Is a resume enough to get a job in fashion?

We have always been told that when looking for a job/internship we have to prepare our CV by putting down a list of experiences and skills and then apply online when a job comes up. But that is where the job search struggle, stress, and problems begin. What everyone talks about and what they teach at school about how to enter the working force, very often does not match what companies are really looking for in a candidate. 

Obviously, you need a resume, and also an exceptional one, but is then a resume really enough to get a job in fashion?

Having a brilliant resume is the first step to land a job in fashion. Fashion recruiters will make an opinion and know more about you from this document. Through it, they can understand if your story, skills, and experience fit the position. 

But in 2021 and with 500 people who apply for the same job, is an outstanding resume enough to get a job in fashion? Sure it is a fantastic starting point and in many cases is enough, but if you are not seeing results and in general to boost your chances to get a job, a resume is not enough. 

Companies expect more from candidates nowadays which doesn’t mean they expect more in terms of how many years of experience you have.

Your amazing degree from the top school is no longer an exception, it’s the rule. We all can all boast degrees on our resume and LinkedIn profile, so what makes you unique and different from all the others?

Fashion companies are looking to hire people who think out of the box and submitting your resume only is the traditional application. 

Yes, you still need a brilliant resume, but what else can you add to your application so that people can really see that you think out of the box and so you can eventually land your dream job in fashion? 

Work Samples

You might have probably heard about a fashion portfolio. It’s a document that collects your work or samples of work in case you don’t have a real job yet.

A fashion portfolio is usually common among aspiring fashion designers who include in this document their sketches, collections, mood board…but there isn’t anything, and no one says that your fashion portfolio necessarily needs to be related to your fashion designs.  

Especially if you are at the beginning of your career, building a collection of work samples that demonstrates your skills is the best way to prove to companies your talent and competencies.

If you can give them proof that you can do the job despite you might not having any experience or you didn’t study fashion, then you can get the job even if you lack some requirements on your resume! This document/portfolio provides concrete proof of your skills.

The fashion industry is looking for talents, for people who can make a difference in their company. And in 2021 the skills and competencies are not only acquired through the standard work experience in an office. You might have your own fashion blog and be an exceptional fashion writer without having ever published for a magazine. You love photography and your photos are fantastic even if you have never worked on a real fashion photoshoot. 

Fashion companies need to see your talent and from a resume, it is quite hard that they can have a real understanding of your competencies. So put your skills in front of recruiters and future bosses, and show them what you are capable of with your sample work. Don’t just hope that a recruiter will look at your resume and understand that you can do the job. Hope is not a strategy. Demonstrate your skills with work samples so you’ll be sure that they will catch your competencies from practical work and examples rather than trying to captivate them from a list of skills on your resume.

To give you some examples of work samples: if you are an aspiring fashion writer, write a couple of sample fashion articles and attach them to your application when you email your favorite editors or when you apply for that position at Vogue, Glamour, & co. 

If you want to become a photographer, ask your friends or other fellow aspiring models and stylists to put together a photoshoot so you can then collect the shoots into a portfolio and send it with your applications. 

If you are an aspiring fashion designer, build your fashion portfolio with your sketches, mood boards, and collections.

If you want to work as a social media manager, create a calendar of one week with a grid of images and graphics you would post on Instagram if you were working in their digital team. 

The work you include in your portfolio/work sample document doesn’t need to be only from real work projects that you did for a brand or for someone. You can create, invent samples of your work. You can write articles that you have never published anywhere, you can style outfits just to apply for that styling job, you can show a brand what you would post on their social profiles by building new designs or proposing digital marketing ideas. 

Be creative.

Build a document of sample work of a couple of pages and save it as a PDF to send along with your resume to:  

1. demonstrate your skills
2. impress the company because you have not only attached the traditional resume
3. prove that you really want that job because you’ve built a document tailored for the position putting that extra effort in your application

A cover letter

I’ve already talked here about why a cover letter can really do magic things for your career. It helps you tell your story, motivation, and passion for the brand and the position. Especially if you are at the beginning of your career and your resume is normally short, give recruiters other materials to picture yourself and your skills. Use your cover letter to express why you want the job and why you are the right fit for the position, and tell your motivation and your passion. If you want to go to the next level, a 1-minute video cover letter where you talk about yourself in front of the camera is even more original!

Go beyond the online application

Applying online is the traditional way, it’s still correct to go through it when a position is open. But it’s not the only way to apply for a job in fashion. You might think of emailing directly recruiters, stylists, buyers, designers, editors… and make a spontaneous application for a job that is not listed on their career pages. (I teach more about 3 unconventional strategies to apply for a job in fashion in this free masterclass, register if you want to learn more strategies to get a job in fashion, it’s totally free.) Make sure you use a professional email address [email protected] whenever you reach out to fashion professionals. Start sending emails for spontaneous applications but also to follow up after you applied online, as if it were your job. After all, applying for a job is itself a job!

An online presence

More and more recruiters and any future boss will look at your social presence. How is your LinkedIn profile? Is it updated with all the education and experiences? Does it have a professional photo? Have you added the right skills? What are the posts and articles you like and share on your social profiles?

What about your own website? If you want to become a fashion stylist, editor, photographer, designer or graphic designer, a website that shows your samples of work is a great idea. 

So to recap, this is what you need:

• a brilliant resume
• a document of work samples
• a cover letter
• unconventional application strategies that go beyond the standard application
• and last but not least an online presence.

While your resume is still a fundamental and decisional part of the hiring process, recruiters look beyond a list of skills. Your passion, motivation, and knowledge about the brand and the industry are key components of a successful job application, don’t forget that. The way you apply for a job in fashion says a lot about your personality, be smart. 

In this podcast episode, Lucy Maguire from Vogue Business said that at Condè Nast they are hiring for potential, so instead of putting all your efforts exclusively on your resume and stressing maybe because you don’t have too much to put on it, try these strategies above to stand out in this competitive industry. 

Need more advice? Register for my free masterclass where I teach 3 unconventional strategies to get a job in fashion. Click here to register for free.