Getting a job in fashion is already hard enough you might be thinking what else is this 3-second test that you need to pass?
3 seconds is on average the time that a fashion recruiter takes to decide if your application is worth considering for the position or not. 3 seconds is in fact the time a recruiter spends to evaluate your resume, make a first impression and decide whether to continue reading it or move on to the next one.
How do they decide if your resume is worth reading?
You might think that the resumes that are successful and so the people who get the job are the ones who have more experience (preferably already in fashion) who studied at the top fashion schools and whose list of skills are quite impressive.
But if you think about it, it would be impossible for a fashion recruiter in just 3 seconds to read all your experiences and where or what you studied.
In 3 seconds they can’t read the content.
In fact, the first impression is all about your presentation and therefore the layout, design, and general structure of the resume.If you can catch their attention and have them convinced with a resume that is already well structured then you are off on the right foot.
If you consider that on average a fashion company receives 500 resumes for the same position, it becomes quite obvious that considering the vast choice, recruiters will not choose and therefore very quickly discard those resumes that are already flat or messy at first glance.
If your resume is flat or messy that’s how you’ll be perceived as well by a fashion recruiter. Yes, because your resume is part of your personal branding: the way you structure it, the template, the font you chose, the size of the font, the colors… They all say things about your personality.
Fashion recruiters can already capture your personality and mindset from your resume and that’s why it only takes a few seconds to get an immediate idea of you and decide whether or not you might be the right fit for the job.
So if until now you have not considered the structure of your resume as something fundamental, giving more weight to the content, you can see how critical it actually is because even before what you are going to write on it, the layout of the document affects the first decision by the company.
Consider a recruiter’s decision process as a two-step part:
Step 1: the 3-second test: is it already a well-set CV and therefore you could have the potential or is the resume drawn up without putting much effort and therefore you are already starting with one less gear? Here’s what a recruiter might think: if you haven’t been paying attention to your resume you are probably not a detail-oriented person, or you don’t care much about the position or it just reflects your personality that is not aligned with what the company is looking for.
After passing this 3-second test, you go to Step 2: evaluation of the content to see if your experience and skills match the position. It is obvious that once you have overcome the initial obstacle then what you have on your resume also counts, but I want to tell you a few things.
It’s not enough to have lots of experience and the best skills if the design of your resume is poor and it doesn’t enhance how amazing you are.
In fact, many times the problem with resumes is not that people don’t have the right skills or enough experience to get the job… Most of the time the mistake is in the way they present themselves. You could match the job perfectly, have 10/10 of the skills outlined, but if your resume is not designed and formatted correctly, you might not get the job 🙁
Yep, if your resume doesn’t have a clear structure, if it’s longer than one page and/or if the design is messy or too flat, your chances to get that job in fashion decrease exponentially…
On the other (positive) side, having a brilliant resume can get you the job even when you don’t meet all the requirements!!! Remember that an outstanding application can overcome any lack of skills and experience required.
Your resume is not just a piece of paper where you put together some experiences and skills. It’s so much more. As I already said, it’s part of your personal branding, your personality and it’s also your first touchpoint with a fashion company.
First impressions count. And your resume is the first impression a fashion company makes about you.
If you believe that in 2021 fashion recruiters base their hiring decisions only on the school you attended and the experience you already have, well think again. During an interview I had with the Vogue Business Editor Lucy Maguire she confirmed that at Condè Nast they are “hiring for potential, not a finished product”.
As we said, your resume is a reflection not only of your experience but of your personality, especially when you are at the beginning of your career and you don’t have much experience to leverage.
If you can impress recruiters or bosses with a brilliant resume template you are showing them you have the potential the fashion industry is looking for!
An outstanding CV template immediately doubles your chances to get the job!
ATTENTION:
Before you ask:YES even if you are at the beginning of your career and the only thing you could add to your resume is your degree or diploma, you still need a brilliant resume template to get your first internship or job! When a recruiter can’t base their decision on your previous experience because you are at the beginning of your career, they will take the hiring decision considering other factors: such as the way you applied for the job, which includes your resume. In fact, it’s even more challenging to build a resume when you are at the beginning of your career because considering that you can’t count on experiences you need to be even more resourceful with your applications to convince brands that you can do the job. And before you say that it’s impossible to get a job with no experience, remember that anyone started from scratch. If fashion companies wanted to hire only people with some kind of experience already, internships and entry-level positions would not exist and then this can’t be possible because anyone starts from scratch. It’s for sure hard and challenging because it’s fashion and you are competing with other 500 average applicants but remember that if you don’t have experience yet, you need to focus your efforts on using a creative application that impresses recruiters and shows them you think out of the box and you have the potential they are looking for. And this effective application includes an outstanding resume.
So a fantastic resume is not only necessary to pass the 3-second test so that the recruiter finds it interesting enough to read it, but YOU need a brilliant resume also to stand out in this competitive industry.
On average 500 resumes are submitted for the same fashion job/internship.
This means that most of the resumes are not read.
Imagine being the recruiter and having a long pile of resumes to check, which one would you think you would start with? Well you know, the one that catches your attention, the one with a professional but creative and captivating design (which does not mean that it has to be all colored or with too eccentric graphics).
Writing your own resume is never easy and you may feel discouraged especially when you have no experience or if you have not seen results for your applications until now. I understand perfectly how you feel because 10 years ago when I had to write my first resume to follow my dream of working in fashion, I felt totally lost. I didn’t know which template was best and above all I had just graduated so I was afraid that companies would never choose me due to my lack of experience. But in the end I made it and even earlier than I expected I was sitting at the desk of my favorite fashion company starting my first internship. So keep the tips above in mind when writing your next resume, remember it’s not just about how much experience you can write or a race to see who can add more skills. Quality over quantity, remember that.
