Over the course of my last few posts I have been talking about resume writing and the type of information that you might want to consider including if you are seeking employment in areas such as administrative and clerical work, catering and hospitality, health care and so on. Not everyone though, works in what would be considered to be the more mainstream areas of employment, and for those in the creative fields such as art, writing, music, acting and so on, putting together a resume can present rather more of a challenge.
One of the reasons why artists in particular can sometimes struggle with resume writing is because often the individuals themselves tend to be fairly self-deprecating when it comes to their work. However they might appear on the outside, typically, these are people who never do well enough in their own eyes and so the very idea of ‘selling themselves’ can often be a tricky one for them to get their heads around. The temptation is to want to let their work speak for them rather than having to go in for self-promotion, but in order to gain the recognition that many of them seek and to set themselves apart from the extremely tough competition in their fields, still requires that they do just that.
Another one of the difficulties that creative people can sometimes face in putting together their resumes (and I mean this in the very best possible way because it is, after all, what makes them able to produce the work that they do), is in coming down to earth. The very fact that creative types typically operate on a different plane to most others can make it hard for them to drag themselves back to more worldly concerns. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that there aren’t plenty of artistic people out there who aren’t also financially astute, practically minded and steeped in all kinds of life experiences. What I am saying though, is that those who follow creative paths in life generally do so because they are compelled and driven to follow their art, and this makes them so totally absorbed in creative thought that finding the balance between their artistic side and their ‘business’ side can sometimes be tricky.
Those who work in the creative arts do still need a well-written resume though. Agents in the world of publishing and acting, for example, will want to know about your past experience, your accomplishments and how you have been recognized in your field. Not only this, however, but if you are looking to secure a grant or other type of funding such as for an art exhibition, then potential sponsors will also want to check out your credentials. Creative artists, therefore, have to make themselves just as ‘saleable’ as any other type of worker and their personal brand is every bit as important, if not more so. Of course, what goes into their resumes has to sell their artistic spirit, but in addition it still has to persuade the reader that they are credible individuals within their fields and that they represent a good investment.
Of course the field of creative art covers a diverse range of disciplines which it would be difficult to cover fully in the course of a couple of blog posts, but I will come back to the issue of resumes for ‘arty types’ tomorrow to offer a few useful tips and guidelines to bear in mind.
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