Art director CV example

What contact details should I include in my art director CV

One of the most important sections is your contact section. This is where you will need to include a clear set of details that will allow the reader to contact you and move you on to the next part of the selection process. Some candidates forget about this section, leading to missed opportunities and a lack of callbacks!

Missing this section can be frustrating for a hiring manager, so it’s important to get it right. Avoid this common mistake by adding your contact details near the header of your CV. Write them in a larger or bold font to make them easy to spot and read. Here’s a short list of what you need to include:

• Your full name – you can leave out your middle name.
• Location – so your employer knows where you’re based.
• Phone number – use a mobile number if you can.
• Email address – use a professional email address.

Example of contact section for an art director CV

Art director CV personal statement

Your personal statement – also known as a personal summary – is a short paragraph at the top of your CV. Sitting beneath your contact details, this statement should be 2-3 lines long and provide a quick overview of your professional skills.

You should briefly outline your current role, key qualities, and short-term career goals in your statement. As an art director, it’s imperative to make sure your statement isn’t derivative. Avoid clichés and be as authentic as possible to demonstrate your style, skills, and originality in line with the art director role description.

You should begin your statement with a simple first line that engages the reader. Tell them about your career focus. The idea here is to hook the hiring manager to encourage them to carry on reading. Keep this sentence snappy and make sure that it gives a good first impression.

Your second sentence should give an idea of something you have achieved. You should include a real life stat or figure to lend a sense of authority to your statement. For example, you could say that you “mentored 20 junior artists, assisting them in their creative processes”. This number allows the reader to quickly understand the scale of your achievement with a tangible figure.

Your third and fourth sentences are all about including any unique skills or specialisms you may have. This would be the time to explain any software skills or creative talents you have. It’s important to finish your personal statement with something that makes the reader want to know more.

What else is important for a personal statement? Make sure to do these:

• Always write in the third person as this is a professional tone.
• Make sure your intro is brief – 100 words max!
• Use a friendly but formal tone.
• Use keywords and phrasing from the job ad you’re responding to.
• Don’t talk about your career goals in this section – you can keep that for later sections, or your cover letter.

Example of personal statement for an art director CV

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Adding experience section to your art director CV

One of the most important parts of your CV is your work experience. This is often where a hiring manager will look first of all in order to determine whether or not you are the right person for the job. Because of this, you’ll need to add an extensive work history section that will tell the reader how your past positions have prepared you for the position.

To create this section, begin by detailing your current or most recent art director roles. You should explore the challenges of each position and how you overcame them – bringing up at least 6 responsibilities for each. You should always pick tasks and challenges that are close to what is described in the job advertisement.

You need to ensure you always include the following information:

• The title of your role
• Dates of employment
• The name of the company
• The location of the company
• Key responsibilities

Beyond these details, you’ll need to keep the reader engaged throughout with effective language. For example, you should use positive adjectives when describing yourself – these are words that help to paint the picture of you as an effective candidate. For example, you might be “experienced” or “effective.”

You should also use action verbs throughout. These should replace “responsible for”. So you can say that you “led” a project or that you “organised” a new piece of work.

Example of work experience for an art director CV

Skills worth having on your art director CV

Art directors need practical skills as strong as their people skills. You should try to include a total of 12 skills, spread across hard and soft skills. What are hard and soft skills? Hard skills are anything that you have learned on the job or through education. Soft skills are more like positive character traits that help you to stand out.

You’ll need a balance of these in order to create a comprehensive picture of yourself. An art director will need to have a series of essential skills, but also extra traits that will help them to stand out. You should always list these on your CV so that the reader can tell at a glance.

Take a look at our art director skills lists for your CV:

Outlining education on an art director CV

Another important section for your CV is to create a comprehensive education section. While practical experience is often king when it comes to being an art director, it can be important to write your educational history so that the employer receives a full picture of you as a candidate.

So what’s important for an art director in terms of education? You should include the highest level of qualification you have obtained and then work backwards, just as you did with your work experience. Let’s say you’ve completed a master’s in fine art – this would be the moment to mention it!

You should always focus on relevant qualifications when you can. Thankfully, many qualifications can be relevant for an art director because of the diverse nature of this role. When you are writing your education section in your CV always include the following:

• Name of the educational establishment
• Dates of study
• Subject title
• Qualification level
• Qualification result

Example of education for an art director CV