Instructional Designer Resume: Templates & Examples

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.

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?

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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:

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.

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.

👍 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 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. 

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.