Today, while perusing the job boards (like I do every day) and harvesting fax numbers for the sending of resumes I had this weary, sinking feeling that nobody ever sees those resumes I fax.There is this whole sinking feeling like I'm not making the most out of that one sheet of paper anyway. Like...like maybe there's something I should be listing that I'm not, and maybe there are things listed (Admissions Counselor achievements, etc.) that need to be taken off. Truth be told, I pretty much rework the whole damn thing on average once a week. That alone is a sign that I'm just not happy with it.
Beyond that, a thought has occurred: I know how to write resumes for office jobs, and I've been writing my resume for production jobs the same way. Something tells me though that no hiring producer cares about my achievements as an Admissions Counselor or that I did some excellent work for the Cleveland Orchestra for a couple of months or whatever. My production experience is there too, but it's all sectioned off... I gotta change that, because it's just not working out for me.
And then there's the whole cover letter topic, upon which I have heard from two different camps. The first believes cover letters should be no more than two sentences plus contact information, because producers are busy and don't really want to read them. The second believes that a cover letter should always be the best, personalized, formal, sell-yourself work of literature you ever write.
I need help....I really ought to bring it to someone who knows what I can do to make it look better. Aunt J? Maybe. I'll have to ask her... I also need thank you notes to my people from ABC... Can't forget that.
Oh yeah, coming soon/in progress, The Legend of Miss A, part 3!
3 comments:
The cover letter should make you stand out. So, stand out on it! Be short and sweet, but show some flair. And put the most relevant stuff at the top of the resume.
most HR peeps don't bother to read the cover letter. They spend 15 second on your resume, so the most important details best be on the left hand side.
I'm job hunting too. 90% of my interviews have been through connections. LinkedIn has been an incredible life saver on this front. If you don't have an account, get one; it's free!
I don't know how the NYC chapter is, but Step Up Women's Network in LA is an amazing place to network professionally, and socially for that matter if you need fast friends in a new city. $50 for a basic one year membership gets you access to all sorts of cool networking and volunteer events. www.suwn.org
Hmm. Thanks for the SUWN link; I'll look into it. I'm on LinkedIn.
My real ish is that I feel like applying to a production office is somehow different from applying to a big company with an HR department.
Like you mentioned, z, it's all who you know. I'm stressing because I really only know one person, and I can't really rely on her too much (also she's not working right now).
I smell food for another post.
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