11 Fashion Industry Job Searching Tips

Here we go again! We’ve said it time and time again, we at Underfashion Club care about our students out there. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of some valuable tips for new fashion industry entry-level job seekers sending out their resumes….

Keep it personal.
1. Try to not use a school, work or shared email address on your resume or responding to online job listing. Seeing an address linked to another place of employment or your student database may be a turnoff to employers. If necessary, create a new email address solely for resumes(and don’t forget to check it for responses!).

It’s rude to be lewd.
2. While having the email address “stantheman69@xxx.com” might have been funny in high school, keep in mind that recruiters and your potential future boss will be reading your email address. Also, try to shy away from email address that could be interpreted as spam; sticking with something that is derivative of your name works best. (ie: j.smith@xxx.com, or jane.smith@xxx.com)

Hey, that’s not punny!
3. We see it over and over again. Please do not use the phrase, “passion for fashion” in any form of correspondence with recruiters or hiring managers. We get it, it rhymes, but it connotates a lack of basic professionalism.

Prove it, Mister!
4. If you are a designer or graphic artist applying for a position, having a resume is simply not enough. In fact, your portfolio is a better reflection of your capabilities than your resume could even begin to address. Make sure that potential employers can see samples of your work. Whether its a link to a web album, a website or an attached file folder with .jpegs, make a point to include it in your first form of correspondence.

We got your message, loud and clear.
5. It’s simply not enough to just send your resume off into the “Jobosphere”, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. With the gaining popularity of social media, employers are interested in your personality now more than ever before. It’s no longer just about what you sell, or your qualifications on paper, people want to know who you or your company are. Market yourself! All resumes submitted via email should contain, at the bare minimum, a short message. This is a great opportunity to tell your potential employer something about you that is not on your resume.

Reign it in, Rico Suave.
6. While it might be convenient (not to mention tempting) for you to juggle multiple applications at once, try to make it a point to handle them individually. Under no circumstances should you ever send your resumes to multiple companies or recruiters at the same time. Take your time with each and every detail of you email and address each email as a separate entity.

Don’t get marked as Spam, man.
7. With the increasing popularity of spam filters in web mail providers, take a few minutes to make sure you make it to the inbox. Any resume submitted via email should contain the Job Title in the subject line of your message. Blank or poorly worded subject lines are likely to get overlooked and/or deleted.

Cover your tracks, this is bear country.
8. Sometimes, its easier to use a template when creating your resume than doing it from scratch. By no means are we denouncing the use of templates, as they can be a great tool. However, if you’re going to be using a template to create your resume, make sure that you eliminate all the remnants of the original document. Those responsible for reviewing resumes at company look at those suckers all day and can tell when you used a pre-formatted template.

Say my name, say my name.
9. Yup, even the file name of your resume counts. When sending a digital resume out as an attachment, the file name should be easy to locate, place and recover. It should include your name, and the word RESUME. Steer clear of nomenclatures that are intended as your own personal ego boost such as: “bestresume”, “elegantresume” or “perfectresume”. Let the big boys decide if it’s any of those things — they’ll let you know by hiring you.

Spell Check: Man’s best friend.
10. Long passed are the days where spelling and grammatical errors are even remotely acceptable. Please, spell check your work. It’s built into your software for a reason. Get into the practice of doing this for ALL your correspondence with future employers, recruiters, co-workers, current employers and even your mom. Trying to tell your future employer that you do sloppy work, are careless and just plain “don’t give a damn”? Sending off an email with spelling errors would be your best bet. Spell check. No exceptions.

The truth? You can handle the truth!
11. Most importantly, be honest. It’s just better to address any gaps in your employment history than to try to hide them. Lying your way through your resume may get you an interview, or even through the door, but you still have you prove your capabilities to firmly land that job. Lying about knowing software systems or being able to perform a task will be exposed at some point — And cuttin’ down cherry trees ain’t getting you out of that one.

As always,
The Underfashion Club

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