Instructional Designer Resume: Templates & Examples

instructional designer resume example
Created by CakeResume

In response to the growing needs of online eLearning platforms, digital product instructional tutorials, and corporate internal or external training, instructional designers are in much demand.

An instructional designer’s job duty includes applying instructional system designing methodologies to design curriculums, produce instructional materials, and optimize course content or structure for a better learning experience. 

An instructional designer’s resume may be similar to a learning experience designer’s, eLearning designer’s, or digital learning architect’s with only slight differences.

All of those aim to improve the learning process by analyzing the needs and creating effective courses. See our sample resume for instructional designers below.

📝 Note: The major difference between an instructional designer CV and resume is its purpose. An instructional designer CV is used for higher education application, while an instructional designer resume is used for job searching and interview.

Select a format for your instructional design resume

There are 3 basic formats adopted by most applicants in the job market: chronological format, functional format, and combinational format.

You can use these formats to outline your instructional designer resume.

🏷 Chronological resume format

It organizes your experience in a timely order. The chronological resume format is the most commonly accepted format. List the most recent work before those dated back earlier in your instructional designer resume.

🏷 Functional resume format

A functional format can also be called a “skill-based” format. It uses skills as categories or columns to show your strength and expertise. This is suitable for freshers with less to no experience to create a professional-looking resume.

🏷 Combinational resume format

A combinational resume format presents your work experience along with several of your essential instructional design skills. Although this format can demonstrate everything you want to cover, it can also be lengthy and repetitive.

In what format should an instructional designer resume be sent?

Word format

  • The file type you use depends on the application channel you’re using.
  • Follow the specification of the job description before randomly choosing one type.

PDF format

  • An instructional designer resume in PDF is recommended since it retains your layout, font style, and margins intact.  

❌ Note: Unless the company specifically asked for an MS word file, this format is not recommended. It can easily ruin your layout and is unfriendly for platforms except for PCs.

How to prepare an entry-level instructional design resume?

Advice 1: If you are a fresher without much experience writing an instructional design resume for an internship, a functional (skill-based) format is ideal. Highlight the instructional design skills and other soft skills that are relevant for the application.

Advice 2: Adopt a career objective for your instructional designer resume that outlines your prospects. This shows the hiring manager your ambition and passion.

Advice 3: If you don’t have abundant experience to show off, try to make your education section shine by highlighting your educational qualifications. List your GPA (3.5 or above) or extracurricular activities related to the role.

What to include in an instructional designer resume - 8 key sections

1. Resume Profile (Personal Information)

List your contact details, including name, email, phone number upfront so that HR can get in touch with you quickly.

2. Resume Headline 

A resume headline is a short statement on top of an instructional designer resume announcing your current or expected position. 

Example of a resume headline: 

Creative Instructional Designer with 3+ years experience in designing online language learning programs

3. Resume Summary

A summary is 3-4 sentences that summarize your entire instructional designer resume. In a resume summary, the hiring manager sees your instructional design experience, character, and specialties altogether. 

👍 Tip: Put the essence of your experience in this paragraph and integrate keywords in the job posting to seize attention.

Example of a resume summary: 

Agile instructional designer with 3+ years of experience in developing training programs for IT engineers and managers using Storyline and Captivate authoring tools.

4. Resume Objective

Use an objective instead if you don’t have enough experience to write an outstanding summary in the instructional design resume. A career objective for instructional designers marks your enthusiasm for an instructional design position.

Example of a resume objective: 

Enthusiastic Instructional Designer with expertise in the real estate industry. Looking to apply for a position as Senior Instructional Designer at RE/MAX to empower the company and fully utilize her talent.

5. Skills

In this resume section, list your instructional design skills that prove your competency. See some essential instructional design skills listed below for your job application. 

Example of skills for an instructional designer:

  • Adobe Captivate, XD
  • Articulate Storyline
  • Audacity
  • VISIO
  • xAPI
  • Web 2.0
  • Sharepoint
  • Employee Training
  • Facilitation
  • Interpersonal Relationship 
  • Learning Design strategies
  • Multimedia Design
  • Needs Analysis
  • Learning Management Systems 
  • Agile Learning program competency
  • Audience/Learner analysis
  • Background learning
  • Customer Service
  • Course material creation
  • Curriculum design
  • Design Thinking
  • Project Management
  • Problem-Solving
  • Research
  • UI/UX thinking
  • Written/Oral Communication

6. Work Experience

Now it’s showtime.

The experience section is where the recruiter will take a closer look at your instructional design resume after a glance at the summary. Before you start writing, take a deep look at the job description. Select the critical keywords and make sure you insert the exact same terms in your content. 

  • List your instructional design experience from the most recent to the least.
  • Add 2-4 bullet points to explain concrete achievements and quantified results.
  • Describe your previous duty and project outcomes with measurements.

Example of work experience: 

Senior Instructional Designer

Bridge Education, Georgia
January 2014 - 2017

  • Developed customized training program for 5000 employees in 10 companies and received effective feedback with a 95% positive rate
  • Optimized learning efficiency and experience by 15% measured by learner review 
  • Improved target audience subscription rate by 10% by analyzing audience needs with the marketing team

Learning Designer

Educake, New York

  • Reduced course developing time by 30% by creating effective prototypes
  • Performed quality assurance (QA) reviews on all courseware for internal examination and identified major engineering issue before launching products

7. Education

If you have a handful of working experience and a master’s degree, you can just list your master’s degree and craft your work experience section well. 

