resume advice

Pie4Weebl

Well-Known Member
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Tomorrow morning I am interviewing with a bunch of theaters to find summer work for myself and updated my resume. Its attached and the most vicious of critics would be appreciated by those with a little time on their hands tonight. And feel free to post criticisms in this thread and not in pm, let others learn from my mistakes.
 

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1st, make it actually look like something. Change up the lettering, do something semi artistic that doesn't make it look fruity. There are going to be tons of these things flying around, what makes yours any different? Personally, I would get rid of the years thing, and devote a whole collum to what you actually did for the show... example...
That one show... Master electrician That one theatre.

Also, put your shows in italics, its the proper thing to do. Under your special skills list what consoles you have actually used... ie Hog III, Hog II, iPc. Can you work every ETC console ever made, because you resume says you can. List SPECIFIC gear you have used. Also, Urinetown is one word, not two. add Software versions as well. If you can repair conventional fixtures, you might want to add that. The odds of any of the companies that you will be interviewing with at midwest having anything newer the a 5 year old S4 is rare (trust me, I have worked in Missouri theatre). Put the same jobs together, as in all your ME experience, all your programming experience. That way people can glance and see you have M.E. blank amount of shows. Can you get rid of your HS experience at this point? You might also want to put a "duties performed" section below each show, or maybe one or two shows. Few theatres care that you have M.E. 19 shows, they care what you will be able to do when you M.E. their show. Good luck tomorrow.
 
Here is my resume you welcome to use it for formating. I would get rid of the referances and telll them referances are avalible on request.
Resume

Hope that is helpful.
JH
 
I would get rid of the referances and telll them referances are avalible on request.
Resume
Hope that is helpful.
JH

thats a sure fire way to get your resume thrown in the trash. unless your resume is amazing, they aren't going to bother to call you to get references. Odds are they will just go to the next person who is probably just as qualified and has references

One thing I forgot... Education?
 
Um ok.

I have hired many people and i never call referances. Its a waste of time because referances lie.

But employers are always willing to ask for them i have found. As well referances dont like you releaseing there information so eassily.

JH
 
Um ok.
I have hired many people and i never call referances. Its a waste of time because referances lie.
But employers are always willing to ask for them i have found. As well referances dont like you releaseing there information so eassily.
JH

You are in the minority then.
 
made some small changes, but for now I think the overall format should be decent. Thanks for the advice.
 
It's good, but once again I agree with footer < duh> I like his suggestions. double check your formatting, Italicise the show names, it breaks up the image visual and look good, conversly you could bold them and under line them.
References, list them, period. Even if I don't call your references I want to know that you areconfident enough in your performance in those posistions that you would recieve a posistive reference or that those people would remember you. I recieve a resume' with no references I put it in the back of the file folder.
Capitalize the titles and posistions in your list of skills.
Again I agree with Footer, ETC consoles as a skill? what part operation, programming ? I would actually list those under the heading associated skills and under special skills list things like ; Certified Rigger, Model Building, Underwater Basket Weaving.......
You neverknow what is goingto spike an interest in someone and it might be as simple as the fact that you share a common hobby.

BTW if your'e going to apply for any outdoor theatres be sure to include your batting average as most will have very active softball leagues ! :mrgreen:

Break a leg !
 
I'm getting my resume together as well, and was going to include a list of the shows I've worked. The problem is the list is every show I've worked, and it doens't fit on a single page, and it'd actually make my resume over 3 pages long. Should I just include the big shows I've done, and not all? Maybe the shows that weren't school related?
 
I'm getting my resume together as well, and was going to include a list of the shows I've worked. The problem is the list is every show I've worked, and it doens't fit on a single page, and it'd actually make my resume over 3 pages long. Should I just include the big shows I've done, and not all? Maybe the shows that weren't school related?

Don't put every show you have done on your resume'. Make your resume look diversified, ie different types of venues, different types of theatre (expressionist, musical, dance,....). I also highly suggest a duties performed section that tells what you actually DID during those shows. Put your best shows on their, not the ones that might have turned out the best, but the ones that you had the most responsibility for. The only reason to put lesser jobs on it is if the show was wildly successful and very well known. Focus more on what you can do for whoever is looking at the resume, not what you have done in the past. Have a highly detailed "skills" section. Also, don't forget the references!
 
Comming from a totally different perspective, I'd suggest that you describe in some of your recent work, exactly what you did, what you accomplished. IMO the list of somewhat generic titles etc, really does not impress and get attention, but rather highlighting a few examples might get more attemtion

The other point is to tailor the resume to the specific opportunity, especially stating what sort of position you are looking for.

I can go either way on references, I tend to be more impressed with accomplishments.

Sharyn
 
I have to agree that the references are not necessary. A list of accomplishments for each show is a little better in my book.

