Resume Writers For Fashion Industry: What’s It Like To Work With One?

Video Tutorial 2 Transcript - Write Your Resume With Me. No Experience.



Introduction

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the channel. And welcome to part 2 of the write your resume with me series.

Today we are going to look at a different role and a slightly different scenario of what it’s going to look like to write your (fashion) resume.

So building off of what we covered last time, we do want to have certain sections of our resume prepped and ready to go because regardless of what role you are applying for or how much experience you do or don’t have, they will basically stay the same.

This is your contact information and your education (section).

In the written transcript of this video available on the website I will leave links to those particular sections of the Write your fashion resume in 7 days guide for anyone who needs that refresher.

So in our last session we imagined a scenario where a person with no prior experience was trying to get a job in fashion. In that case a fashion stylist role (which is a less technical role).

This time we will look at how to write a fashion resume for a more technical role such as fashion designer.

Gather Basic Information

So step 1 of the process would be to collect all your basic information. This is what would happen if you were working with a professional resume writer in any case. You would likely be asked to fill out a questionnaire so that we can take inventory of what you have to offer an employer such as

  • Your relevant degree (and perhaps what you learned in that degree)
  • Any Work/internship experience that hopefully aligns to the role you’re going after now)
  • And of course, your contact info being aspects like a professional email address, a completed LinkedIn profile, a portfolio if you need one etc.

Note: (Ideally) most employers will prefer this very chronological record that shows continuous involvement in the role you’re applying for now. We know that’s not always the case, so we do have to customize our fashion resume to show our own strengths.

But knowing our own strengths isn’t enough. It has to align with the job description.

So studying the job description becomes very important.

Study the Job description

Vid 2 job description. Study the job description when Working with Resume Writers For Fashion Industry.Study the job description when working with resume writers for fashion industry.

As previously mentioned, I like to copy and paste the text from a job description into a word document so I can really study what’s going on, highlight keywords etc...

Here is an example of a live job description I found recently.

As we can see, some of the keywords I could pick out were…

  • preparation of technical packages
  • PLM system
  • Microsoft Office (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint
  • Adobe Creative suite

There will definitely be cross over between similar fashion roles. That’s why it makes your job search easier to have a more targeted search rather than not. But even within similar roles I would still encourage you to look out for particulars.

Like a fashion design role for one brand might prefer you have already worked with lingerie while another might prefer you have already worked with bridal wear. But the core skill set could remain the same. If you have that specific niche skill that aligns to the job description that is definitely worth highlighting.

But now let’s try and apply all this to the content of the fashion resume.

Let’s try and combine your personal information as an applicant with the requirements they are asking for in the job description.

Work Experience Section

I would start of by creating bullet points for the work experience section as this will probably be the more rigorous part of writing your fashion resume.

For example

Let’s say this is some of the work experience you have while applying for a fashion design role for the very same job description we have been looking at.

            So, you were a Sales associate/Stylist at Banana republic at a certain location for a given length of time.

A lot of the clients I have worked with who were previously in some sort of a repetitive role, like being a salesperson, will struggle to come up with strong bullet points for their work experience. They will write really bland points like

  • Greeted clients
  • Ensured changing rooms where tidy
  • Opened and closed cash register

Which is all true, however, how does that recommend you for the responsibilities they have listed in the job description we were just looking at?

This is the thought process you want to have.

Yes, you may have had a seemingly bland role where you were just another cog in the machine, but is there any way you can package that, rephrase that to reflect that you have honed the skill set that you would need in this new role?

Bullet point example 1

So now let’s do just that. Let’s look at this first point

  • Greeted clients

So what skills and keywords did you use for this? Well you were interacting with people. As this was a client facing role there was communication involved. Maybe we could also say relationship building. We can say because we want customers to keep coming back not run away because of bad service. There might have been team building or working as part of a team.

Secondly, we want to look for an aspect of the job description where those skills can be utilized or Key words were mentioned. Like this example.

  • Communicates daily with vendors via fax and e-mail on various technical issues.

So how can we bring the two together to create a strong relevant bullet point under your work experience?

Well, there are several methods. You can google them. The simplest I have found is one called the WHO method. W H O which simply stands for What, How and Outcome. You want each of your bullet points to follow this format.

What: has to do with the task or responsibility you carried out. Make sure you always start with an action verb. Starting points with

Responsible for…

sound weak and could be a lot better. You can also google Resume action verbs if you need to.

How: this is all about the methods or tools you used

And outcome has to do with the impact you had. If you can quantify that with numbers, even better.

So this is what it might look like.

  • (What) Communicated with team members
  • (how) via internal messaging platforms such as xxx
  • (outcome) to coordinate daily operations/serve influx of customers during peak times/seasons

So the finished point becomes

  • Communicated with team members via internal messaging platforms such as Microsoft Teams to coordinate daily operations.

If at this point you feel like we are spinning gold out of straw do remember that your resume is a marketing document. Think about this like writing a commercial or ad for yourself. While you shouldn’t be lying on your resume, you are showcasing yourself in the best possible light. So that you can impress a recruiter enough to give you a shot.

For example, I saw a post on LinkedIn the other day

A job seeker was talking about how he was pouring himself some water during an interview, and it spilled over.

Yikes!

The recruiter said to him, “Nervous?”

The job seeker replied, “No, I just always give 110%!”

That’s how you should be showcasing your skills on your fashion resume.

Bullet point example 2

Let’s try another example. Your original bullet point might have been

  • Ensured changing rooms where tidy

Again, true, but very basic. Let’s see what skills and keywords this might have involved. Communication, fittings, giving recommendations.

So what responsibility might match this skill set?

measures samples; evaluates garment fit and construction as it relates to the specific standard requirements.

Now let’s apply the What + How + Outcome.

  • (What) Acted as personal shopper 
  • (how) by tactfully communicating garment fit and styling options 
  • (outcome) to upsell additional merchandise

So the final point becomes

  • Acted as personal shopper by tactfully communicating garment fit and styling options to upsell additional merchandise.

As we go through this process notice how I have included similar wording from the job description in the bullet points. This will help to make sure your resume can get through and ATS review.

Leveraging Your Education

One other trick you can implement if your education and training are more suited to the role you’re applying for than your experience is to list relevant modules covered.

For example, if you only had sales experience though you were a fashion design graduate then listing relevant modules under your education like

  • Garment construction
  • Sample preparation
  • PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) etc.

could really help boost your resume. Again, remember to consider low hanging fruit as well to get your foot in the door with the industry.

Finally, you just have to arrange your resume into your template or system of choice and your good to go.

SO that’s basically it from me. I hope you found this walk through useful. Remember you can check out our services if you need more personalized help with your resume and I’ll see you in the next video.

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