 The best way to get your resume from the bottom of the stack into the "must interview" pile is to highlight the right skills the hiring manager is looking for. While there's no one-size-fits-all resume that will work for all roles within the entertainment industry, there are some skills that many Hollywood jobs require, regardless of the position. You should always match your resume to the job posting to make sure you're reflecting the appropriate skills and verbiage, but there are a few basic elements you'll likely want to include on your resume in some form or another, and these differ based on your experience level. Here's a breakdown of what you should highlight at various stages of your Hollywood career: Entry-level: For an intern, most hiring managers want someone who is smart, reliable, and eager to learn, and this can be conveyed in many different ways on a resume. But once you’re ready for an assistant position, your resume needs to change -- there are some very specific skills that should be on your resume if you want to get an interview. In particular, administrative duties like answering phones and scheduling must be included. Although they seem like menial and easy tasks, they will be the core of your job as an assistant, and your potential boss will want to know he's going to be covered if he hires you. It’s all about proving that you know how to manage a desk. If you’re going for PA roles, phones won’t matter as much, but ordering lunches, going on runs, and setting up equipment are going to be important. There’s a good chance you’ve acquired those skills during college or an internship – don’t leave them off. Even if you've developed more advanced skills through campus leadership, other work experience, or student film productions, make sure the primary focus is on your ability to handle administrative duties and organizational tasks, so your boss knows you'll be committed to the job at hand and not immediately looking to jump into a higher-level role. Mid-level: Obviously, mid-level roles are a lot more varied and specific than entry-level roles, but there are a few things to pinpoint that pretty much all hiring managers will want to see. The main ones fall under the category of communication skills – showing your ability to cultivate relationships and manage projects by interfacing with a wide range of stakeholders is key. You'll also want to highlight the moments when you took initiative and your achievements. Make sure you call out the big projects you've worked on (or better, led), clients you've brought on, shows you've sold, or workflows you've implemented to provide evidence of your successes. To land those mid-level jobs, show that you will be able to keep projects running smoothly but will also bring added value to the company. Senior-level: If you’re looking for VP and department head positions, our advice for mid-level jobs still applies, but on top of that, you’ve got to prove your management and leadership skills. Part of that is supervising teams – often, you’ll develop those skills in mid-level roles, but now is the time to show that you have mastered it. But beyond people management, you have to think about cultivating and implementing the overall vision for the department, project, or company. What projects in your past have forced you to think strategically and from a big-picture POV? You’ll also need to note if you’ve managed budgets, since most senior-level roles involve managing project budgets, salaries, and vendor contracts. As long as you aren’t breaking confidentiality agreements, it can be good to reference budget ranges on your resume when they are relevant to the job you are applying for. Additionally, senior leaders are often the face of the company during both internal meetings and externally. If you have a way to showcase public speaking skills or that you’ve represented your company at pitch meetings with high level buyers, these are good things to include on your resume. Please note that this is simply a general guide to get you thinking about what types of things might go on your resume -- it's up to you to get specific and tailor the resume to the posting at hand. And remember, it's impossible to encapsulate the entirety of your career on a one or two page resume, so it's best to highlight the skills that are going to be valued most. Then, when you’re ready to level up, you’ll need to overhaul your resume again – for instance, you'll want to lose the assistant skills on your mid-level resume and likely remove those work experiences altogether for your senior-level resume. Think of your resume as a working document that will change frequently to help you get the specific job you’re applying for, and you'll get hired soon enough! -- Angela Silak & Cindy Kaplan
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 We get lots of clients who have parallel career trajectories – they’ve been a producer for years but have also worked in events, or they’ve worked equally in TV and branded content, or they write while holding down a steady day job, or any number of other dualities (as resume writers and entertainment professionals ourselves, we fall into the same category)! But what does this mean for your resume and LinkedIn profile? How can you prove to a hiring manager that you’re interested in a specific job, when half of your experience is in a different part of the industry (or a different industry entirely)? First of all, you will almost certainly need at least two different resumes, one focused on each trajectory. The particulars depend on the specifics of your situation -- that's why we advocate for letting your story guide your resume format, not the other way around. Generally speaking, there are two ways to go about this: 1. If you can leave one path out without creating gaps, only include related jobs in your timeline and allude to your unique perspective in another way, like a call-out in your professional summary or skills & interests section; 2. Include both sets of jobs in your timeline, and for the divergent career path, only include transferable, relevant skills. If your timeline overlaps, put the more relevant jobs first. If you're looking to combine your two skillsets for an entirely new role, you'll need a strong professional summary or even a functional resume that allows you to organize your work by core skills -- these being, of course, the skills you'll bring to the new role. But what about LinkedIn? You can’t have two LinkedIn profiles. Before you write off LinkedIn as a tool for your career, consider that it offers a huge upside compared to your resume. LinkedIn lets you write in first person and tell your story in a truthful way -- it's an opportunity to add context to the simple chronology and explain what your unique perspective is. And with two backgrounds, you certainly have a lot to say! If there’s one side of your two career paths that you’re