Rsum Basics

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Résumé Basics

• ENGL1028

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Basic Resume Strategies

• Make your resume concise
• Target your resume
• Focus on your accomplishments, not just your
  duties
  
• Make your resume visually approachable
• Make your resume error-free

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Remember the receiving end

• Imagine a harried manager, who is told on Friday
  afternoon that he must sort through 75 resumes
  and choose the 5 candidates for interviews the
  following week. If he's like most employers, he
  will spend no more than 30 seconds on each
  resume.
• This means that your resume must be
• Concise
• Targeted
• Focused on accomplishments and
• Visually approachable

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1. Make it concise.

• A resume highlights your accomplishments
• shows you are qualified
• It is not a biography of everything you have
  done
  
• Pick and choose the items to include
• Select where they go, depending on employers
  needs and your experiences

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2. Target your resume.

• Know your audience
• Read the job description carefully
• What skills that are needed for this job?
• How can you demonstrate that you have those
  skills?
  
• Study the Company's Web site
• What qualities do they value in their employees?

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Focus on your accomplishments, not just your
duties.

• CONSIDER "Created spreadsheets, researched
  company data, filed documents"
  
• VS.
• "Redesigned speadsheet layouts, allowing staff
  members to see all relevant data in one layout
  rather than three provided investment managers
  with well-researched company profiles in very
  short turn-around time, using Lexus/Nexus and
  Bloomberg databases."

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Make your resume visuallyapproachable.

• A crowded or visually unappealing resume sends
  the wrong impression, before the employer has
  even read a word!
  
• Leave space in between the separate items and
  category headings on your resume.
  
• Use boldface to highlight job titles or company
  names.
  
• If your experience fits into specific,
  descriptive categories, you can use those. For
  example, a job seeker interested in the
  management consulting field might use "Finance
  Experience" and "Leadership Experience" as two of
  her categories

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Here is better layout

• A crowded/visually unappealing resume sends the
  wrong impression, before the employer has even
  read a word!
  
• Leave space in between the separate items and
  category headings on your resume.
  
• Use boldface to highlight job titles or company
  names.
  
• If your experience fits into specific,
  descriptive categories, you can use those.
  
• E.G, a job seeker interested in management
  consulting might use "Finance Experience" and
  "Leadership Experience" as two of her categories

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5. Make your resume error-free.

• Remove all errors in
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Grammar
• Information (every fact is accurate)
• Proofread for consistent formatting and
  appearance
  

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Sections

• Name and address
• Objective
• Education
• Experience
• Activities / volunteer work / interests

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Name and address

• Put your name in at least 18-point font
• Include both
• your London address and phone number
• your address and phone number during school
  vacations or after you graduate.
  
• Include your e-mail address(es)
• Avoid ? dickhead3_at_yahoos.com

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Objective

• This section is optional
• Only include If you have a clearly targeted
  objective
  
• Avoid pronouns and flowery language
• Focus on what you have to offer rather than on
  what the job can offer you
  
• This may sound backwards, but employers are more
  interested in whether you fit their needs than in
  what you hope to get out of a job with them
  
• Unclear career goals? Skip the objective

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Sample OBJECTIVE

• OBJECTIVE
• Editorial assistant position in the publishing
  industry, utilizing my academic background in
  literature and my three years of experience
  writing for campus and local newspapers.

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Education

• This section goes ususally first on your resume
  if you are in school, and from 1-3 years after
  graduation
  
• But is your education relevant to your career
  field?
  
• How impressive has your work experience been?
• "Courses Studied" or Relevant Coursework" are
  optional sub-sections.
  
• Include courses outside your major that are
  relevant to the job

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Sample Coursework

• Studied all aspects of the music industry the
  business and legal sides, promotion, management,
  AR, music theory, recording engineering, MIDI
  and producing
• Facilities 24 track and 36 track recording
  studios, using Sony MXP3000 console and Sony
  APR24.
  
