Julie Elman is an assistant professor at the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University (Athens), where she teaches design and picture editing. She received an MFA in photography from OU in 1987 and has 15 years of newspaper experience as a photojournalist, picture editor and page designer (most recently at The Virginian-Pilot as an A1 designer). Elman designed the New York Times best-selling photography book “The Rise of Barack Obama” by Pete Souza, who is now chief White House photographer.

{This is Part 1 of a weekly series on creating an effective resume for the visual journalist. For Part 2, please go here. For Part 3, here. For Part 4, go here.}

Ask 15 people what they’d like to see in a resume, and you’ll get 15 different answers.

Not exactly what students want to hear. When given the assignment to piece together a resume, they often want to latch onto concise rules of how this all works. “Should I include an objective or not?” “Do I need references on the page?” “Are two pages OK or not OK?”


The answers are as varied as each individual and his or her experiences. Of course, all students have the goal in mind to create a document that will get a prospective employer’s attention — but this can be done in so many different ways.

Being in the visual field gives us all some latitude in how our resumes look and feel. No one (well, let’s say very few) in the industry will blink at small creative touches on a photojournalist’s resume. But add those same minor visual twists to a resume that will circulate to people within the fields of medicine, law or finance and you may very well see some raised eyebrows.

Before you can even begin to design your “calling card,” keep in mind the key concepts listed below. Resumes may all have different looks and attitudes, but there are some basic rules of the resume road that apply to just about every resume out there.

• Make it 100 percent readable.
You may feel you don’t know a whole lot about typography, but instinctively you probably know what reads well and what doesn’t. All text must be readable, period. Any big words (such as your name and category labels) must be legible, period. It’s as simple as that.

• Be crystal clear.
Organization and hierarchy must help (not hinder) any reader navigating through your sea of words.

• KISS: Keep it simple, smarty-pants.
I’ve talked with some visual journalists who feel pressure to prove they can do creative cartwheels when they design their resume. I always tell my students to think otherwise. Tone down the tricks and dial up the attention to detail and content. The simplest visual approach to a resume can often be absolutely stunning. Sometimes all it takes to have a distinct look — aside from a particular typeface — is a unique color for your name, or a single colored dot over a letter (“j” or “i” for instance). Do you need to turn your names into fancy monogram initials for your resume? No — unless you are known by your initials. Branding (in all your self-promotional materials) can come in simple ways and in small doses.

• Strive for consistency on all levels.
Unifying elements on your resume page can take place on a few different levels. One way is through the content itself. Is everything listed underneath each section in reverse chronological order? Are all your dates handled in a similar fashion (in the wording and typography)? Are verb tenses consistent? Are you following AP style (or another style) throughout the entire document?

• Avoid (the avoidable) mistakes.
No one is going to hire you solely based on your resume. It’s mainly your portfolio that gets you in the door. If you do get an interview, everyone you talk with will get to know you and consider if you’re a good fit for the team. But keep in mind that if your resume — perhaps the first impression prospective employers may have of you — is sloppy and careless, your chances for an interview could be shot. A big turnoff is spelling mistakes. They are UNACCEPTABLE! Do not even think about sending a resume to anyone without having at least one set of eagle eyes copy editing it first. You’ve seen your resume a million times: allow a detail-oriented friend/teacher/mentor to come at it cold and catch what you can’t see anymore.

Your assignment for this week: Gather in one spot the material you want to include on your resume. Double check education and employment dates; list everything you can think of that has the potential to showcase your talent, interests, skills, attitude. This includes all jobs, relevant classes you’ve taken, volunteer positions you’ve held, trips abroad you’ve taken, etc. For some of you, that “etc.” might be off the beaten path. Don’t worry about editing now. Collect the material and make the hard decisions later.

Next week: We’ll take a look at resume organization and some typographical guidelines.

Julie Elman can be reached at elman(at)ohio.edu