leaning toward more heavily, focus more on those skills on LinkedIn as well and express the other work as a side interest, highlighting what you've learned from those experiences that enhances your work in your primary path. But even if you’re looking for jobs in two fields equally, you can use your professional summary section to outline your unusual career trajectory and explain that you have two different passions, each one informing the other in its own way. Explain that you're open to roles on either side, and frame it as a value-add. Take the opportunity to give reasoning behind your career choices and explain how the things you have learned through each enhance your business approach. However, there are some times when you may want to be a little more vague with your LinkedIn profile -- if your boss doesn't know you're looking for jobs and expects your profile to reflect your full-time position, if you use LinkedIn as a sales prospecting tool in your current role and need to show focus to potential clients, or if there are other political reasons you need to maintain a level of privacy, that's fine. We still recommend you have a profile so that you can connect with people, but you may prefer to keep your profile sections short and sweet. When you've moved on to your next role, you can build your profile out more. One key thing to remember – no two people have the same career trajectory. In fact, the things that make you an unconventional candidate might be the same things that make you stand out from the pack! Take pride in your ability to excel in more than one area and come up with a few different frameworks to express your skills and background, so hiring managers get the information they need to see. It may take a bit more work to craft your story for your audience, but with two careers, we know you're no stranger to hard work, and in this industry, no stranger to storytelling! We're here for you during this uncertain time. Visit us at www.hollywood-resumes.com to take advantage of our services. If you have questions about resumes, the job search, or navigating a career in Hollywood, email us your question with the subject line "ASK HR SUBMISSION," and we'll answer your question in a future newsletter! Don't worry, all questions will be kept anonymous! Know someone else who should be getting these tips? Share the Hollywood Resumes insights with your friends, family, colleagues, interns, uber drivers...whoever! Have a great day! Cindy & Angela Want more Hollywood Resumes? Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ -- and make sure you're subscribed to our emails. If you work in entertainment, you’re a storyteller, in one way or another. And when you’re looking for jobs, those storytelling skills should be put to use when you write your resume. Every good resume tells a story – the story of your work history and why it makes sense for a specific employer to hire you. And every good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Keep this in mind as you start to craft your resume – it will help dictate the structure, format, and verbiage you use. The beginning of your resume is where you introduce yourself. When you meet someone new, you typically shake hands and tell the person your name. You can’t shake hands on paper, but you can put your name across the top in big, bold letters. Announce yourself proudly – you’ve got a lot of great stuff to share! Additionally, an introductory conversation often begins with where you’re from – in a resume, that takes the form of contact info. This should all be in the resume header. Whatever goes next on your resume is going to be the information that gives the hiring manager context for all the other stuff they’re about to read. The first section after the header varies from person to person, depending on what’s most important to get across. For recent grads, it should be education, and your story will read as “Hi, I’m a recent grad looking for an entry-level position. Look at all the impressive stuff I did while I was in college!” For many people, experience will lead the resume – “Hi, I’ve spent the past 5 years as a development executive at Comedy Central.” Hopefully that first thing has a natural lead-in to whatever job you’re applying for. If it doesn’t, you may want to consider a professional summary that calls attention to your areas of expertise and specializations. A professional summary or list of core skills is also helpful for executives with a dense work history – if the hiring manager only read the professional summary or saw a few words called out in bold, they’d be able to get a sense of what the person brings to the table and can choose to read further if that person sounds like a fit. Think about how you want to frame yourself, and let that dictate however you start your story. The rest of your resume should unfold naturally based on whatever information you’ve set up at the top. Typically, this takes the form of a timeline that shows your trajectory in reverse chronological order. A hiring manager should be able to see career progression and any key achievements that happened along the way. Within your resume bullet points, you will provide supporting information to back up the argument that you’re right for the job, including the relevant skills you’ve acquired in each role. And the end of your resume should be the “extras,” stuff that doesn’t need a whole lot of space, like computer skills, languages, and interests. Sometimes this is a spot to get in keywords for applicant tracking systems. But it’s also a place to share information that’s going to round you out as a person and make it seem like there’s more to you than the stuff you’ve done at work – like volunteer work, hobbies, and various achievements. Again, this stuff all depends on the specific person, but it’s a nice way to tag your story. Keep in mind that your story may need to change slightly depending on the job you apply for. It all goes back to tailoring your resume to the job posting. There’s no way you can fit your entire work history into one or two pages, but by choosing the most relevant information selectively, you can build a profile that positions you for the role you’re interested in. Just remember that the story you need to tell is the one the hiring manager is looking for (in the same way that you’d pitch the type of project you think a development executive is looking for). Be authentic, but present information in the way they’ll be able to understand it. -- Angela Silak & Cindy Kaplan If you work in entertainment, you’re a storyteller, in one way or another. And when you’re looking for jobs, those storytelling skills should be put to use when you write your resume. Every good resume tells a story – the story of your work history and why it makes sense for a specific employer to hire you. And every good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Keep