Home Instructional Designer Resume template
Instructional Designer resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what instructional designers actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most instructional designers should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Instructional designer with a background in adult learning and course development across corporate, government and vocational settings. Builds self-paced modules and blended programs in Articulate Storyline and Captivate, working from subject matter expert interviews and learner data rather than assumptions about what people need. Comfortable owning a course end to end, from needs analysis and storyboard sign-off through to LMS launch and revision.
Key skills
- Curriculum and lesson design
- Adult learning principles and needs analysis
- Business requirements analysis
- Stakeholder management
- Project management
- Articulate Storyline 360
- Adobe Captivate
- Moodle and Canvas LMS
- SCORM and xAPI publishing
- Figma and Adobe XD for storyboards and wireframes
- Microsoft 365
- Written communication
- Problem solving
- Attention to detail
Experience: example bullet points
- Interviewed subject matter experts and frontline staff to map what new starters genuinely had to do in their first month, then rebuilt the onboarding program around those tasks rather than the existing policy documents.
- Designed and built interactive modules in Articulate Storyline 360, using branching scenarios so learners practised real decisions instead of clicking through slides.
- Loaded and tested SCORM packages in the LMS before each launch, working with the LMS administrator to resolve tracking and completion issues so reporting worked from day one.
- Reviewed completion and assessment data after each rollout and revised the weakest sections, which lifted first-attempt assessment pass rates on the next intake.
- Managed the design schedule across several courses at once, keeping subject matter experts and reviewers to agreed milestone dates and flagging slippage early.
- Built accessible learning materials to WCAG 2.1 AA, including captions, transcripts, alt text and keyboard-navigable interactions.
Education
A bachelor degree in education, instructional design, psychology or a related discipline is the most common entry point, though a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAE40122) or a diploma in learning design combined with industry experience is equally accepted. A postgraduate qualification in learning design or education is also common among designers moving into senior or lead roles.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- Instructional design
- Learning design
- eLearning
- ADDIE
- Adult learning principles
- TAE40122
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
- ASQA
- Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
- Units of competency
- Training package
- Registered training organisation (RTO)
- VET
- Learning management system (LMS)
- Moodle
- Canvas
- Articulate Storyline 360
- Adobe Captivate
- SCORM
- xAPI
- Needs analysis
- Blended learning
- Microlearning
- Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA)
- Kirkpatrick evaluation model
- Stakeholder engagement
- Project management
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.