You know the difference between selecting things that “look cool” and taking a style or an idea and running with it so that everything fits together nicely.
The artistic talent and knowledge of design involved in what you do takes a well-balanced and well-taught professional to get the job done right.
If you’ve been busy studying ergonomics, spatial concepts, learning how to use CAD programs, among many other things, so much that you haven’t had the time to brush up on your resume writing skills – we get it.
We’re here to help!
So sit back and let us walk you through creating a resume that can show off all of your knowledge and hard work.
Summary
- Resume Template
- Formatting
- Writing Your Resume Summary
- Areas of Expertise
- Writing Your Work Experience
- Writing Your Education Section
- Additional Sections
- Resume Points to Remember
- Resume “Don’ts” to Remember
- Some Helpful Tools
Let’s begin with a sample interior designer resume to demonstrate how all the resume pieces fit together. Then we will break each section down to really drill into how to write the best interior designer resume you possibly can.
Interior Designer Resume (Text Version)
Contact Info:
Ricky Rhodes
LSBID #2276654
[email protected]
1 (502) 555-1155
New Orleans, LA
RickyRhodesDesign.com
Instagram: @RickyRhodesDesign
Summary Statement:
Interior Designer: World-class interior designer with a keen ability to marry aesthetics and functionality to bring a space to life. Talents include CAD drafting, flexibility, and staying within budget. Louisiana State Board of Interior Designers license ensures all designs are presented with safety and functionality in mind.
Key Accomplishments/Areas of Expertise
- Adobe Suite
- 20-20 Design
- Vectorworks Designer
- Autodesk Revit
- Budgeting
- Technical Drawing
- Creativity
- Listening
- Project Management
- Interpersonal Skills
Professional Experience:
LA Designs | Lead Designer
New Orleans, LA | April 2008 – Present
- Coordinate 10+ project shooting schedules with a team of 3 photographers
- Utilize Revit Architecture in creating eye-catching designs for national retailers
- Provide a portfolio for clients, including color swatches, furnishings, etc.
- Increase clientele >10% via networking, walk-ins, and social media marketing
University of Louisiana | Designer
Lafayette, LA | June 2013 – May 2017
- Researched styles of national universities to ensure designs were cutting-edge
- Created a cohesive campus-wide brand while leaving spaces functional
- Followed ADA guidelines for all designs
- Led a team of 5 designers to overhaul multiple on-campus spaces
Daisy Design | Assistant Designer
San Jose, CA | April 2011 – May 2013
- Created initial designs on CAD and 3D MAX pictures of final designs
- Ensured clients were provided exceptional service by design team
- Worked on designs for clients in retail, home and college settings
- Developed new leads for Senior Designer
Education/Certifications
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN INTERIOR DESIGN
School of Interior Design at San Jose, San Jose, CA
Class of 2011
Certifications & Licenses
- Louisiana State Board of Interior Designers License #2276654 (2013 – Present)
- California Certification for Interior Design License #22876 (2011 – 2013)
- Universal Design Certified Remodeler
- National Association of the Remodeling Industry (2011)
- National Council Certified Interior Designer
- National Council for Interior Design Qualification (2012)
- Certified Interior Decorator
- Certified Interior Decorators International (2012)
- Certified Remodeler Associate
- National Association of the Remodeling Industry (2015)
Formatting
You know the importance of visual style when someone walks into a room.
When it comes to interior design, the decisions that you make can’t just look good; they also need to be safe and functional.
The same is true with resume formatting.
The format of your interior designer resume should be eye-catching and draw attention to your most impressive qualities, while also remaining simplistic and easy to read.
Hiring managers only spend around 6 seconds looking at each resume they review, so catching their attention quickly is crucial.
List out your accomplishments and work history in reverse chronological order to allow for your most recent and compelling details to come first.
Select a font that is legible and space out your words with enough room to guide the eye using bullet points and short paragraphs.
While these are just some of the basics to consider when beginning your interior designer resume, if followed correctly, you will be off to a great start.
Start With Your Resume Summary
The first thing you will write is your resume summary.
Resume summaries are different from objectives, as they focus on your most notable and remarkable capabilities.
Objectives are less common in today’s job market because they don’t add much information and are seen as a waste of space by many professionals.
The goal of your resume summary is to lay out a few details about who you are as an interior designer clearly and concisely.
Yes!
World-class interior designer with a keen ability to marry aesthetics and functionality to bring a space to life. Talents include CAD drafting, flexibility, and staying within budget. Louisiana State Board of Interior Designers license ensures all designs are presented with safety and functionality in mind.
No!
