Making a GIS resume that stands out

If you can’t market yourself, I’m worried you can’t market our program

The resume creates the first impression on the hiring manager that may do a 6 second review. Especially in GIS, an appealing design will impart instant faith that you can do this for their company or project. If you think about it, all of your GIS work ultimately creates maps, dashboards, or user interfaces that must clearly and professionally present data and market the project. You want to immediately show that you are able to make attractive graphics and designs. If you give them just a plain black and white Arial font resume, they’re going to be less likely to pay attention to you among their stack of resumes.

GIS resume example

Canva is a free online graphic design website, with tons of templates for social media posts, posters, slideshows, and even resumes.  Once you find a desirable template, you can edit it and add your resume sections to it. I created two differently styled resumes far easier than trying to format in a document editor.  You are also able to add icons for your different contact modes, a professional headshot image, or a banner image with a geographic flair.  A little extra design is eye catching and worth the effort. Check these out:

• Example Resume 1
• Example Resume 2

Suggestions for GIS Resume Content:

Whenever you are trying to create your resume, you may have questions on what exactly to include and what to leave out. Here are some things to sharpen your final draft:

One-page vs multi-page resumes

In general, most companies will prefer a one-page resume. And some will only allow you to submit a single page. If you have a multiple page resume, I recommend that you find a way to boil down your most important information into one page. A main focus should be your GIS projects and skills. You can keep your longer resume, but the one page resume will be more popular for your job announcement submissions.

List only essential contact info

Having an address on your resume just wastes space for other information that a hiring manager actually will find useful and interesting about you. Instead, maybe include a link to your LinkedIn profile underneath your phone number and email address. If you have a website portfolio with your GIS projects and other relevant experience, definitely add that to your resume.

Tip: You can edit your LinkedIn profile link: Go to view your profile, then on the top right there is an option to change your link. This will make it easier for hiring managers to use, and it looks cleaner than a whole bunch of random numbers after your name.

GIS Project experience

Having project experience on a GIS resume is super important when it comes to being hired. Companies are looking for people who already have experience doing the type of analysis they already perform.  You might be tempted to use bullet points for each project, but I have found it is better to have a couple sentences with dynamic language to explain your projects, software, or workflows.

What if you don’t have enough project experience? Bootcamp GIS has multiple project-oriented courses that you can use to help boost your resume. You can take courses on desirable skills like: AWS, Python, UAVs, and Data Science.

Previous job experience

Having previous job experiences and responsibilities will tell your professional story. You’ll have GIS projects and experience from these previous jobs and be ready to talk about that during an interview. Whether it’s a previous GIS internship or a job, it needs to be on your resume with the start and end dates. This is important because they will be able to see your job history and job patterns. If you have big gaps in your experience, be prepared to explain those gaps during an interview.

Tell the human side of you

So what will the hiring manager remember after they put down your resume and move on? A list of technical skills are like checkboxes in their mind but hard to distinguish between resumes. But if you describe tangible project experiences, they will be discussion worthy when you get an interview. Also add interests like hobbies you’re passionate about or social organizations where you volunteer. Have you done a personal GIS project about your interests? Include that in your resume! The best hiring managers hire a person rather than a technical resume. In addition to doing tasks, they want to make sure those people will fit in with the dynamic and culture of the company. 

What’s next once I have my GIS Resume?

Now that you have updated your resume with priorities in mind, you are ready to impress hiring managers. But don’t wait till you find a job announcement to submit it.  You will improve your chances by being proactive.  This means sending it to companies or individuals that you can find in your vertical through user groups or LinkedIn.  You might also submit to a job recruiter like GeoSearch which specializes in the geospatial industry.  Make your resume uniquely reflective of you and your skills, interests, and experience. We hope this article will inspire you to create an amazing new resume!

Keywords and Tags:  GIS resume sample, GIS resume, GIS LinkedIn profile, GIS project experience, GIS skills, GIS courses

Author:  Bailey Jones, Geography Student Texas A&M