Fashion Designer Resume: Examples, Template, and Resume Tips
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Are you a fashion designer in search of work, or a recently graduated fashion design student hunting for your first job? While finding a job is not always easy, having a fantastic resume can greatly increase your chances of getting your dream job.
As a fashion designer, your job will involve creating prototype designs, creating designs using computer-aided design (CAD) programs, monitoring or overseeing production of your designs, marketing your designs to customers or clothing retailers, picking themes for your collections, getting fabric samples from trade shows or from manufacturers, and so on.
Fashion design is quite a versatile career. You have the option of specializing in different categories, such as footwear, clothing, accessory design, jewelry, and so on.
A career in fashion design is usually preceded by a bachelor’s degree in fashion design, fashion merchandising, or some other fashion-related degree. You will also need the creativity of an artist.
However, if you are sufficiently talented, creative, and focused, you can learn a great deal on the internet, and start getting jobs and experience even without the college degree.
That said, without a fashion-related education, you will have to work a lot harder to prove to potential employers that you have what it takes to do the job.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected growth rate in number of jobs between 2018 and 2028 is 1%, which is means the number of jobs is expected to remain constant.
As a fashion designer most of the jobs available to you involve either working in-house for manufacturers or working in-house for wholesalers who sell apparel to retailers.
You could also be hired to work for another fashion designer as part of their team. At large companies, it is quite normal for a team of designers to work together under the leadership of a creative director or lead designer.
Despite the low projected growth rate for fashion designer jobs, the pay is quite competitive. The BLS reports that the median pay for fashion designers in 2018 stood at $72,720 per year, or about $34.96 per hour.
The low projected growth rates coupled with the competitive remuneration rates mean that you will be facing a lot of competition when applying for fashion designer jobs.
If you want to leap ahead of all this competition, you need to have a fantastic resume that shows you in the best possible light.
Remember, you might have excellent talent and skill in fashion design, but without a good resume, people who are less qualified than you will get the jobs you want and leave you job hunting.
To get hired as a fashion designer, you will need a combination of talent, skill, experience, and education. Question is, how exactly do you show these on a resume? How do you capture your talent on paper?
In this guide, we are going to teach you all you need to know about crafting a great fashion designer resume, regardless of your level of skill, talent, education, or experience.
We will teach you about all the different sections that need to be part of your fashion designer resume, as well as the best way to present things such as your experience and skills.
If you need your resume in a hurry and don’t have the time to build one from scratch, you can use our resume builder to automate the process and have your fashion designer resume ready in less time than it would take you to load up your favorite CAD program on your computer.
To use the resume builder, you only need to select a template that best represents your personality, enter key information about yourself, and sit back as the resume builder automatically generates a professional resume for you.
FASHION DESIGNER RESUME EXAMPLES
Before you start designing a fashion item, you usually have a good idea of what you are trying to achieve in mind.
This is what guides the design process.
Similarly, before take a look at how to craft a great fashion designer resume, let’s start by looking at some examples of great fashion designer resumes to give you an idea of what we’ll be trying to achieve.
Highly Experienced Fashion Designer Resume Sample
Entry Level Fashion Designer Resume Sample
WHICH FORMAT SHOULD YOU USE ON YOUR FASHION DESIGNER RESUME?
The resume format refers to how you present the information in your resume. Many people fail at resume writing because they just put something together without paying attention to the order in which they present the information.
However, a good resume needs to have a format. This is what recruiters expect. Having a format makes it easy for the recruiter to know where to look for specific information in your resume, and therefore saves time for them when they have a pile of resumes to go through. There are several kinds of resume formats to pick from.
For your fashion designer resume, I recommend using either the reverse chronological resume format or the functional resume format.
The reverse chronological resume format derives its name from the fact that it presents your employment history in chronological order, but going backwards in time, such that it starts with your current or most recent employment going backwards.
Recruiters love this option because it is very open and straightforward, and it’s easy for them to get a comprehensive picture of your work history.