Interior designer with ability to implement aesthetics and functionality. CAD drafting, flexible, and good with a budget. Louisiana State Board of Interior Designers license ensures all designs are presented with safety and functionality in mind.
The “Yes!” example uses power words (strong action verbs and precise adjectives) to make specific and apt descriptions of the candidate’s abilities and expertise while being concise and to the point.
The “No!” example lacks sharp and intentional language and fails to set the candidate apart from others.
PRO TIP: Before writing your summary, look up power words that describe your skills in a way that best suits you as well as the position you are applying to. You should never use a power word more than once.
Key Accomplishments/ Skills & Qualifications
Keeping with the theme of remaining “to the point” the second half of your interior designer resume introduction is a no-frills list of your most relevant skills and qualifications.
This list is likely the most eye-catching section of your resumes due to its streamlined appearance.
Example:
- Adobe Suite
- 20-20 Design
- Vectorworks Designer
- Autodesk Revit
- Budgeting
- Technical Drawing
- Creativity
- Listening
- Project Management
- Interpersonal Skills
As you come up with what skills to include in this list, make sure you are aware of the two different kinds of skills:
Hard skills:
- Teachable
- Practicable
- Easy to Quantify
- Technical
Soft skills:
- Personality Traits
- Subjective
- Harder to Quantify
- Innate
- Not necessarily teachable
Both hard and soft skills are essential to interior design.
A hiring manager wants to know that you can handle the technical work involved with drawing up and designing a functional and stylish plan.
They also need to know you can work well with clients and that you have a natural creative vision that drives you.
PRO TIP: Always check the job posting. Make sure that for every resume you hand in, you are tailoring this section specifically to the skills that are listed in the job posting. Some hiring managers will value specific skills above others, and you want to make sure that your interior designer resume fits the bill.
(See below for a helpful table of some suggested hard and soft skills to include in your resume.)
Writing Your Work Experience
Work experience traditionally takes up most of a resume, and for a good reason.
Anyone can write down that they have skills, but a solid job history shows that you have put those skills to the test.
If you are lucky enough to have a wide range of jobs to choose from when deciding what to put down on your interior designer resume, make sure you are taking the time to be selective.
Usually, laying things out in reverse chronological order allows for your most recent and relevant work experience to command the most attention.
If you have less experience to work with, make sure that you aren’t including work that is irrelevant to interior design, like the server position you took to put yourself through college.
Once you have made your selections, you are going to describe each position in about three to five bullet points.
As you come up with the best topics to discuss for each position, make sure that you are referencing things that fortify the skills you previously laid out whenever possible.
Yes!
LA Designs | New Orleans, LA | Lead Designer | April 2008 – Present
- Coordinate 10+ shooting schedules with a team of 3 photographers
- Use Revit Architecture to create designs for national retailers
- Provide clients with a portfolio of color swatches, furnishings, etc.
- Increase clientele >10% via networking and social media marketing
No!
LA Designs | New Orleans, LA | Lead Designer | April 2008 – Present
- Coordinate project shooting schedules with photographers
- Create eye-catching designs
- Prepare for client meetings by providing a portfolio
- Increase the level of clients
The “Yes!” example lends specific details about what tasks the candidate has performed, how they performed them, and what the positive outcome was.
The “No!” example lists the job tasks and fails to explain the level of involvement the candidate had in performing each task.
PRO TIP: Always quantify and qualify your job descriptions. If you created an increase in clients and ratings, give a percentage. If you used specific programs to complete a task, say what programs you used. Your job description should describe you and your abilities that were useful in doing that job well.
(If you lack work experience, see below for a helpful section.)
More About Bots
In today’s increasingly competitive job market, hiring managers don’t have all the time it takes to review every resume that comes across their desk.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), or bots, are programs designed to review interior designer resumes for a company before a hiring manager takes a look.
If a bot doesn’t flag your resume for having “good candidate potential,” then it will likely never be given a glance by a pair of real human eyes.
Bots make their decisions by searching resumes for specific keywords that they are programmed to associate with viable candidates.
To deal with the increasing use of these machines, some resume experts recommend writing your work experience section in paragraphs rather than with bullet points.
Let’s take a look at how these two styles differ.
Standard Bullet Point Format:
University of Louisiana | Lafayette, LA | Designer | June 2013 – May 2017
- Researched styles of national universities to ensure designs were cutting-edge
- Created a cohesive campus-wide brand while leaving spaces functional
- Followed ADA guidelines for all designs
- Led a team of 5 designers to overhaul multiple on-campus spaces
Paragraph Format:
University of Louisiana | Lafayette, LA | Designer | June 2013 – May 2017
Researched different styles of national universities to ensure all designs were cutting edge. Conducted site assessments of multiple offices and multi-purpose spaces to create a cohesive campus-wide brand while leaving space functional. Followed ADA guidelines for all designs. Led a team of 5 designers to completely overhaul main common spaces on campus, including the library, student center, and career center.
