How To Write Strong Bullet Points for Your Entertainment Industry Resume

Here are three truths about hiring managers:

1. They are busy. Hiring managers sift through hundreds of resumes and are either hiring for multiple roles at once or balancing the hiring process with their actual workload.

2. They don’t care about candidates until they meet them and decide they like them enough to extend an offer. They don’t owe you anything.

3. They aren’t mind readers, nor are they careful readers. Hiring managers spend 3-10 seconds assessing a resume before deciding if the candidate is worth considering or rejecting, and they will take into account only the information they can glean in that amount of time.

This means your resume needs to be absolutely clear about why you’re a good fit for a role. Over the years, we’ve seen hundreds of candidates struggle with clarity. Our resume writing consultation calls last approximately an hour (or two for executive candidates), because we have so many questions about our clients’ work histories and what they actually did in each of their roles. The hiring manager isn’t a resume writer, though – they aren’t interested in taking the time to read between the lines of your resume and understand your candidacy.

One of the best ways to provide clarity – besides choosing an easy-to-read, familiar format – is by adding context to each bullet point. You want the hiring manager to easily picture you in your past roles in a way that proves you’d be effective in the open role. Consider the difference between these two bullet points:

• Produced short-form videos for clients’ social media accounts

• Produced 20+ short-form comedic videos for social media marketing agency’s clients, including Toyota, Purina, Adidas, and KitchenAid

With the second bullet, the skimming hiring manager gets a sense of volume and tone and understands that you have experience working with high profile clients in a range of industries. If you’re applying for a role where you’d be working with multiple Fortune 500 brands, or with car companies, or on comedy videos, it’s now clear that you know how to do that.

You can also add context by showcasing your accomplishments. Here are two more bullet points to compare:

• Managed development of drama series; took general meetings with writers, built relationships with reps, and reviewed scripts in consideration

• Managed slate of 15 drama series in development; sold SHOW NAME to Netflix and negotiated co-financing deal for untitled Jackie Robinson biopic with BBC 

In this last example, you’d still want to showcase your ability to meet with writers, build relationships, and review scripts on your resume, but it will make more of an impact coming after a bullet that shows your ability to move projects through a development pipeline and generate results that make money for the company.

After you write your resume – and tailor it to the specific posting – read it as if it’s a total stranger’s resume – or give it to a friend who doesn’t work with you for a quick review. Are there any questions that come up? Do you understand why this candidate would be a good fit for the open role? Cross-check it against the job posting – does it respond to that specific posting in a convincing way? If yes, you’re good to go! If not, go back and add a few more details. Lean into your ability as a storyteller to make sure your story is coming across as clearly as possible in a way that hooks a distracted audience.