The reverse chronological resume format is great for fashion designers who have lots of experience and no gaps in their employment history.
Since it includes a list of employers you have worked for and the dates you worked there, the reverse chronological resume format is not good for fashion designers how have long employment gaps in their resume.
The recruiter or potential employer will easily notice these gaps, and that can easily ruin your chances of getting the job.
If you have things like gaps in your work history which you wish to hide, the best type of resume for you is the functional resume format. This format does not reveal dates in your work history, so the recruiter won’t know the length of your employment at each workplace, unless they ask you directly, which is better for you because you can then give a more satisfactory explanation.
The functional resume format is also great for fashion designers who have been working as freelancers and are looking to transition into formal employment.
Instead of focusing on your employers and the time period you worked for them, the functional resume format focuses on your skills, and the different projects where you utilized these skills. Therefore, you can list several clients under the same skill if you did similar work for them.
Whichever of the two formats you decide works best for your situation, just remember not to make your resume too long.
Recruiters are generally swamped with resumes to go through, and having a long resume with many unnecessary details will only make their work difficult, maybe even frustrate them, which can of course jeopardize your chances.
A one page resume is ideal, and a two page resume is tolerable, but don’t go beyond that.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF WITH A PERFECT PERSONAL INFORMATION SECTION
The personal information section, which appears first on your resume, gives the recruiter the necessary information about you: who you are, what you do professionally, and how they can get in touch with you.
There are three things that are a must-have in the personal information section of your resume. Your official name, your telephone number, and your email address. Your physical address is optional – you can include it or not. If you choose to include it, just mention the name of the city, rather than giving the full physical address.
In addition to the above information, there are two other things I would recommend including in the personal information section of your fashion designer resume. The first one is a link to your LinkedIn profile.
At a time when most recruiters research candidates on social media before inviting them to job interviews, including a link to your LinkedIn profile can boost your chances of getting the job. However, only include the link only if your LinkedIn profile is optimized for success.
The other thing you should include in your fashion designer resume is a link to your online portfolio. This can be a personal website showcasing your designs, a Behance.net profile, a professional Instagram page, and so on. Your chances of getting invited to a job interview and hired are highly dependent on your skill and talent, and the best way to demonstrate this skill and talent is to showcase your designs.
The perfect personal information section of a fashion designer resume should resemble this one:
PROVIDE AN ELEVATOR PITCH OF YOURSELF WITH A RESUME SUMMARY OR OBJECTIVE
Like I mentioned earlier, recruiters and employers are usually swamped with a pile of resumes to go through whenever they advertise an open position.
Therefore, for each resume they pick up, they try to determine as quickly as possible whether the candidate is qualified for the job.
Providing a resume summary or objective right under the personal information section allows the recruiter to know if you qualify without going any further into your resume.
By doing this, you are making their work easier, which increases the likelihood that they will go through your entire resume.
The resume summary provides a brief highlight of your experience, skills, and qualifications. The summary works best for candidates with 3 years of experience or more.
If you want your resume summary to capture the recruiter’s attention, make sure it matches or exceeds the requirements given in the job description. For instance, if the description for the advertised job says they want a fashion designer with over 4 years of experience and you have 8, be sure to mention that in the summary. A good resume summary should look like this:
If you just graduated and do not have any significant experience, use a resume objective instead. Whereas the resume summary says “this is what I have done,” the resume objective says “here are my skills and this is what I’d like to do.” Here is a great example of one:
FLAUNT YOUR EXPERIENCE TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING THE JOB
Fashion design is a highly experience-based career. Good ideas don’t always translate to good execution. Understanding concepts does not mean you can implement them. Employers want a fashion designer not a fashion critic, so they are looking for someone with proven ability to translate their ideas into designs.
For that reason, the recruiter will comb through this section keenly to see what kind of experience you have and use that to determine if you are a good fit for the job.
Recruiters want to see if you have experience in drawing and sketching and using CAD software, working with different fabrics, fashion merchandising, and so on.
