How To Write A Resume & Cover Letter For Game Audio

Overview

Resumes and cover letters are annoying but unfortunately often necessary parts of applying to jobs.

A good resume should summarise your skills and experience and tick off all the criteria that are listed on the job posting. A cover letter is there to communicate why you believe that you are the right fit for the role.

Thankfully it’s not that hard to put together a resume as there are lots of templates and even sites that build them for you if you simply put the information in. Cover Letters are also fairly easy to write once you understand the basic structure.

How To Write A Resume

Your resume is essentially a document that shows you have the necessary skills, education and/or experience to qualify for the job. Whether you build your resume with a tool or design it yourself the most important thing is that all of the information on your resume is relevant to the role you’re applying for.

This means you have to demonstrate what skills you have developed that are great for the job you’re applying to. That’s why it’s good to customise resumes for different jobs and read their job requirements to make sure that you can meet them and prove that through your previous experience.

But let’s get into the actual creation…

First off if you want to create your resume with an online tool that makes the formatting easier then I recommend this site. It’s a paid service but you can easily cancel your subscription after you’re done:
www.resume.io

Here are also some great templates that Presley Hynes has made on Canva:
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFPE-9_l6k/Ea6E2H2Z5Fp-eLJZahC8dA/view?utm_content=DAFPE-9_l6k&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink&mode=preview

Alternatively, you can design your own one and maybe even make it stand out a bit more. Just make sure that it’s readable and all the important information is easy to find.

Steps for writing your resume:

1. Compile all of your personal information along with a link to your website.

2. Write your personal info on the resume:

   1. Full Name

   2. Professional email

   3. Contact number

   4. Website address

3. Do some research and find out what kind of skills are required for the job you want to apply to. This can be done with a simple look through the Audio Job Aggregator. Just make sure to look for jobs that match your current experience level: https://gamejobs.co/search?q=audio&w=

   This sheet is also worth checking out (2021):
   tyehastings.com/post/top-sound-designer-skills-what-video-game-companies-looked-for-when-hiring-in-2021

4. Based on these criteria you now want to build your resume to demonstrate your practical application of as many of the required skills as possible. This is where it becomes really beneficial to work on smaller unpaid projects to gain the skills required for entry positions and be able to offer the projects as proof.

5. Write a professional summary - a couple of sentences (max 4 keep it short) about your role, experience and skills relevant to the job.

6. Put together a list of work experiences you’ve had (paid and unpaid) and what relevant skills you’ve developed during them. These can be soft and hard skills as having worked in a management role in a coffee shop might not be useful as a sound designer but it proves that you have experience leading a team and being highly organised both of which are valuable skills to have.

7. The last step is to put together your education qualifications which can also include shorter courses that are relevant (like a Wwise certification).

8. Finally, make sure to check for any errors and typos and get feedback from people you trust. Having typos and grammatical errors will often leave an immediate negative impression as it shows a lack of attention to detail.

Tailoring your resume to the company you’re applying to will improve your chances. That means adding and removing skills and qualifications based on the job role. Here is a 1-minute video with some simple tips on how to make your resume stand out: https://youtu.be/LAlIkgGoXMs

How To Write A Cover Letter

A cover letter might not be the reason you’ll get hired but it can provide a great first impression. A badly written cover letter can be the reason to stop considering someone's application so it’s still important to get right.

Thankfully this incredible guide will give you a concise rundown of exactly how you can write a solid cover letter: https://theproaudiofiles.com/cover-letter-for-audio-industry-jobs/

Before you start writing you should always do your research. This includes thoroughly looking at the job listing as well as looking up the studio and finding out what games they are working on and have released.

Try and find out who the hiring manager is that you’re addressing the letter to (if it’s a big studio) as well as who the audio director is. This might seem logical but it’s important to know what kind of studio you’re actually applying to in the first place. That way you can personalise the cover letter and cover any important topics.

For example, if you’re applying to a studio working on an FPS and you’ve done a uni project that was an FPS it’s good to mention that.

Lastly, a great Twitter thread with some final tips before you start writing by the amazing Trevor Dike: https://twitter.com/TrevorDikes/status/1481355933972369415