Industry Specific Resume's

[Matthew Craggs]

First off, the standard "I searched for this" already disclaimer applies. I was quite surprised when I couldn't bring up anything about this specific topic.

I was hoping a couple of you fine lads and lasses would mind taking a peek at my resume. I am currently hunting out a new job, and since I have been a graduate for just barely a year now, I have little experience in fine tuning my industry-specific resume. Granted, I realize a demo reel means more to an employer than a resume, but I would like to make the best impression in every way possible.

I have attached the general industry resume I am currently using. As you can see, I face some challenges. As I mentioned, I am a recent grad. It has been just a year and a couple of days since I graduated. I have been quite lucky because I have been employed in television fulltime for the last eight months, but the fact is that outside of my current job and a couple of other gigs, I have no paid experience.

I am not worried about this lack of paid experience when it comes to my demo reel, since my demo reel can include non-paid work, but I believe it is inappropriate to put school projects, and things of that nature, on my resume and I am afraid it shows horribly.

I am simply trying to emphasize the positive in my year since graduation - at least enough to get me in the door for an interview - and I would like to know if I'm doing that.

The difficult part of writing an industry resume is that the "How to Write a Killer Resume" books deal more with other area's of work. I have yet to see a sample resume for someone seeking a job as video editor, production assistant, program scheduler, etc. It is my hope I can get some feedback and others who may be in the same spot can read this thread and learn a thing or two.

In conclusion, I would love a bit of a critique for my benefit, and the benefit of those who come after. But please be gentle. My ego is fragile enough as it is :)

(PS: As you can see, I have ommitted the names of my former employers and my home phone/mailing address. This is for privacy purposes, although I'm sure that anyone with enough desire could find out the nitty gritty details.)

[Adam Grunseth]

I don't think there was any major flaws with your resume, in fact if you were applying to be and editor or a shooter for my production company I would definately call you in for an interview. The only suggestion I have about your resume is that I don't think its necessary to list your skills working at a video store. To me, seeing that on someone's resume tells me "I have so little experience in actual productions, I need to list working at a video store". Also, something you might want to consider under your experience instead of just saying "freelance videomaker" as one item, list the different productions as different items. For example list the Community cable station as one item, then your graphic design work as another item, wedding videography as another item, and the concert DVD as another item. Then go into details about exactly what those postions entailed.

The most important piece of advice I have to offer though is this- Put together a demo reel! It doesn't matter how killer your resume is unless you have a demo reel to back it up, and if they employer doesn't want to see your demo reel then quality isn't that important to them and you should be questioning if you really want to work with them.