this in mind as you start to craft your resume – it will help dictate the structure, format, and verbiage you use. The beginning of your resume is where you introduce yourself. When you meet someone new, you typically shake hands and tell the person your name. You can’t shake hands on paper, but you can put your name across the top in big, bold letters. Announce yourself proudly – you’ve got a lot of great stuff to share! Additionally, an introductory conversation often begins with where you’re from – in a resume, that takes the form of contact info. This should all be in the resume header. Whatever goes next on your resume is going to be the information that gives the hiring manager context for all the other stuff they’re about to read. The first section after the header varies from person to person, depending on what’s most important to get across. For recent grads, it should be education, and your story will read as “Hi, I’m a recent grad looking for an entry-level position. Look at all the impressive stuff I did while I was in college!” For many people, experience will lead the resume – “Hi, I’ve spent the past 5 years as a development executive at Comedy Central.” Hopefully that first thing has a natural lead-in to whatever job you’re applying for. If it doesn’t, you may want to consider a professional summary that calls attention to your areas of expertise and specializations. A professional summary or list of core skills is also helpful for executives with a dense work history – if the hiring manager only read the professional summary or saw a few words called out in bold, they’d be able to get a sense of what the person brings to the table and can choose to read further if that person sounds like a fit. Think about how you want to frame yourself, and let that dictate the start of your story. The rest of your resume should unfold naturally based on whatever information you’ve set up at the top. Typically, this takes the form of a timeline that shows your trajectory in reverse chronological order. A hiring manager should be able to see career progression and any key achievements that happened along the way. Within your resume bullet points, you will provide supporting information to back up the argument that you’re right for the job, including the relevant skills you’ve acquired in each role. And the end of your resume should be the “extras,” stuff that doesn’t need a whole lot of space, like computer skills, languages, and interests. Sometimes this is a spot to get in keywords for applicant tracking systems. But it’s also a place to share information that’s going to round you out as a person and make it seem like there’s more to you than the stuff you’ve done at work – like volunteer work, hobbies, and various achievements. Again, this stuff all depends on the specific person, but it’s a nice way to tag your story. Keep in mind that your story may need to change slightly depending on the job you apply for. It all goes back to tailoring your resume to the job posting. There’s no way you can fit your entire work history into one or two pages, but by choosing the most relevant information selectively, you can build a profile that positions you for the role you’re interested in. Just remember that the story you need to tell is the one the hiring manager is looking for (in the same way that you’d pitch the type of project you think a development executive is looking for). Be authentic, but present information in a way they’ll be able to understand. -- Angela Silak & Cindy Kaplan Over the years, we have seen some pretty ridiculous skills sections on resumes, like when the skills take up half the page and don't correlate logically to a previous role, or list every software known to mankind. We blame the internet -- a lot of generic resume advice you'll find online includes listing as many keywords as possible so you'll get past the evil ATS robots. On the other hand, we also find that many resumes are missing relevant skills that would be helpful to a hiring manager. Here are some tips for crafting the skills section of your resume: 1. Avoid intangible, "soft" skills. "Self-starter," "strong communicator," and "detail-oriented" all sound interesting, but you can't prove them out of context. Instead, illustrate those skills in your bullet points. 2. List relevant software/tools. If the job posting calls out a specific software, make sure you list it (even Microsoft Office -- don't get weeded out by an applicant tracking system for a role because you left out such a basic skill). And if you're applying for very technical roles, it's even more crucial to list the requested software on your resume. But also think about what programs might be useful in a role, even if they're not listed. If you're applying for a writers' room support staff position, you should include knowledge of Final Draft, as it shows you understand the requirements of the job. Any design or post-production position should include the design tools you're proficient in. You should also include cameras or lighting equipment if the position requires that knowledge. But don't list every tool you've ever used -- you might know Jira, but the development executives considering you for a coordinator role likely don't know what that is and don't care. 3. Don't list anything too basic if it's not specified in a posting. Everyone knows how to use Zoom by now. Most people can organize their files with Box, DropBox, or Google Drive. Unless the posting specifically calls out these everyday tools (or you're applying for a job at one of those companies), leave it out! Same goes for social media -- unless the job is related to social media (i.e. digital marketing, account management, or influencer talent representation), at a social media company, or you're an influencer yourself, you can leave it off. 4. Include any foreign languages you speak. Many Americans don't speak more than one language, so it's pretty impressive and a great talking point if you do. Definitely include any language skills that would help you in the job you're applying for (i.e. fluency in Spanish or Mandarin is almost always helpful, and you'd want to highlight your command of Japanese if you're applying for a job in anime), and strongly consider including a language skill that isn't as relevant if you have the space (For example, you likely won't be using Latin at work, but listing it makes you memorable!). You don't need to be fluent to list a language, but if you're not fluent, make sure to indicate your level, like conversational Spanish, advanced French, or basic Italian. Remember: Your skills section is an important footnote for your resume. It's there to illustrate relevant qualifications that don't fit properly anywhere else, but it shouldn't overwhelm your overall story. Oh, and make sure it's all true. -- Angela Silak & Cindy Kaplan |
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