I have been wondering about my current resume as well. It got me at least one job now, but I wonder if anybody can give me a quick critique of mine. attatched is an edited version minus my current show. Sorry, but I am a little paranoid about releasing personal info on the internet.
 

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Here is my view on resumes, and it is based on what I was taught at school. At Ithaca every tech/design major goes through a departmental review process at the end of each semester, and part of that is having a resume and portfolio. So this is what I was taught.

For a resume you should include a header of sorts that lists your name and what you do. This is a section that can be tailored to the job you are applying for. If you are looking at an LD position, put lighting designer, if you are looking at a master carp position, put that.

Next you should include your current and permanent contact information. So if you are say a student now, list your school address and phone and list your home address and phone. If your current an permanent address are the same then just list one.

Next up should be your work experience. You should list your most recent jobs (theatre related), or the jobs you have had that are pertinent to the job you are applying for. Each listing should include: the position you held, the company you worked for, your supervisor's name (name dropping is not a bad thing here), the show/season/project you worked on, and when it was. After you list your theatre related jobs, if you have other jobs that may be relevant you can list them, some people do this under a separate header for non theatre related work. You also shouldn't inundate your resume with work experience, 10-12 past jobs are plenty. If you are in college, especially freshmen and sophomores, you should try to get your high school jobs off your resume as soon as you have enough other jobs. For people just coming out of college, it is OK to list a bunch of jobs from college, people realize that you have been in school and generally only have summer jobs and an internship or two.

After your work experience list your education. Tell what degrees you have and where and when you got them.

Next list special skills and certifications. This is where you should put things like what lighting or sound consoles and software you know. List if you know how to weld. Are you CPR certified? Put a hobby or two like photography. Put that you have a driver's license. I met an actress once who listed a special skill that was being able to do a dead-on accurate imitation of a baby crying, and as it turned out, we needed that sound effect for one of our shows. So, even if it seems odd, if you have a skill that could be useful, list it, but don't list anything that you can't do, because you may be called upon to do it.

Lastly, and this is often a topic of debate, references. Some places don't want them, some places do. Some people say you shouldn't list them, some people say you should. It can't hurt you to list references, but if you are going to, then pick wisely. Fist off, make sure you ask your references if they mind you listing them. List professional references, don't put your best friend or your brother. List people who will give an accurate picture of you, your strengths, your weaknesses, your personality. Keep your references current, if you graduated from college 10 years ago, your college professor may not be the best reference anymore.

In general you should try to fit this all on one page. Only if you really have to should you go to more than one, but if you do, they should appear balanced.

The big partner to the resume is your cover letter. Your cover letter should introduce you as a person. This is the place to give a little background on yourself, tell why you are interested in the position you are applying for. Tell why you think that you would make a good addition to wherever you are applying, and tell what you hope to get out of it. This is also a place where you can tell potential employers when and how is best to contact you further. Your cover letter should put a "face" to the list of things you have done.

Hopefully this works for others, it worked for me. Attached below are examples of my cover letter and resume from when I was applying for jobs after graduation. I have taken out address and phone info in places.
 
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I have to agree that the references are not necessary. A list of accomplishments for each show is a little better in my book.
I have been wondering about my current resume as well. It got me at least one job now, but I wonder if anybody can give me a quick critique of mine. attatched is an edited version minus my current show. Sorry, but I am a little paranoid about releasing personal info on the internet.

Is there a reason why you wouldn't do both? My feeling is if you can't find at least 3 people to say hire them, I'm not going to hire you. I have thrown away resumes for not having references because there are plenty out there that do, so why bother dealing with the ones that don't? We are all in this line of work together, and everyone gets calls to be a reference, it's just something you do. I have yet to hear a valid reason against putting on references.
 
Ok I will explain why references are useless to an employer.

References lie, and then lie some more. They are worried that if they speak ill of you it can result in a lawsuit.

I would rather see your portfolio, and talk to you then talk to a reference.

I would say 80% of the work I get never has seen or asked to see my resume. As a designer you get your work by word of mouth. Resumes are important, but they are not the end all and be all to the job.

JH
 
Is there a reason why you wouldn't do both? My feeling is if you can't find at least 3 people to say hire them, I'm not going to hire you. I have thrown away resumes for not having references because there are plenty out there that do, so why bother dealing with the ones that don't? We are all in this line of work together, and everyone gets calls to be a reference, it's just something you do. I have yet to hear a valid reason against putting on references.

how about room on the page? I had to cut a lot of stuff off that to keep it on one page. Many employers do not like multi-page resumes.
 
my favorite resume line came up while i was working with a bunch of vetrn camera guys.

When asked for a resume they say "turn on your television"

:)
JH
 
Resumes can lie too. I've heard more horror stories about people not telling the truth on thier resumes then references not telling the truth.
 
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References do have a risk, they risk lawsuit every time they say something negative about you.

Employers can do there own research and complete an interview that will assure they hire a qualified candidate.
 

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