Dyanna Zaidman
To complete this round of blogging, we conclude with some very important instructions on how best to approach the job hunt, courtesy of Dyanna Zaidman of Creative Niche. Creative Niche is an agency that strategically matches creative talent with clients in the creative industry across the North America. Now talking resumes and all that might sound kind of blah but luckily, this presentation was a combination of real talk and references to The Office and Mad Men, which was just my speed. The hard truth? Getting your resume noticed and put in the “good” pile happens in a matter of seconds. You can really up your odds though by following some of the instructions that Dyanna gave us. But first, let’s see what the pro herself has on her LinkedIn profile, shall we?
Her LinkedIn reads
“As one of Creative Niche's Recruiters, I’m always on the hunt for new, amazing talent – especially freelance talent! I am open to all talent and will never shy away from a meeting with talented UX/UI Designers, Web Developers/Designers, Digital Project Managers and Digital Account people, as well as Mobile Developers, Copywriters and anyone else working in the creative and digital realm.
I got into recruitment because I love to play match maker – to see the satisfaction that comes from matching you with the next step in your career and ensuring you’re doing something you love makes me grin from ear to ear. Advocating for my candidates is literally my job – let me help you get your foot into the door of your next dream job.”
Education
University of Winnipeg - Religious Studies
George Brown - Human Resource Management
Work History
Diamond Integrated Marketing | 2013 - 2015
Bread&Butter Consulting | 2012 - Present
Creative Niche | 2015 - Present
Not too shabby, I’d say. Now let’s get into it!
Resume Dos and Don’ts
To survive those first few seconds before being thrown into the good or the ugly pile, your resume has to answer 5 questions at a glance and not in Times New Roman. Those 5 questions: who you are, what you do, why would you be qualified for the position, where you went to school and worked before, and how can they get in touch with you.
Once you’ve made it into the “good” pile, you get your opportunity to really wow the employer and get that interview! First things first, make sure you’re up to date. Use action verbs when explaining your previous roles and try speak to your accomplishments, not just your daily tasks. You’re more than someone who just answers the phone! Skip the soft skills, but do include your hard skills and showcase them in a graphic way (think bar graphs, star ratings, etc). Don’t leave out any pertinent work that you haven’t been paid for either! Volunteer work, case studies, internships, awards, and the like all have value if they’re in the right field. Visually, you want your resume to stand out from the rest, so make sure to put those design skills to good use and brand yourself and your resume accordingly. Now that you’ve got the meat of the resume, make sure you don’t have any of the fluff that sometimes gets tacked on as filler.
For starters, avoid using abbreviations, objective statements, a photo of yourself (this isn’t a dating profile!), a list of your personal hobbies, and this goofy term: “References available upon request.” A lot of these are unnecessary and things that can be saved for the interview. If your resume is much longer than a page or two, you have a lot of stuff on there that HR really doesn’t need to see.
When submitting your resume, ensure that it will look good printed but also isn’t going to use up a lot of the employer’s precious ink (keep the background white and the text dark). Save it as a PDF and include the company name and your own name in the filename.
Social Media
Okay, so you have a resume, but now you need an online presence because it is 2017 after all. LinkedIn is almost mandatory now, and nearly 93% of company recruiters use LinkedIn. Remember all of those retail jobs you had to take off of your resume because they weren’t especially important to the Junior Designer position? Put them here! Even put that (professional) photo of yourself. If you’ve got Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and all those other things, make sure that they’re either private or that the content won’t scare away any potential employers. It isn’t exactly necessary or recommended even to link your personal accounts to your professional either.
Online Portfolio
Let’s get something straight, your portfolio really only needs to be online. Since it will only be online, make sure it’s well represented! Also, don’t feel like you need to go and code your own portfolio site, using a template is perfectly acceptable as well. Sites like Behance, Wix, and Squarespace are really great platforms for this. Organize your work accordingly, make your resume downloadable, and don’t forget to update it!
The Interview
You got an interview! Oh man, what will you wear? Keep it business casual. Don’t wear heels you can’t walk in. Prepare yourself to answer questions about the company, why you want to work there, and to talk up your previous experience. Set yourself up with a few questions beforehand to ask when given the chance. Keep your phone on silent and out of sight. Most importantly though, be you. If you feel like you have to pretend to fit their standard, maybe this isn’t the right fit for YOU. But if you feel like it is, make sure to send a thank you note afterwards (a couple of hours to a day) and pull something from your conversation to add a personal touch to the thank you.
A side note: If your interview is on the phone, you don't have to do it right when they call you. If the time or place is inconvenient and will hurt your chance at giving your best interview, you are allowed to ask them to call you back once you've found a quiet Starbucks and pulled yourself together. Also, make sure your voicemail isn't ridiculous.
Finding your fit is a daunting task, but once you’ve got it, it will be worth it a thousand times over. Exercise patience, be kind, and be yourself and you’ll find your forever home (job). So here is a special thank you to Dyanna for coming into our class to give us the inside scoop. I greatly appreciated your TV references and the Kim Kardashian LinkedIn profile as pointers in how to get my dream job.
If you’d like to connect with Dyanna, here is her LinkedIn, or you could shoot her an email at dyanna@creativeniche.com.
Until next time!
