Tips to Win Your Dream Job as an Interior Designer
Nowadays the resume is an exclusive part of the job application. If you are a beginner in the resume writing process, read our full guide on how to write a perfect resume. The following resume tips will help you to tailor your resume for an interior designer position.
Add a Descriptive Job Title
The job title is a very important detail of your resume header. But you should mention the given job title in your job advertisement. That may be Interior Designer, In-Field Designer, or Interior Decorator.
You can mention your job title by adding relevant certification or unique skills that are very important to be an interior designer.
See the sample resume header below.

Use of Social Profiles
As an interior designer, you may collect hundreds of images and photos of your interior designing projects. Do you post them regularly on your Facebook page, Instagram, Pinterest, DudePins, PearlTrees, Dribbble, FoodGawker, or Hometalk accounts? If yes, the recruiters will love to check them. So, provide the URLs of your accounts in your resume header.
Modern interior designers tend to generate videos of modern interior trends. Also, they upload videos on their youtube channels related to the designing field.
Insert Relevant Educational Qualifications
An Associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s degree in Business, Architecture, Interior Architecture, or Interior Design, or equivalent field of study from an accredited university are good educational qualifications to be an interior designer.
Arrange your educational qualifications in reverse chronological order. That means from the top qualification to the lowest.
One of the best tips to make your education section stand out is to mention the relevant coursework.
- Interior Products
- Design Drafting
- Residential Design
- Commercial Design
- Lighting for Interiors
- Visual communication
- 2D & 3D Design Tools
- Contracts & Budgeting
- Architectural Illustration
- Special Purpose Design
- Codes & Environmental Issues
- Interior Design & Space Planning
- History of Architecture & Furniture
Are you a certified interior designer?
Recruiters preferred to have relevant certifications with you. You can enhance the worth of your interior designer resume by adding the relevant certifications in the ‘Certifications & Licenses’ section.
Here are some famous certifications in the construction industry.
- CIDQ – The Council for Interior Design Qualification
- RIDQC – The Designer Society of America (DSA)
- CCIDC – California Council for Interior Design Certification
- AAHID – Certified Healthcare Interior Designer
- LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Certification
Prove the Interior Designing Skills
Communicational skills:- This job position is always interacting with customers and clients. Especially interior designers should interview the clients to understand the concept and their requirements. So oral communication is very important. Also, written communication is essential to create the relevant documents and reports of interior projects.
Designing skills:- The interior designers must have perfect designing skills. Especially hiring managers to hire designers who can draw by hand and using the relevant drawing software.
Visualization skills:- The ability of visualization is very important to create innovative designs. Almost all interior designers try to build modern designs that never had before. Because the value of those designs is very high.
Creativity skills:- Interior designers need creative thinking to develop and build unique, modern, and practical designs according to the concept. That means the client may request a fancy, natural, or classical theme. But, the designer is responsible to fulfill their needs by creating relevant interior components.
Teamwork skills:- The interior designers have to interact with the architects, interior decorators, civil engineers, chemical engineers, construction workers, and other project team members cooperatively. So they are responsible to work with the senior staff by supporting in design and technical tasks.
Time management skills:– An interior designing project is a process of interviewing clients, gathering requirements, planning, selecting materials, and documentation. Also, interior designers have to handle multiple tasks at once. So highlight time management skills in your resume.
Other than the above soft skills you can also highlight customer service, project, and budget management skills in your resume.
Expertise in Technology and Software
Providing elementary design computations, compiling data, preparing internal design plans, and renderings are major duties of an interior designer. Therefore the hiring managers required the ability to use 2D / 3D space planning and visualization software beyond sketching by hand.
Here are the most demanded software skills for an interior designer.
- Revit
- AutoCAD
- SketchUp
- Illustrator
- Photoshop
- Adobe Suite products
- Lumion
- Enscape
- Rhino
- InDesign
- V-Ray
- Grasshopper
- MicroStation
Build Top Achievements as an Interior Designer
Do you want to list impressive bullet points in your work experience section? Then you can use the following facts to build the top-notch accomplishments in your interior designer resume.
However, your responsibility is to gather the recent and relevant achievements. Because the recruiters are looking for them in your resume.
Especially, do not forget to use the keywords and action verbs given in the job advert in your resume as much as possible.
