How to create a good cv

CV’S AT A GLANCE

CV’s are your condensed sales pitch to a company as you apply, it has contains all the important personal information like your skills, previous accomplishments and work history. This helps your future employer to get a quick overview of who you are and what you can bring to the studio in terms of skillset.

When making a CV it's important to make it so that all this information is ready to access in a non bloated, pleasing manner.

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QUICK OVERVIEW

An ideal CV contains all the right information, is clean in it’s layout and is condensed to one single page. Keep in mind that people probably read through 10's or even 100 of these a day, so and timewasters will get skipped immediately. So make sure you stand out in small ways that are appreciated, rather than in the ways that cost you your potential job.

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THINGS TO DO

• ✅ ONE PAGE
  ‍Always do this, even when you think you can, the only person who should have multiple pages is because they have had a career that matches.
• ✅ KEEP IT SIMPLE
  ‍Simple font, colors and spacing
• ✅ SPELLCHECK
  Use a spelling checker, or things like chat GPT to help out
• ✅ SELL YOURSELF
  Add anything you did that might be relevant to the position you are applying for and look for ways to sell it.
• ✅ ADD A PERSONAL TOUCH
  ‍A little color accent or design element can work great here, just make sure to keep it condensed and minimal though.
• ✅ USE HYPERLINKS
  ‍Can be done in most programs, but I recommend saving as a PDF in the end
• ✅ LESS IS MORE
  ‍Add the information that matters, keep out all the fluff and condense as much as you can to relevant information.

THINGS TO AVOID

• ❌ PROGRESS BARS
  ‍Doesn’t do a good job of conveying the information, what does it mean that you have a level 5 knowledge of something?
• ❌ PROFILE PICTURES
  ‍Remove the possibility of personal bias
• ❌ OVERLY DESIGNED LOOKING CV
  ‍Keep it simple, we focus on making environments not on layout design. We’re environment artists, not layout designers
• ❌ TOO MUCH TEXT
  ‍Condense text as much as you can, overexplaining things will do more harm than good.

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THE CORE INFO YOU NEED

Making sure that your cv is clearly readable is one of the first thing you should double check when getting to the step of actually applying for the company you want to work for.

The next chapter is going to go over the core items that you need to make a complete CV, but as a quick overview, here's a summary.

• PERSONAL INFORMATION
• EDUCATION
• CAREER
• SKILLS
• PROGRAMS
• PUBLICATIONS, AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
• MISC INFORMATION

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PERSONAL INFORMATION

Usually this is included in the header of the CV, or at least in a section called personal information. Add any personal information here that might be relevant to the studio you are applying for.

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THINGS THAT YOU NEED TO ADD

• 1️⃣ FIRST & LAST NAME
• 2️⃣ COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
• 3️⃣ LANGUAGES SPOKEN
• 4️⃣ NATIONALITY

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WHAT ABOUT A PROFILE PICTURE?

This is highly personal topic and also location dependant topic, some countries might even want you to avoid adding a profile picture in the first place. The reason for this is that it can introduce bias in the recruitment pipeline, and can decrease your chances, however, the counterargument to that is that it can also increase your chances by making it more personal.

There is no real wrong or right approach here I'm afraid and you will most likely want to go with something that makes you feel the most comfortable.

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EDUCATION

Moving onto the next topics, the Education section, if you don't have a formal one, it might be interesting to add that you are self taught instead in the personal information section above.

If you do have any sort of education, feel free to add it here in addition to this you can also add any online courses that might be relevant here can also apply such as long mentorships for example with SKILTREE or THE MENTOR COALITION or online courses such as CGMA, GNOMON WORKSHOP or VERTEX SCHOOL.

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THINGS TO INCLUDE

• 📍 YOUR DEGREE (BACHELOR, PHD, MASTER, etc..)
• 📍 LONG MENTORSHIPS
• 📍 ONLINE COURSES (CGMA, DOMESTIKA, etc..)
• 📍 Etc…

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CAREER HISTORY

Next up, we have your working experience, which should contain all the relevant information of your role, what you did during that time, and how long it was.

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An example of this could be the following:

GRADUATE ARTIST - FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS (2016 - 2018)
Responsible for organic and hard surface asset creation, trimsheet and unique texture creation

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Also include shipped games, this adds the benefit of showing that you've done full development cycles and makes you way more valuable towards other companies.

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BUT I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING YET?

No worries, if you've not done any jobs at all, don't add this section either, if you have done jobs before it try to focus on the things that make you more relevant towards the company you are applying for.

For example:
A manager at McDonalds can be really valuable experience when working in a team setting, showing that you can collaborate and maybe even eventually lead people or teams.

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SKILLS

This is the section where you show of all your skills that might be relevant to the employer but Keep it simple! Don’t try to make this look all fancy keep it simple and focus on the main skills that are relevant to the position you want to apply for. The more specific you can make it the better, turning "MODELLING" into "HARD SURFACE MODELLING" or "ORGANIC MODELLING" is going to be way more helpful to put on your CV.

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EXAMPLES:

• 📍HIGH TO LOWPOLY WORKFLOW
• 📍ORGANIC SCULPTING
• 📍UNIQUE TEXTURE CREATION
• 📍TRIMSHEET CREATION
• 📍MODULAR BUILDING TECHNIQUES
• 📍TILEABLE MATERIALS AUTHORING
• 📍2ND UV WORKFLOW
• 📍HARD SURFACE MODELLING

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Also, for the level of proficiency in it, just stick to a simple format like "BASIC", "PROFICIENT", "ADVANCED PROFICIENCY" or something that has a nice ring to it. Don't try to make it all fancy and especially avoid skill levels or bars, they don't mean anything.

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So in short, think about the skills that you are the most comfortable with, get as specific as you can and sell them by adding a nice ring to it.

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PROGRAMS

This is my personal approach, I like to separate programs from my skills, these are specific programs that you are competent with and know how to use well. This is a great way for letting studios know that you have specific knowledge and how you can fit into their workflow.

Add any programs here that you've using for a while, it's probably not a great idea to add Maya to your list if the only thing you did is follow that one tutorial on the basics of Maya.

Keep it to the things you have used often are are competent with when asked. You want to be able to be comfortable should you be working with these programs soon.

EXAMPLES

• 📍 SUBSTANCE PAINTER
• 📍 MAYA
• 📍 BLENDER
• 📍 MAX
• 📍 ZBRUSH
• 📍 3DCOAT
• 📍 MEGASCANS
• 📍 ARMOR PAINT
• 📍 Etc …

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PUBLICATIONS, AWARDS, ACHIEVEMENTS

This is a great space to show that you dedicate yourself outside of your job and are frequently thinking outside of your normal space. These can include anything from organising events, writing articles, hosting podcasts, etc...

EXAMPLES COULD INCLUDE

• 📍 WINNING A CHALLENGE
• 📍 PUBLISHING AN ARTICLE
• 📍 PARTICIPATING IN GAMEJAMS
• 📍 ORGANISING EVENTS
• 📍BEING ON A PODCAST
• etc...

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

All the professional stuff is out of the way now, if you still have a little bit of room on your CV this might be a good moment to think about adding any hobbies or interests that you might have, this can give the whole thing a nice personal touch and can also be valuable to a company to know if you do other things outside of work too, making you more likely to make connections with other people through these hobbies or interests as well.

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EXAMPLES OF CV’S

Now as a final thing I want to add a couple of CV's here that are a good example of all the things we've discussed before, they are easy to read, clean, and have a little bit of personality.

Good luck in creating your CV!

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