Three Ways to Enhance Your Instructional Design Resume

As a leader with experience hiring Instructional Designers (ID), there are three tips I find myself giving to every ID who asks for feedback on their resume. 

1. Fill your resume with quantifiable achievements and outcomes 
2. Use a simple, easy to read, layout that includes a strong title and summary
3. Have a portfolio that works

The most common response I receive is "What's a learning outcome?  Do you have an example?"  In this post we'll explore where to find quantifiable learning data, compare learning outcomes vs. outputs, review how to create an effective layout, and identify what hiring managers like myself look for in a portfolio.

What is a learning outcome?
Instructional Designers help to solve business problems.  This is the value we create for an organization. We show this value by measuring the effectiveness and impact of our learning solutions.  These are known as outcomes.  Your resume should be a reflection of the outcomes you've helped to achieve for an organization.   ​It's the best way to show the value you'll bring to your next team.

Hiring managers want to see the impact that you've created in the past so they can imagine the impact you'll achieve for them.  Unfortunately many of us fill our resumes with job responsibilities and lists of training materials we've created.   These are known as outputs.  Outputs are the modules, videos, tools, and programs you've created to solve a business problem (a.k.a, achieve an outcome).   

Learning outcomes vs. outputs
Here's a simple example of a learning output vs outcome.

Output:  Re-designed the Customer Service Representative (CSR) onboarding curriculum by converting instructor led content to elearning modules.

Outcome:  Reduced time to onboard CSRs by two weeks while maintaining new hire proficiency standards.  We converted 80 hours per new CSR spent in training to time spent supporting customers.  In 2019 we returned over 2,000 hours to Operations.  Our courses received an average 4.5-star quality rating (out of 5) and the curriculum achieved an overall Net Promotor Score (NPS) of 70.

Notice the difference?  The outcome provides quantifiable data showing the impact of training outputs provided to the organization.

I don't have outcomes!
Maybe measuring learning outcomes isn't a requirement at your organization or your team is working up to that capability.  Either way, I'm sure you can find some quantifiable information to share.  Here are a few avenues to start searching for the information you need.
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1. Your LMS:  Most learning management systems track test scores and completion rates.  Even better if it has a rating system or comments that you can pull from.
2. Survey data:  Your Learning organization is probably surveying participants at the end of a training program.  You can use this data to show what people thought of your efforts. 
3. Do the math:  Think about your last project, did you save time, reduce the need for resources, or make training more accessible?  If you flip an instructor led course to self-paced and save 100 employees 30 minutes each, that equates to  3,000 minutes (100*30) or 50 hours (3,000 / 60) returned to the organization. 
4. Ask:  Seriously, go back to the team you supported with training and ask if they have any data to measure the impact of your work.  "Last month I built a course to help CSRs learn how to up-sell X product.  How are they doing?  Do you have any data I can look at to show if there's been a change?"  You can use this data for your resume and to support the work you're doing for your current organization.
5. Other achievements:  If you're in school or transitioning to an ID role, think about the work that you've done in the past and how it's relevant to an ID role.  Quantify that information on your resume as much as possible.  Here's a great resource from the Colorado Christian University.

Example outcomes and quantifiable outputs
The following list contains examples of outputs with quantifiable information and outcomes.  I've highlighted what I consider the most important component in each.  

• Rapidly developed five elearning courses to support the transition to a virtual sales curriculum. Participants rated the courses an average 4.5 out of 5-stars.
• Developed a two week blended curriculum to support the onboarding of CSRs.  The curriculum received a 70 NPS from participants.
• Led a cross functional team to develop and launch a Learning Center website including reference guides and instructional demonstrations.  Viewed over 2000 times the demonstrations received an overall 96% approval rating.
• Increased certification scores by 10% through the creation of a practice exam and supporting micro-learning videos. 
• Partnered with Human Resources to develop training that supports employee engagement and development.  70% of participants entered a development goal into our HRIS system.
• Supported an 8% increase in customer referrals to trusted partners with a micro-learning curriculum served to CSRs over a 3 month period.  
• Led the process to transition 7,000 courses from our current Learning Management System to our learning experience platform.
• Created a monthly email digest to inform employees about valuable learning programs, supporting a 10% increase in learning library course completions in Q4 2019.

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Optimize your layout
Refreshing the content of your resume isn't the only way to improve your chances of getting an interview.  According to an eye scanning study by The Ladders in 2018 most resumes are scanned for about 7.4 seconds in an F or E pattern.  This means that recruiters and hiring managers are quickly scanning the top of your resume , from left to right, before moving their eyes down the left side of the page for relevant information.  When they find something relevant they move their eyes across the page to the right, forming an F or E pattern.  Repeating this process until they are finished.  You can use this research to your advantage.

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"they (recruiters) scanned the left side of the resume evenly, picking out titles and reading supplementary information as necessary." The Ladders

Eye-Tracking Study, The Ladders 2018

Capture attention
Capitalize on recruiter and hiring manager scanning patterns by doing the following.

1. Simple layout:  "Clear, simple layouts with clearly marked section and title headers.  Use bold job titles supported by bulleted lists of accomplishments."  Eye-Tracking Study, The Ladders
2. Add a title:  Use the title of your resume to tell people who you are.  Don't just list your name.  Example: I'm an engaging senior leader and experienced Instructional Designer.
3. Include a summary:  "A resume summary statement is a one to two-sentence professional introduction that you can add to the top of your resume to highlight your most valuable skills and experiences. The resume summary can help employers quickly learn whether you have the skills and background they require." Indeed.com 
4. Highlight accomplishments: I've had great success highlighting five or six relevant accomplishments and outcomes at the top of my resume.  It quickly shows my value to a recruiter and hiring manager.
5. Bold important content.  Example:  Developed a two-week blended curriculum to support the onboarding of CSRs.  The curriculum received a 70 NPS from participants. Nielsen Norman Group

Example resume
Here's the layout and actual summary I use for the top of my own resume.  The Achievements are taken from the examples above.

Sample Resume

​Portfolios
Should you have a portfolio?  Yes.  Whether it's real or full of imagined sample projects, a hiring manager will want to see the type of work that you are capable of creating.  A strong portfolio gives them a visual representation of your work.

Three tips based on portfolios I've reviewed.

1. It has to work:  I can't tell you how many courses I've reviewed that simply do not function.  If your content doesn't function as intended it can give the impression that you don't have strong attention to detail.  
2. Images are fine: I don't need to see all the cool e-learning interactions that you've created.   A gif or video demo works fine as well.
3. Share some Context:  Give me just enough of a taste to understand the problem you are solving and your design & development skills. 

In closing
As an Instructional Designer you have the ability to create immense value for your organization.  Make sure that you are taking the time to capture that value to promote the work of your team and your own career.  Here's a quick recap and some resources to help you enhance your resume.  

1. Start measuring outcomes 
If you're not measuring outcomes today, that's OK!  Develop a plan and start now.  Here are some resources to get you started.   

• Research Kirkpatrick's four levels of training evaluation.  This is an easy way to get started and formalize the measurement process at your organization.
• Before starting a project, ask what success looks like after training is complete.  If you know what success looks like, you can work with your stakeholder to determine how to measure it.

2.  Use a simple layout

• Eye Tracking Study, The Ladders
• F-Shaped Pattern Reading Web Content, Nielsen Norman Group

3.  Have a portfolio that works

• Images are fine! Here's an eLearning portfolio example from Devlin Peck