Documentation Ability:- The interior designers must handle a vast variety of documents and reports. They are schematic drawings, blueprints, floor plans, selection of finishes, diagrams, final working drawings, designs, pattern plans, electrical plans, quantity calculations, room finishes, sketches of designs, etc. The recruiters want to know your talent in the documentation. So create the achievements that reveal your engagement in drawing and creating reports.
Space Planning:- The designers in the interior field must consider so many interior components in detail such as interior partitions, corridors, circulations, ceiling, lighting, furniture, equipment, and finishers. In general accessibility and functionality of the space are critical when creating and designing a project. So you can create an interesting achievement that explains how you planned the space considering all components. Also mention the methods and techniques you used to overcome the space planning problems.
Caring about Safety First:- When it comes to design, ensuring the safety of the people is a must. So the knowledge of building code, fire safety, fire evacuation map, methods to apply fire alarms, and sprayers are eligible to be a professional interior designer. It is better to explain some situations where you have overcome safety problems by using correct methods.
The Practice of Material Selection:- Interior materials can be different based on the component such as furniture, lighting equipment, wall arts, and ornamental plants. For example, wood, carpet, or tiles can be used for the floor. However, the designer should select the interior materials by considering very important factors such as slip resistance of the floor, fire rating of wall finishes, color selections, pallet selections, air quality, volatile organic compounds of the material. So, the hiring personnel wants to know how did you create unique and different designs by mixing suitable interior materials.
Usage of Action Verbs
Action verbs and keywords are very important to pass the ATS test. Because the hiring managers customize their ATS based on the given words in the job post. So you should select the most powerful action verbs and keywords from the job advert.
List of relevant action verbs for an interior designer
- Planned
- Implemented
- Performed
- Managed
- Provided
- Worked
- Assisted
- Reviewed
- Established
- Recommended
- Prepared
- Collaborated
- Supported
- Participated
- Produced
- Communicated
- Suggested
- Presented
- Followed
- Designed
Attach an Impressive Cover Letter
An interior designer cover letter will assist you to receive more interview opportunities. Because if you submit a well-written cover letter, the recruiters automatically tend to refer to your resume further. Do you want to know how to write an impressive cover letter? We invite you to read our full cover letter guide.
Interior Designer Resume Sample (Text Version)
Sofia Harper
NCIDQ Certified Interior Designer
Maryland, Cambridge
sofiaharper@example.com
Maryland, Cambridge
Pinterest:- https://www.pinterest.com/sofiaharper/example
Linkedin:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofiaharper/example/
Professional Summary
A creative interior designer with 5+ years of experience in residential, hospitality, and environmental design. An active member of the ‘Tino Zervudachi’ interior project in 2018 and received the NCIDQ Certification in 2016. Expert in AutoCAD, Adobe Suite, and InDesign. Awarded as the best lighting designer in 2012.
Work Experience
Interior Designer
The LauckGroup, Inc., New York – 2015/Jan to Present
- Drew more than 50 plans of buildings using AutoCAD and InDesign software and hand drawing methods.
- Interviewed more than 20 clients to gather relevant requirements and created on the spot drawings.
- Rechecked building code, electrical plans, and fire evacuation map 3+ times to ensure the safety of the building.
- Finished the project on time and increased client engagement and satisfaction by 30% within three months.
Interior Designer
Eastlake Studio, Chicago – 2010/Jan to 2014/Dec
- Managed 100+ floor plans, diagrams, sketches of designs, and finishes related to each project.
- Designed different types of 5+ corridors, 10+ lighting arrangements, 20+ furniture, and equipment related to residential design.
- Introduced titanium floors for the clients and saved their budget by 20% and increased company income by 10%.
- Won the best lighting design award in 2012 for innovating different shapes and colors for different purposes.
Education
Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design – 2006/Jan to 2009/Dec
New York School of Interior Design, New York
- Relevant coursework:- construction, visual communication, interior design history, interior designing materials, interior design studio
- GPA:- 3.56
Skills
- Revit
- AutoCAD
- SketchUp
- Illustrator
- Photoshop
- Communicational Skills
- Designing Skill
- Visualization Skill
- Teamwork Skills
- Time management skill
- Project Management
- Budget Management
Languages
English – Native Speaker
Spanish – Highly Proficient
Chinese – Very Good Command
Russian – Working Knowledge
Certificates
The Council for Interior Design Qualification (CIDQ) Certification – 2016 Feb
Council of Interior Design Qualification