Résumé Tips
Your resume is first and foremost a marketing tool. Depending on your major, you may have more than one kind of resume including:
- Teaching resumes - if you are a music student, e-mail us for instructional handout and samples
- Performing resumes - e-mail us for instructional handout and samples
- CVs - used for academic purposes or for visual artists to list exhibitions
- Professional resumes - described below and used for jobs in design, arts administration, or business
There are many books and web sites on the topic which detail formatting and organization, but the main thing to remember is that these documents are designed to sell you to a particular audience. Highlight your talents and skills so that the employer realizes you can do the job.
Overall Approach
Shift your perspective. In school, you use words like "learn," "grow," and "develop." These are useful for school, but not as effective for a resume or cover letter. Show your ability to learn by emphasizing your accompllishments. The difference can be as simple as changing "I learned to produce large format prints" to "I produced large format prints."
Be specific. Saying "I taught a class" or "I led a choral group" or "I organized a show" doesn't provide much information to the reader. How many students were in the class? What level were the students or singers? How big was the show? If you constructed an enormous and elaborate stage set with a minimal budget on a tight deadline, tell us what the budget and the deadline were. Explaining how you addressed special challenges can really show off your skills, enthusiasm, and commitment.
Header
Your name and contact information. It's a good idea to put this on every page, including your cover letter. Make sure your e-mail address is appropriate for professional correspondence
Objective
Do not write an objective statement. They generally say "I want a good job." That's already obvious. Later on in your career you may want to add a "Professional Profile" detailing your years of experience.
Education
New graduates generally list education as the first category. List your graduation year, your degree, and the University name.
Example: 2006 BFA in Graphic Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
If you're uncertain what your exact degree is, you can look it up: Programs of Study
What Comes Next?
Order the categories in whichever way makes you look best to the person for your audience. It's likely you'll wind up with a slightly different version for each audience.
Categories (select only those that apply to you)
- Work Experience
- Teaching Experience
- Arts Administration Experience
- Relevant Experience
- Skills - usually those that apply to your field
- Honors and Awards
- Leadership
- Professional Organizations
- Activities
- Related Coursework (if you have room left over or if it's relevant)
Categories by Major
Visual Artists: Selected Group Exhibits, Solo Exhibits, Art Fairs, Juried Shows, or Permanent Collections
Performers: Principal Teachers, Coaches/Masterclasses, Selected Performance Experience, Orchestral Experience, Solo Experience, Chamber Music Experience, Ensemble Performance Experience, Club Engagements, and Summer Festivals
Filling in the Categories
When explaining work, teaching, arts administration, or related experience you may use sentence, sentence fragments (when well phrased), or bullets. Select whichever format shows your accomplishments and talents in the best light. Your job is to paint a picture of what you did so be as specific as possible. Emphasize teamwork, independent accomplishments, and the ability to meet deadlines, work within budgets, or achieve whatever goals are generally relevant to your field. Be sure to put the most relevant and most impressive information first.
DON'T do this
ZYX Consulting, Consultant..........................................................................................2007
Consulted with clients on projects.
Do this instead
Landscape Architecture Intern, ZYX Consulting, River Valley, Illinois
2004-2007
Met with residential and corporate clients to determine project needs, budgets and timelines. Completed site inventories, designed base plans (in Sketchup, and AutoCad), wrote proposals, and presented designs to client. Responsible for tracking project budgets ranging from $5,000 to $75,000.
Active Lanuage
Avoid the passive voice. Too often I read "a waterfall was built" or "sculptures were added." This gives the impression that things happened while you watched. Phrases such as "I concepted, engineered, and built a granite waterfall," or "I designed and constructed a twelve-foot papier mache sculpture" are more impressive.
References
Do NOT say "References available upon request." Either provide references (at the bottom or on a separate sheet) or don't mention them. Before you put anyone down as a reference be SURE to ask them if they'd be willing to give you a good reference.