How to Build a Gamer Resume

Your understanding of the art that goes into developing a video game could be the best there is. However, it is of no good if you cannot showcase that in your resume. 

The fact is that the gaming industry is expected to grow at a phenomenal rate with about 2.5 billion gamers across the globe. That is the reason why major gaming companies are always on the prowl to acquire individuals who can help them keep up with the trends. 

To garner the recruiter’s attention, you need to craft your resume in a way that showcases your abilities in an efficient manner.

By incorporating the following 5 best practices in your gaming artist resume, you could  stay one step ahead of the competition:

1. You should know your Audience

Knowing your audience while writing a resume could do wonders for you, which majorly depends on the profile you are targeting. 

For example, the gaming artist recruitment ground is generally populated by major corporations, indie gaming companies, and companies/individuals who are looking for an independent artist.

Indie companies mostly seek the professionals for a particular project. Here, the resume may not play an important role. However, it should not be sidelined either.

Now, for corporations, the queue for the applicants is usually very long. That means recruiters may not get enough time to review your resume. Hence, you need to make your resume keywords friendly to make it readable at one glance.

Companies/individuals that are looking for an independent artist, usually go about doing it via a platform. For example, LinkedIn. So, having your LinkedIn profile optimized could make you noticeable in the crowd.  

2. Your gaming resume should be keyword friendly

Your resume must have a certain set of keywords to pass the ATS, applicant tracking system. This software is designed to shortlist candidates on the basis of their resume’s relevance to the job. 

Here, take the help of the job description to re-create your resume and shower it with important keywords. 

Let’s say in the job description, the recruiter is looking for someone who has expertise with the tool: Autodesk Maya. Having it highlighted in the resume could make you a serious contender.

Because gone are the days when you can step into the recruiter’s office with experience, loyalty and hard work attitude alone. Your resume is a game-changing element. So don’t forget to optimize your resume with keywords that are applicable/relevant to you.

Here’s an example of what keywords look like in a job advertisement for a gaming developer:

In this advertisement, the hiring body has highlighted a preference for gaming designers who are lingual in visual scripting languages especially ‘blueprints’ alongside other soft skills and designing skills. 

Additionally, the company has also specified tool knowledge of ‘Fortnite Battle Royale’ and skills in ‘network replication’ under the ‘nice to have skills’. 

These are your keywords.

If you’re proficient in the use of these keywords, replicating them in your resume would enhance your shortlisting chances drastically.

So make sure that you highlight these keywords if they apply to your functional skill sets and tool knowledge. 

3. Follow the resume outline

This is something most applicants take lightly. The resume outline is the bedrock of your resume. You might be the best video game artist in the business, but it will not be enough if your gaming artist resume is presented in a haphazard manner because the recruiter will lose all inspiration to evaluate it. 

Knowing what to put in your resume is not enough to make the cut. But, knowing what information to put in your resume and where to put it will help you drastically revolutionize the shortlist chances of your resume.

You may not know this but its extremely important to organize information under relevant sections.

So here’s a list of the must-have sections for your resume:

• Header: Your name.
• Personal information: Your mobile number, email ID, and location.
• Profile Title: If your job designation is Game Developer, write that in your profile title.
• Summary: A 3-5 line outline of your career achievements advocating your fitness for the job.
• Key Skills: A distinct categorization of your core gaming skills and technical skills (tool knowledge).
• Education: Your academic details.
• Certifications: A list of relevant certifications you may have done.

4. Showcase your gaming expertise with perfection 

Knowing how to showcase their expertise is not something that everybody’s good at. You must have spent thousands of hours pondering over what clicks in a video game and you probably succeeded at it too.

Be it your excellence at conceptualizing a new gaming idea or UI designing for the video game, you need to be able to communicate your gaming proficiency in your resume. 

You get the perfect opportunity to do in the professional experience section because it is here that you give an account of your everyday gaming responsibilities. 

All you have to do is endorse your roles & responsibilities in your resume in a way that reflects expertise and excellence. Using numbers to showcase a particular gaming achievement is a great way to accomplish this.

Here’s an example of how you should formulate your gaming experience in your resume:

• Modified the UX of 30+ existing games to enhance gaming experience by 90%
• Conceptualized 5+ video games to cater to the evolving trends and audience demands
• Designed virtual games on depression to raise social awareness on mental health
• Developed 3 trending video games leading to 50% increase in sales & 100% customer retention

5. Projects & Certifications 

If you are trying to break into the gaming industry as a fresher gaming artist then you need to have done 

projects & relevant certifications to be considered as a serious contender.  

For projects, adhere to a crisp format outlined below that will help you make it more effective: 

• Project Description: The description of the projects should be written in one line.
• Tech Stack/Environment should follow the project description. 
• Solution: It would be efficient to include the resolution in this subsection. 
• Key Achievement: This should contain all the performance figures. 

For certifications, adhere to the following format:

• Name of certification
• Name of the certifying body
• Location of the certifying body
• Enrolment & graduation dates

To learn how to list certifications on resume, take a look at the snapshot below:

Author’s Bio:

Aditya Sharma

A prolific techie and gaming enthusiast, Aditya lives and breathes Hiration — an AI-powered online resume builder and platform to help professionals land their dreams jobs.