matching the use case the posting describes. 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 top, organized by use case, matching the category the posting names; buyers hire for a use, not for general talent.
  2. Name commissions and clients, matching the industry the posting focuses on; repeat clients are the strongest proof available in this field.
  3. Show professional mechanics, brief-to-final process, revision handling, deadlines held, matching any process language the posting mentions; reliability is what turns talent into a career.
  4. Match your style range, editorial, character, technical, to the posting's own request; style match is often the entire first filter in an illustration screen.
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.

See what the first 7 seconds of your resume say, free

Or sign up to tailor this resume for real, job by job

Related tailoring guides

Graphic Designers · UX Designers · UI Designers · Art Directors · Video Editors · Photographers

All tailoring guides · Resume roast for Illustrators · ATS questions