However, suppose you are just a college newbie applying for an internship in the instructional design field. In that case, you can include your course projects, GPA (3.5 or above), or related activities to validate your skills.

8. Additional Information

Before ending your instructional designer resume, if you got any certificates, awards, side-projects, list them without reserve. Perhaps you have language proficiency, unique expertise, or hobbies. You can put those in the extra section as well.

CakeResume provides the right instructional designer resume templates & formats for you to showcase your skills and experiences. Sign up to create and download the best instructional designer resume now for FREE!

Tips for your instructional designer resume and portfolio

👍 Tip 1: Tailor the instructional designer resume to a specific job posting.

You don’t have to write every resume for an instructional designer position all over from scratch, but you should tailor each resume you send to one application. Use the exact word in the job description to pass ATS (Applicant Tracking System) scanning.

For example, a learning designer resume’s keywords will be different from an instructional designer resume.

👍 Tip 2: All content should be relevant as possible.

Examine each resume section: Everything you write in an instructional designer or learning designer resume should explain your qualification. If your job experience is unrelated, seek a connection or leave it out instead.

👍 Tip 3: Keep formatting styles consistent.

Besides selecting one of the three resume formats, you should also pay attention to font styles, font size, and line spacing. Define different heading with consistent styles and normal text, which are easy to skim.

👍 Tip 4: List your responsibilities clear in a team project.

The recruiters won’t want to guess your role in a collaborative project on your instructional design portfolio. Be clear about your responsibilities and record developing process details in both resumes and portfolio. Honesty is the best policy. Don’t exaggerate the contribution!

👍 Tip 5: Update LinkedIn, portfolio, and other platforms frequently.

Notice that if you have a LinkedIn, online portfolio website, or an instructional designer portfolio, keep all the information updated and consistent. If they click on your LinkedIn and notice the last time you updated is 3 years ago, or the link to your instructional designer resume doesn’t work on your website, it won’t leave a positive impression. The information in your portfolio should align with your resume as well.

👍 Tip 6: Make a good instructional design portfolio with portfolio builder.

An online portfolio website is crucial for freelance, entry-level, or even lead instructional designers' resumes. To make a good instructional design portfolio, use your skills to outline it. Use portfolio builders to save your time on graphic design and focus on delivering the content.

💡 The winning ingredient to an instructional designer’s portfolio is to provide necessary context for reasons. Why was a syllabus arrangement decision made? Did you apply certain models or designed multimedia materials?

Should I use a resume template?

Should I use a template for my instructional designer resume?

The benefits of using a template for your instructional designer resume are you don’t have to spend time doing graphic design and focus on the content to create attractive and customized resumes. 

✍🏻 Reminder: Most popular templates are too often seen in the market and unable to make you stand out. Some others are not friendly to the ATS system. Select your template wisely based on what and how you want to include.

What is the best template for an instructional designer resume?

For students with no work experience or freshers looking for the first job, you should choose a template that hides your lack of experience and highlights strong instructional design skills or side projects. 

As for a senior to lead instructional designer resume template, choose a simple, classic style to bring out your strong background.

Where can I get a free resume template?

CakeResume

CakeResume is an online free multimedia resume & portfolio builder.

You can easily create a unique and eye-catching resume and instructional design portfolio with a videos section and PDF files available for free download. You can also surf through 500+ real resume examples and samples to get inspired. 

Word Doc. / Google Doc.

Word and Google offer free resume templates for their users. Simply fill it in online, and your instructional designer resume is finished!

Instructional Designer Resume Sample

Patricia Elliot

Instructional Designer with proven IT training experience

[email protected]     
202-555-0172
Atlanta, Georgia

Professional Summary

Innovative learning instructional design expert with 8+ years of experience and UX mindset. Developed and managed 50+ multi language online courses and an overall 98% improvement rate. Generate 40% increase in member subscription by designing courses that meet need analysis.  

Work Experience

Senior Instructional Designer
Smile Language Elearning        
2017-present

  • Conducted needs analysis for 3764 learners to assess 10 course product line developing strategy
  • Collaborated with language experts, graphic designers, and UX writers to design training materials which generated 3% increase in material satisfaction rate
  • Designed training solutions to educate 120+ company stakeholders Spanish and Chinese culture to improve organization communication
  • Managed 50+ multilanguage elearning course performance to generate report and reduced future product developing time

Associate Instructional Designer
RHJ, Inc.    
2014-2017

  • Applied tested instructional design theories, practices, and methods (ADDIE, SAM) to design learning solutions to empower company associates
  • Designed and hold 18+ livestreams, webinars, and e-learning modules for global and cross-department employee training
  • Reduced training cost by 20% by evaluating and redesigning past learning materials

Education

Stanford University        2011-2013
M.S. in Learning Design and Technology

Penn University         2007-2011
B.S. in Instructional Design and Technology Online

Skills

  • Adobe Captivate
  • Articulate Storyline
  • Google Suite
  • Needs Analysis
  • Background Learning
  • VISIO
  • Epic EHR
  • Project Management
  • Facilitation
  • Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
  • Design Thinking
  • Client/Associate Relationship
  • Chinese (expert), Spanish (advanced), German (advanced)

Certifications

Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) 

--- Originally written by WuChaoMin ---

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