What Should I Include on an Industrial Design Resume?

An industrial design resume should contain the same basic and essential information required on any resume, including education, work experience, certifications, honors and awards, and technical skills. All of these areas are important to highlight. If you are interested in industrial design, then technical skills and practical experience are especially important to detail on your resume. As with any resume, a resume in industrial design should make you stand out from other applicants and should be crafted toward the particular position for which you are applying.

An industrial designer’s job is a hands-on job that requires knowledge of how to design and improve — for consumer use — the look and feel of products such as electronic devices, cars and tools. Practical experience and technical skills are essential on an industrial design resume. Any technical skills involving computer programs or related areas should be included. Your resume should highlight any experience you may have, including internships or work experience and college projects or work-related products that you have designed individually or as part of a group. It is advisable to highlight industrial design group accomplishments of which you have been a part, so you can demonstrate your ability to work effectively with a team, which often is required of industrial designers.

To supplement an industrial design resume, it may be helpful to develop a portfolio of your work. It would be helpful for potential employers to be able to view actual examples of your work in addition to simply reading about them on your resume. The portfolio could be in the form of a physical scrapbook or an actual example of a product that you have designed. Alternately, the portfolio could be an electronic scrapbook available on the Internet and included as a link on your resume.

Like most resumes, an industrial design resume also should include your education. If you have earned an undergraduate or graduate degree in industrial design or a related field, such as engineering, then this should be highlighted. It also should include other relevant information, such as the name of your degree, the university from which you earned it, your grade point average, and your date of graduation. Aside from that, you may want to include courses that you took, especially if they are directly related to a position for which you are applying. Including academic awards and honors also can help to showcase your aptitude in the field of industrial design.