Are you having trouble trying to get your first instructional designer job?
If so, here’s a short list of suggestions that can help you land your first instructional designer role!
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1. Make sure that your LinkedIn job title matches the title of the jobs you are looking for, such as Learning and Development Specialist or Curriculum Developer or Learning Experience Designer. Instructional Design roles can fall under various titles. You may want to look at job posting descriptions to see which job title(s) most frequently match the role(s) that you are seeking.
2. Remove irrelevant experience. If you are unable to make a strong argument for why an experience listed on your resume is directly related to the job posting, then remove it! People do many things in many roles, but employers are looking for the specific set of tools, skills, and experiences listed in the job description.
3. Optimize your resumes for applicant tracking systems (ATS). This is basically, to make sure that the words and phrases in a job description are found on your resume. If you are unfamiliar with ATS, I recommend searching online for tips on how to do this or what software to use. There are a number software programs that provide this service, some will give you a few free scans.
4. Have a high-level portfolio. This means that you should not upload a long paper or every slide in a presentation to your instructional design portfolio. What you present should be a snapshot of your work. Make sure your portfolio does not have too much text! Try describing each project in a short paragraph and/or each stage of a project’s development as
one or two short sentences.5. Practice the STAR interview format or STAR interview response. Be ready to talk about your instructional design projects and past work experience by defining the situation, task, action, and results that you took. Interviewers will often ask you to talk about a time that you had a conflict with a coworker or cross-functional team at your workplace. There are many sources for the STAR interview format including Understanding the STAR Interview Format written by Indeed.