Guide to Creating a Professional Resume
By Fred Ginsburg C.A.S. Ph.D.
Here are some tricks and tips to help graduating students and novices to create a
functional professional resume.
Bear in mind that a good resume will not get you work. At best, it will get you an
interview.
Over the years, I have found that most of my employment offers originated from
word-of-mouth referrals by people that I had worked with in the past. Good skills and good
attitude are remembered. But it never hurts to spread your name around by sending out
something in the mail. Who knows, someone at the receiving end may recognize you!
To begin with, your resume should begin with your name and phone number. Address
is optional; use good common sense. Single women should NOT publish their residence, since
resumes may fall into many hands. Use a PO box or some other mail drop.
Since you will be expecting potential employers to phone you back, erase that silly
answering machine message that served you so well during college and put something more
professional sounding in its place. Keep your outgoing message as short as possible, and
include a first name so the caller knows they reached the right phone.
Specialization. What is it that you are applying for? Be specific, just put down
one thing that you want to do. For example, Production Sound Mixer", or
"Assistant Editor".
Be prepared to create different resumes for different positions that you may apply for.
Hollywood adheres to the concept that people can only master one group of skills; if they
see too large of a variety they will tend to dismiss you as inexperienced and incapable.
It is a bias, but it does exist in the real world.
Union Affiliation If you belong to a trade union, list the local and full name of
the union, such as Local 695 International Sound Technicians of the International
Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). Indicate your job classification (such
as Y-1 Sound Mixer. List any offices or committees that you are involved on. Note that
stating membership in the union will qualify you to apply for a union show, but will
frighten producers of a low budget non-union show. Have two versions of your resume.
Additional Areas of Professional Emphasis or Areas of Professional Achievement.
Use this space to summarize your technical skills (don’t get overly specific) as well
as to list your other types of production skills. Even though you are a production sound
specialist, you may also have editorial, camera, writing, or producing experience.
Professional Experience comes next. List any jobs, full or part-time that support
your specialization. Create a summary listing for FREELANCE, if applicable.
No one really cares that you slopped hash at the university cafeteria, but working in
the Editing Lab would be relevant. Show any professional employment at production
companies. List internships if you have them.
You might embellish what you have done, but never exaggerate what you know
how to do!
Education will feature your college degrees in descending order. Indicate the
college or university, city/state, and years attended. Show the degree earned, and your
major. List any awards or special ranks. Embellish within reason. Dean’s List,
Departmental Honors, (Greek) cinema honors societies, that sort of thing. Sounds
impressive, and is often not reflected on your transcript Only list High School if you
received special academic degrees or awards. Otherwise, no one cares.
Production Credits No one cares about your student filmmaking experience, unless
you won a major award. Show the titles and production companies of the films you worked
on. Indicate the nature of the project (35mm feature film, commercial, corporate, pilot,
movie-of-the-week, etc.) Indicate the capacity in which you worked (Sound Mixer, Boom
Operator, 2nd Assistant Camera, etc.) Most of your credits should reflect
experience that supports your area of specialization.
If you need to creatively embellish, then do so. Choose a title that sounds similar to
B-movies or MOW’s. But never claim credit on an actual production that you did not
work on!
Don’t be ashamed to list industrial or corporate credits. These are the types of
productions that you would have been most likely to have worked on. A mundane training
video about steel tipped safety shoes for a Fortune 500 company is a credit that no one
will challenge. Claiming to have been the D.P. on Beverly Hills 90210 might raise
a few doubts…
Pay close attention to your time constraints. A full-time college student would not
have the opportunity to work on two major features during the school semester! Maybe some
industrials during the breaks, and maybe a low budget independent during the summer.
Part-time employment or internships during the semester would be plausible, but do not
over-do it.
If you do choose to list student productions for experience, then try to make them read
as non-student productions. Stretch things a little.
I would suggest that at the end of your credit section, insert an entry summarizing
that in addition to the above, you worked on numerous student projects during your college
years. No need to be specific, since no one really cares. But it will lend credibility to
your other "professional" credits, and may lead people to assume that they were
not student films.
Publications or Awards if you have any.
Professional Affiliations is your final topic. List membership in professional
associations, such as SMPTE, NAB, ITVA, CAS, and any other organizations that you belong
to and are relevant. Indicate any positions or committee chairs that you hold.
References furnished upon request is the tag line that ends your resume.
Your completed resume may be one or two pages in length, but should never exceed two
pages.
In closing, I think back to my own early days as a Mixer. One day, I woke up to the
fact that I had finally "made it in the business" when I realized that
everything on my resume was TRUE. | 
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