Secondly, make sure your resume is neatly formatted into sections. Usually, the header includes your name (in very large font size) and contact information. Then, under separate sub-headers, list your Professional Experience, Educational Experience, Skills, Education and References.
Make sure the font is readable. Don't use frilly, hard to read fonts, even for your name. Using a unique font to express your personality is fine, but don't go overboard. Try to fill the page so that there are not huge blank spaces. Again, the easiest way to achieve a balanced-looking resume is to adjust font size. Lastly, don't lie about anything on your resumes.
What are some of your pet peeves about resumes?
Sorry to disagree Jared, but my resume has been longer than a page for many years. Once you start applying to senior level positions, I find most employers are looking for a substantial overview of your career, including responsibilities, achievements, awards, eduction, speaking engagements, etc. It has worked well for me. Early in your career -- short and sweet. Senior level positions -- they are going to need more information than just a one page overview. I find that is what the cover letter is for. Rarely these days do I see resumes for Director level positions or higher that are a single page.
ReplyDeleteHa, I spelled education wrong. That is what I get for trying to type too fast.
ReplyDeleteNo need to be sorry. Thats why there is a comment section. I wasn't really thinking of senior level positions. Mainly actors and technicians. Your feedback is always appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI too think a resume for some positions can get to two pages.
ReplyDeleteOther resume thoughts . . .
Don't lie . . . don't stretch the truth. The theatre world is too small, and if I find a mis-truth somewhere on the resume, I think the whole thing is fake.
No clip art.
Limit the number of fonts.
Learn your industry standard resume format, and don't stray too much.
Please dear god have a professional e-mail address.
I perfer resumes sent in as PDF via e-mail (not word or excel) versus sent in the regular mail. It's easier to save a pdf and pull up when I need to look at resumes then search through a stack of resumes.
NO COLORED PAPER OR COLORED INK. Stick with black on white, y'all. I did find that actor resumes with a mini-headshot in the corner (different photo than the headshot on front) were actually useful.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely stick to the PDF format for emailing -- some theatres don't have the new version of Word and won't be able to open a docx file.