They want to see if you have good sense of style, and if you know past and present trends in fashion. This is what the experience section of your fashion design needs to show.
Here, you should be trying to answer the following questions: Where have you worked before? What was your job title there? What were your responsibilities? What did you accomplish during your time there?
Ensure all the jobs or positions you include in this section are related to fashion design. A resume needs to be short and to the point, so stick to the most relevant pieces of information.
The same applies to the duties and responsibilities you were tasked with. Don’t mention everything. Instead, only focus on those that are most relevant to the position you are applying for.
Here’s what the experience section of your resume should look like:
LET THE RECRUITER KNOW YOU HAVE THE RIGHT EDUCATION FOR THE JOB
Many fashion designers have a degree in fashion design, fashion merchandising, or some other related field. While it’s possible to learn a lot of things online or through an apprenticeship model, a good education is always a plus.
In school, aspiring fashion designers get to study fabrics and textiles, how to use computer-aided design programs, and so on. Students also work on projects which become the first pieces in their portfolios.
In addition, opportunities such as amateur or student fashion design contests are accessible to them and help them further develop their portfolios. Having fashion-related education is, therefore, a definite plus.
In this section, simply mentioning the schools you went to and the degree you got there is enough.
However, if you are a recent graduate, you can also include other things such as your GPA (but only if you scored more than 3.5), relevant coursework, and other extracurricular activities.
Here’s what the education section of your fashion designer resume should look like:
SHOW THAT YOU HAVE THE NECESSARY SKILLS
On-the job training for new hires is expensive, so most employers try to keep such costs down by ensuring new hires come equipped with the necessary skills to get the job done right. Therefore, showing that you have the necessary skills can greatly improve your chances of getting the job.
Before crafting this section, take a look at the requirements provided in the job description, and make sure that the skills you include in your resume match those requirements. The point here is to show the recruiter that you have what they are looking for.
Note that I am not advising you to include skills you don’t possess. If you don’t have a particular skill, don’t include it.
On top of being unethical, it is also rather short-sighted on your part, because once you get the job, they will quickly find out you don’t possess the skills you claimed to have.
Some of the skills you might want to include in your fashion designer resume include:
Technical Skills
- Sketching
- Digital drawing
- Proficiency in computer-aided design (CAD)
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Maya
- Fusion 360
- Budgeting
- Clothing engineering
- Sewing
- Pattern making
- Textile Engineering
- Fashion trends
- Draping
- Pressing
- Merchandising
- Fabrication
- Garment technology
Soft Skills
- Multitasking
- Communication
- Presentation
- Time management
- Creativity
- Team worker
- Attention to detail
- Adaptability
- Customer focus
- Fast-learner
- Organization
- Patience
USE COURSES AND CERTIFICATIONS TO ENHANCE YOUR RESUME
Certifications and courses provide an additional boost to your chances of getting the job, especially if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
While the fashion industry doesn’t have any particular standard certifications, there are dozens of fashion design certification courses that you can take online to boost your chances of getting the job.
INCLUDE ADDITIONAL SECTIONS TO SET YOURSELF APART FROM THE COMPETITION
Including some extra sections can go a long way in spicing up your resume. You just need to ensure they have something to do with fashion design. Some of the extra sections you might include in your fashion designer resume include:
- Professional achievements and awards
- Conventions and conferences you have attended
- Professional memberships
- Publications – particularly if you have been featured in fashion magazines.
- Volunteer experience
WRAPPING UP
To get a job as a fashion designer, you need to show that you have the talent, skill, experience, and education, and to do this without ever meeting your prospective employer, you need to have a well-crafted resume.
The good thing is that if you follow the tips shared in this guide, you will be able to create such a resume. In addition to an exceptional resume, I will also greatly recommend that you take the time to build an online portfolio.
This is the most effective way of showcasing your talent and skill, which are very critical for fashion designers.
For those who find writing a resume to be a long and monotonous process, you can use our resume builder, which will generate a great fashion designer resume for you in just a few minutes.
Wishing you all the best in your job search.
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