Or you can “mix and match” by writing a paragraph description while adding in a few bullet points to stand out.
University of Louisiana | Lafayette, LA | Designer | June 2013 – May 2017
Researched different styles of national universities to ensure all designs were cutting edge. Conducted site assessments of multiple offices and multi-purpose spaces to create a cohesive campus-wide brand while leaving space functional. Led a team of 5 designers to completely overhaul main common spaces on campus, including the library, student center, and career center.
- Follow ADA Guidelines
- Successfully completed over 15 projects
Here at Big Interview, we recommend that you stick with bullet points to keep things visually appealing for hiring managers.
You can still catch the eye of a bot using bullet points as long as you are intentional about using power words and specific details.
Writing Your Education Section
Writing the education section of your interior designer resume is relatively straightforward.
List your accomplishments in order of impressiveness, so if you have multiple degrees, start with Master’s, bachelor’s, associates, and so on.
Always include the full title of your degree, the school you attended, and the year you received your degree.
Example:
Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design
School of Interior Design at San Jose, San Jose, CA
Class of 2011
If you have additional certifications or licenses to list, you will include those in this section as well.
Example:
Certifications & Licenses
- Louisiana State Board of Interior Designers License #2276654 (2013 – Present)
- California Certification for Interior Design License #22876 (2011 – 2013)
- Universal Design Certified Remodeler
- National Association of the Remodeling Industry (2011)
- National Council Certified Interior Designer
- National Council for Interior Design Qualification (2012)
- Certified Interior Decorator
- Certified Interior Decorators International (2012)
- Certified Remodeler Associate
- National Association of the Remodeling Industry (2015)
Possible Sections to Include
Once you have completed your work experience and education sections, you might find that you have additional information that should be covered in your interior designer resume.
Alternative sections you could include are:
- Awards and honors
- Publications
- Noteworthy Projects
- Social Media Influence
- Speaking Engagements
- Hobbies/Interests
- Volunteer Work
What if You Have No Experience?
If you are just recently joining this field either because you switched career paths or you just graduated, you will likely need to make some adjustments so that your resume suits your current background.
The first change is to move your education section to just below your summary.
If you lack work experience, typically, your education section is going to be more impressive and applicable when it comes to interior design.
You can also add some additional details to your education section, where it makes the most sense.
If you earned a high GPA or received any awards or honors in school, those details should be included.
If you have particular coursework to include that pertains to specific skills that the job posting calls for, you can list those details as well.
In this situation, it is also a good idea to include additional sections whenever possible.
Volunteer work and internships are great inclusions on a resume to show that you still have the experience necessary, even if it wasn’t paid.
Resume Points to Remember
Make adjustments
Always read through your interior designer resume more than once. When reading through your resume, try reading it out loud so that you can really hear what it sounds like. If you have a trusted friend who will review your resume, always utilize a second opinion.
Check the job posting
When writing a resume, always make it specific to each job you are applying to. Double-check your skills section and make sure you are including the qualifications they are looking for. Also, keep your eye out for the power words they use when describing their ideal candidate and incorporate those terms into your job descriptions and summary.
Keep things modern
Make sure that your resume shows off that you know more than just one trick. Double-check that you aren’t reusing the same power words twice and keep things fresh.
Try to Avoid
Don’t overdo it
Never hand in a two-page interior designer resume. Make sure that you are narrowing things down so that they fit on one page. A hiring manager isn’t going to enjoy seeing a resume that expects them to sift through the details to find the truly important parts.
Keep it simple
Resume formatting should always be functional and appear professional. Think twice about writing things with a funky font or a confusing layout.
Don’t forget the most important details
Your name and contact information sound silly to forget, but it does happen. Don’t get so caught up in all the other stuff that you forget the simplest details of all.
(See below for a helpful table of some suggested power words.)
Helpful Tools:
Power Words
- Administered
- Founded
- Adept
- Formulated
- Built
- Implemented
- Created
- Improved
- Consolidated
- Initiated
- Coordinated
- Launched
- Developed
- Pioneered
- Designed
- Organized
Skills List
| Hard Skills | Soft Skills |
| Adobe Creative Cloud | Creative |
| Autodesk Revit | Organized |
| Budgeting | Project Management |
| Technical Drawing | Interpersonal Skills |
| 20-20 Design | Listening to/Understanding Clients |
