In yesterday’s post I talked about some of the difficulties that those who work in the creative fields such as art, music, writing, acting and so on often experience when it comes to creating a resume. Just as in any other profession, however, resumes are still necessary if these individuals are to sell their work, so here are a few tips and guidelines to bear in mind.
The Basics
As with all other types of resume, what I will call ‘creative resumes’ also need to begin by showing your name and contact information, including your address, telephone numbers and e-mail and website address. If you use a pseudonym, however, do not insert it here but instead create a separate section headed ‘Pseudonyms Used’.
Your Profile or Bio
In most resumes, the name and contact information is immediately followed by either a statement of the individual’s career objective (ie the next step that they want to take in their career) or a profile, and in my opinion, the latter is always preferable. A profile is basically nothing more than a short bio which gives the reader a quick and accurate understanding of who you are and what you do. It should immediately grab the reader’s attention and outline concisely (3-4 sentences max) what your artistic strengths are and the benefits of hiring you. Use it to really toot your own horn and provide the reader with an idea of your most significant achievements in your field, your greatest qualities and your most relevant skills.
Education
In a creative resume, the Education section can sometimes be considered optional, but if you do intend to put it in, then keep it really simple. Only include your highest qualification, such as a degree, and only put it in at all if it is directly relevant to the work that you are interested in. While in more traditional resumes the Education section often appears towards the beginning (particularly if this is a really strong point), in creative resumes it is often better placed towards the end.
Work Experience
This main part of the document is where ‘conventional’ resumes and creative resumes are likely to differ most. In the former, those people who have solid, straight-line work histories which show a natural progression from one job to the next one up the ladder will use the chronological resume style to outline their experience, with their most recent employment showing first. In the case of creative resumes, however, this rarely works because quite often there are unexplained gaps which could leave the reader wondering just what you were doing during that time – were you ‘resting’, out of work, cutting an album or writing a novel? The reader won’t be able to tell.
Another issue here is that, in some cases, those who work in the creative fields only do so on a part-time basis. If this is the case, you are either going to have to leave great yawning gaps in the timeline, or include jobs which are totally unrelated to your creative field, neither of which is ideal. Although some people will recommend that you document your work history in other fields in order to demonstrate your ability to hold down a job, to my mind, a writer’s or actor’s agent or a sponsor that you are approaching for a grant to hold an art exhibition is not going to be very interested in the fact that you have worked full-time in a supermarket.
In some cases, a skills-based or functional resume might work. If you are a writer, for instance, you could include your skills and most significant achievements under the headings of say, ‘Writing’, ‘Editing’, ‘Research’, ‘Computer Skills’, ‘Interviewing Skills’ and so on. An actor or actress, on the other hand, could document his or her appearances under the headings of ‘Theater Experience’, ‘Film Experience’, ‘Television Experience’, etc. In other cases though, a much more individualized approach with ‘non-standard’ headings may be necessary. An artist for example, will probably want to show the forthcoming exhibitions in which his/her work is to appear, as well as some of the more significant ones from the past, and any collections containing their work. In addition he/she may also want to include any lectures given or relevant teaching experience, and so relevant headings will need to be created to cover these.
Publications
This is a section which only sometimes appears in resumes related to more traditional fields of work, but which is extremely important in creative resumes. Here, you want to include citations of all the major publications where your work has appeared, as well as any reviews of your work which have appeared in print or online. Organize the information in chronological order, use a consistent, standard format and keep the information short and to the point.
Awards and Grants
As in any profession, awards speak volumes about your abilities, so be sure to include the name of any that you have received and the date received. Grants too, demonstrate that others have been prepared to put their faith in you and back you financially, so again, include the name/nature of the grant and when it was awarded. As with the Publications section, order the information chronologically.
Related Activities
Within the creative fields, it is not uncommon for individuals to become involved in other disciplines from time to time. A photographer, for example, may also do the write-up to accompany his photographs in a magazine. If relevant to the work that you are trying to get, include this in a separate section headed ‘Related Activities’.
Special Skills
Another section that you may or may not want to include is that for Special Skills. Actors and actresses who have stage management, directing or even foreign language or accent skills, for example, could include these here.
As mentioned above, if you do use one or more pseudonyms, then put these under their own heading. If they are extremely well-known names, then it is probably better to include this section earlier on in your resume, but otherwise leave them until the very end.
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