As an artist, trying to develop a resume for job applications might feel a little more challenging than if you were, say, a salesperson or accountant. It’s difficult to quantify your accomplishments and isn’t easy to prove your skills without also presenting your portfolio.

Nevertheless, employers require resumes as part of the application process. It’s up to you to present yourself in the best possible light.

Here are a few tips for an artist resume that stands out, grabs attention, and helps you land competitive opportunities:

1. Keep it Professional

Think twice before you start taking massive creative liberties with your resume. You might think you’re helping yourself stand out by changing fonts and colors, including images and artwork, or moving sections around, but you’re probably just confusing the person making the hiring decision.

Resumes work because they’re streamlined and predictable. The person on the reviewing end might be evaluating 30 or 40 different resumes. They need to be able to find the information they’re looking for right away. If you force them to search, you could find your resume at the bottom of the stack.

But I’m an artist! How can I show off my creativity? Good question. That’s what your cover letter and portfolio are for. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to show off your creativity, skills, and past work here.

Let your resume serve the purpose of highlighting your experience.

2. Use the Right Layout

If the job position or opportunity that you’re applying for has specific resume requirements, always follow them exactly as they’re laid out. However, if there’s no requirement, it’s best to use a standardized approach. (You can see some examples of artist resumes here.)

Generally speaking, you’ll want to include the following sections (likely in this order):

Header
Personal information
Title
Summary
Skills
Professional experience
Education
Certifications and training
Awards and recognition

3. Don’t “Fluff” it Up

Quality is more important than quantity on a resume. It’s not about using as many words as possible or making your resume as long as you can. It’s about showing that you’re a qualified candidate. You do this by emphasizing quality. Leave out the fluffy language and filler sections. Focus on your most important experiences and skills to show that you’re the right person for the opportunity.

4. Add Your Contact Details

Make sure you include multiple forms of contact information on your resume so that you can be reached. This includes a personal phone number, email address, and mailing address. It’s also a good idea to include a direct link to your website or online portfolio.

If the resume is in a digital PDF format, you can include hyperlinks that direct people to the URL destination when clicked. If it’s a paper resume, you obviously can’t do this. However, it’s still worth including the links.

5. Leave Off Irrelevant Experience

As mentioned, quality matters more than quantity. There’s no need to trace back 25 years on your job experience section and highlight part-time gigs you had while in high school. If the job doesn’t have any relevance to the current position you’re applying for and/or it was more than a couple of decades ago, it’s probably not worth including. Focus on the relevant experience. This shows employers that you’re a focused individual.

6. Deliver in Person

While hiring managers and business owners often use resumes to help them sort through candidates, it’s admittedly tough to get a full picture of who someone is – particularly an artist – with a sheet of paper.

If you want to stand your best chance of getting noticed, make it a point to deliver your resume/application in person. This helps put a face to a name. Most of your peers will not do this, so it gives you an immediate advantage from the get-go.

Make Your Art Resume Stand Out

If you aren’t careful, your application can blend in with the dozens of other applications that are submitted for the opportunity you’re interested in. And as any artist knows, blending in is never the goal. You need to stand out, grab attention, and maximize engagement.

While the resume itself isn’t necessarily the best place to do something groundbreaking and innovative, it’s one of the more important components involved in the application process. Use it with a cover letter, portfolio, and other forms of outreach to grab attention and move your application to the top of the stack!