• Studied mic applications, acoustics, use of
  effects, equalization, compression, limiting and
  expansion

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Experience

• Include only pertinent experiences
• List in reverse chronological order, with
• Places of employment--city and province
• Dates employed
• Major responsibilities
• Not just paid work experiences. Include
• Internships
• Volunteer work
• Extra-curricular activities

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Describing your experiences

• Be concise use telegram rather than narrative
  style.
  
• Use action verbs
• IMPORTANT Stress your abilities and
  accomplishments. Emphasize the data relevant to
  your objective
  
• Avoid use of pronoun "I"
• Cite numbers to make a point (e.g. number of
  people supervised size of event)
  
• Include "buzz" words only if you are sure of
  their meaning

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Experience Example band member

• 2001present lead guitarist with Cozy-Bones
  (alt-rock band based in Vancouver)
  
• Performed in many venues. See www. Cozybones.com
  see portfolio or website
  
• Responsible for co-management of bands
  practices/performances
  
• Booked gigs managed press contacts arranged
  transportation
  
• Selected, maintained and assembled sound
  equipment
  
• Helped compose, arrange and produce musical sets

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Activities / volunteer work / interests

• You can put your extra-curricular activities or
  volunteer work in a separate section
  
• REMEMBER, that some of these activities may
  demonstrate your skills even better than your
  paid work experience
  
• You dont need to demote these activities to the
  bottom of your resume. Whats left at the bottom
  of your resume may be ignored

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A note about "interests"

• Listing your "interests" or hobbies is okay
• but not at the expense of leaving out other, more
  important information
  
• When should you list your interests?
• When your interests or hobbies are so unusual
  that they are bound to attract positive
  attention.
  
• EG. investment industry applicant who listed
  "mud wrestling" as a hobby. Every recruiter
  started the interview off with a question about
  her hobby!
• When your interests or hobbies reflect positively
  on your job skills

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Summary Format / appearance

• Condense to one/two pages (There are exceptions)
  
  
• Center and balance your resume on the page,
  leaving approximately 1 inch margins
  
• Design your resume for easy skimming emphasize
  by boldfacing, capitalizing and italicizing.
  
• Select the format that best highlights your
  skills and experiences.
  
• Print out on good quality paper. Use 8½"x11"
  white or light-colored bond paper

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Resume language

• Be concise use telegram rather than narrative
  style.
  
• Use "action verbs"
• Stress your abilities and accomplishments
• Avoid unnecessary personal information such as
  marital status and date of birth
  
• Emphasize the data relevant to your objective

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Resume language

• Avoid use of pronoun "I"
• Cite numbers to make a point (e.g. number of
  people supervised size of event)
  
• Include buzz/tech words only if you are sure of
  their meaning
  
• Tailor separate resumes to fit each career field
  in which you are job searching

end
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Examples of Effective On-Line Resumes

• Neal Watkins Resume and Portfolio
• http//www.ziplink.net/rothko/resume1.htm
• Tony Angelini
• http//www.tonyangelini.com/

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New Canadian MI resumes

• http//www.garberville.com/goldrush/sg-txt.html
• http//www.lushtones.ca/mohr.html

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Examples of Music Industry Resumes

• Jodi's on-line Recording Resume
• http//www.musesmuse.com/jodi.html
• NEW
• http//www.oakbog.com/abr-resume.html
• http//www.angela-taylor.com/resume.html
• http//www.queenboudica.com/marlene.htm
• http//music.calarts.edu/matt/resume.html
• http//members.aol.com/livenginer/resume.htm

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Goofy Resume http//www.recordingengineer.com/
Ex Fanshawe Student Resumes http//www.geocities.
com/sunsetstrip/birdland/5657/bio.htm
http//www.jakemcmullen.com/index.htm
http//members.tripod.com/guitar/resume.html
http//www.roadie.net/resume114.htm
http//www.geocities.com/tntmusic/resume.html
http//www.creativestudent.com/cornish/
http//www.musiccog.ohio-state.edu/Huron/CV/cv.htm
l http//www.shawnl.biz/resume.php
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Resume Posting Sites

• Music Industry Career Center
• http//www.music-careers.com/
• Recording Job Connection
• http//www.recordingjobsconnection.com/