So my first contract is almost up with the company I am with, and I want to start sending out resume's as an extension hasn't been offered yet. I've been told there's higher demand applying while you are still employed rather than afterward. Anyway I want to make sure I'm not breaking any taboos on my resume before I rewrite it so I have a couple questions.

• My contract was pretty short (8 months). Is there a good way to represent that without it looking like they weren't pleased with my work and let me go? To my knowledge it is more to do with my contract expiring and them cutting back to begin with.
• What's a good way to put the game you worked on on your resume? It's my first game, so I can't really make it a list.
• How in depth should I go with my duties on the project? Should I list specific features I worked on and which parts I did? Should I not list any features and stick more to broad strokes of what I did?
• If I'm trying to break my way sideways into another role possibly--I am a software engineer, but I would like to be a part of production. What's a good way to translate SE skills to make them appear better from a production standpoint.
• Kind of again on that point, what are some good points to put on an application for a producer position in general? It seems like a lot of the bullet points for what make a good production candidate seem generic, so what makes a production resume stand out?
  Feel kinda weird asking all that, as I felt I had a good grasp on how to write my resume as a graduate, but now with actual experience I'm much less sure about what is relevant/important to put on my resume. I'm also a little skiddish about breaking some taboos that might get me sent to the bottom of the pile from the get go.
  
  I'll be glad to share my resume after I rewrite it if you guys want to take a look, but I am doing this pre-rewrites so I don't want to show anything yet.

So my first contract is almost up with the company I am with, and I want to start sending out resume's as an extension hasn't been offered yet. I've been told there's higher demand applying while you are still employed rather than afterward. Anyway I want to make sure I'm not breaking any taboos on my resume before I rewrite it so I have a couple questions.

It is generally better because you are still getting a paycheck and have less urgency, including the ability to turn down a job if negotiation doesn't work well.

Some companies, generally those with big HR departments, feel that if you have been unemployed more than x months that you must have been skipped over by other companies and are therefore not worth the investment. There is a degree of truth to it, but also given the economy it is a foolhardy attitude.

My contract was pretty short (8 months). Is there a good way to represent that without it looking like they weren't pleased with my work and let me go? To my knowledge it is more to do with my contract expiring and them cutting back to begin with.
[/quote] Contract work is common in the industry for certain types of jobs. Simply stating that your contract was up and the game was finished is satisfactory.

What's a good way to put the game you worked on on your resume? It's my first game, so I can't really make it a list.
[/quote]

A list of one item is sufficient, just don't make a big presentation. "Here is a list of all the things I have worked on: 1." has the wrong emphasis. "Worked on title" is a much better emphasis. It can grow to "Worked on x, y, and z", over time.

How in depth should I go with my duties on the project? Should I list specific features I worked on and which parts I did? Should I not list any features and stick more to broad strokes of what I did?<li>If I'm trying to break my way sideways into another role possibly--I am a software engineer, but I would like to be a part of production. What's a good way to translate SE skills to make them appear better from a production standpoint.<li>Kind of again on that point, what are some good points to put on an application for a producer position in general? It seems like a lot of the bullet points for what make a good production candidate seem generic, so what makes a production resume stand out?
[/quote]

These are all basically the same question. An employer is only interested in two things: Will you do the job well? Will you fit in? Your information should answer those two questions and include enough of a lead-in that they want to ask you for additional details.

Feel kinda weird asking all that, as I felt I had a good grasp on how to write my resume as a graduate, but now with actual experience I'm much less sure about what is relevant/important to put on my resume. I'm also a little skiddish about breaking some taboos that might get me sent to the bottom of the pile from the get go.

I'll be glad to share my resume after I rewrite it if you guys want to take a look, but I am doing this pre-rewrites so I don't want to show anything yet.
[/quote]


They aren't really so different. Both the recent grad and the regularly employed resume focus on projects that were recently completed. The difference is that for the recent graduate the education was the most prominent feature; once you've got experience that experience becomes the most prominent feature.

In both cases they are still providing evidence that you will do the job well, and that you will fit in.

Hello Lazy, you cared enough to ask:

1. I've been told there's higher demand applying while you are still employed rather than afterward.
2. My contract was pretty short (8 months). Is there a good way to represent that without it looking like they weren't pleased with my work and let me go? To my knowledge it is more to do with my contract expiring and them cutting back to begin with.
3. What's a good way to put the game you worked on on your resume? It's my first game, so I can't really make it a list.
4. How in depth should I go with my duties on the project? Should I list specific features I worked on and which parts I did? Should I not list any features and stick more to broad strokes of what I did?
5. If I'm trying to break my way sideways into another role possibly--I am a software engineer, but I would like to be a part of production. What's a good way to translate SE skills to make them appear better from a production standpoint.
6. what are some good points to put on an application for a producer position in general? It seems like a lot of the bullet points for what make a good production candidate seem generic, so what makes a production resume stand out?
7. I'm also a little skiddish[/quote]
1. Don't believe everything "they" tell you. Every rule or principle is counterbalanced by an opposing rule or principle. While there's some truth in the notion that a candidate who's currently in a job has the appearance of someone who must be a good worker over one who's not, there's also the opposing principle: suspicion of motives. "He's already in a good job, why the heck is he looking to leave them in the lurch and come to us?" "Would he leave us too when he sees a prettier opening somewhere else? Is he fickle?"
2. It is what it is, and hirers are good at finding out the truth. So you need to know the truth too, so you need to talk to your current employer. Open communication is the way to go here. You want your former employer to say good things about you to your future employer.
3. Then don't try to make it a list. You might not be able to name that game anyway (you might have to refer to it only by genre and platform). See #4.
4. Write 2 lines (2 bullets), no more, about what you did on that project. The emphasis is on what you did, not on what you made.
5. Emphasize the leadership, if any, you exhibited, in the 2 lines you write. Emphasize decision-making or managerial type things. And you can also mention your production aspiration in the introductory paragraph at the top of your résumé.
6. You're interested in bigger-picture matters, right? More than whether to use an array or a linklistwhatchamacallit? So in your cover letter (or, better, in your interview) you can mention stuff you observed on your last project, that you found interesting about how the project was run or about the publisher-developer relationship.
7. "Skittish."

7. "Skittish."

I'm slightly curious how that made it through my spell checker without a red squiggly though.

Thanks both of you. I'll throw something together this weekend so I can get some more concrete examples of what is good/bad