# First Résumé Opinions/Suggestions (14)



## techno89 (Oct 16, 2010)

Hey CB! 

I was working on a first Résumé today and since I'm 14 and have never made one before I wanted some of your opinions on my attempt.

Thanks,
Scott
View attachment Resume.pdf


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## Footer (Oct 16, 2010)

Have you looked at many of the threads that have been posted about resume's in the past? Might be a good place to start. You are missing some of the fundamentals of a theatre resume'.


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## techno89 (Oct 16, 2010)

Footer said:


> Have you looked at many of the threads that have been posted about resume's in the past? Might be a good place to start. You are missing some of the fundamentals of a theatre resume'.



I will look now, do you have any direct suggestions for me ?


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## derekleffew (Oct 16, 2010)

Résumés and Portfolios - ControlBooth

Titles of shows should be _italicized_. http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000112.htm


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## Les (Oct 16, 2010)

Once you get things a little more filled out you may want to omit the middle school and high school shows. Most employers I've encountered are more interested in your 'real world' production experience.


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## metti (Oct 16, 2010)

You're also going to want to move towards only listing shows for which you were a designer or ALD. The skills required to stage manage or even board op don't really translate in a meaningful way. Someone may have been a board op on broadway but I'm still not going to hire them as an LD.


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## metti (Oct 16, 2010)

Also, using a Mac/PC is not a skill worth listing. Also, Microsoft Office is not a piece of software and I'm guessing you're not really proficient with all of the programs in it. Don't list the whole suite, list individual programs. Word and PowerPoint aren't even worth listing since everyone can use them but if you are legitimately proficient with Excel you could list that. Very few people can do more than the most basic data organizing and chart making in Excel which means that very few people are actually proficient.


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## techno89 (Oct 16, 2010)

I felt the the board op. ones were useless but than its down to only about 4 shows, i have a lot more op experience than design


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## MNicolai (Oct 16, 2010)

_I preface this by saying you're 14. I don't know that you need a resume for another four years, but regardless, I'll kindly rip it shreds. Do with my comments as you will, but understand I'm treating it as if you, at age 20, are applying for a position that I've got open._

What do you want your resume to be used for?

If you're just maintaining something so that you've got something ready when you go to college, then wait until your junior or senior year of high school. By then, anything with the words "Middle School" in it should be gone. In the meanwhile, where do you plan on using this? You probably won't be landing a gig in a roadhouse until you've got a driver's license, and most other jobs you might get at your age don't have that kind of devout interest in what you've done in theatre.

Over the next few years, also make sure you have an accompanying portfolio with lots of photos, a couple sketches, and some examples of your work in CAD, be it Vectorworks, AutoCAD, or another similar application. Don't be deceitful about it though. You can take photos of shows you've worked on, but don't take a photo of someone else's lighting or scenic design and try to pass it off as your own. It's a lot like plagarism -- always show your sources. If you even have photos included and don't explicitly say what you did or did not have to do with the content in them, that's a good way to get yourself into hot water.

Clarify your position on the Eos family of consoles (_Eos console family_, while correct, sounds awkward -- also, the "-OS" aren't capitalized). I'm going to take a guess you don't actually mean you used an Eos, but that you used an Ion or an Element. Either way, it's fishy to think in community theatre, a summer camp, or a middle school, you were exposed to an actual Eos. If you were -- say that you were. It says a lot about what sort of equipment you've worked with. If you haven't -- don't imply that you have. You'll get called out on it and it'll come back and bite you in the behind. Someone will directly ask you if you've used an Eos extensively and what you've done with it, and it'll be a show-stopper if you say, "What I mean is I've used an Element a few times." If they catch you on that half-bluff, they'll not trust anything else you've claimed to true about your qualifications and experience.

As a general note, your resume is bland. The grey text, lack of comprehensive contact/address info, and very broad objective with the use of the word "your" (don't do that)-- it's all well-intended but poorly executed. Really expand on "many different lighting techniques," because it doesn't sound like you've got a solid grasp on what you're talking about -- it sounds like you show up and point a bunch of flashlights at the stage from different angles. The formatting is weird in places, especially with the Experience heading not being inline with the list of shows. It's especially strange that it looks like you've got one font for All Shook Up and a different font for everything else in those lists.

It's also strange that you've got three shows listed twice -- even if they were genuinely unique productions between the camp and the playhouse, it's curious that they're all listed twice.

Seriously, don't be afraid to start a LinkedIn profile. You don't need to use it a ton, but setting up a profile there even if you don't use it to network with people is will give you a very good idea at the different fields and qualifications that should show up on a resume.

Also, take a look at some of resumes put up by professional designers. Some that you should look at include:

Jason Fassl
Kevin Adams
Kyle & Stephanie Van Sandt
Vance McKenzie

Don't forget to see CB's collaborative article on resumes and another on Getting a Job in the Industry


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## ruinexplorer (Oct 16, 2010)

I agree that as you get more non-educational experience under your belt, then you want to list that experience. 

My usual question to young technicians is "What is the goal of your resume?" Are you looking to only get work as an LD? If so, you are limiting yourself too much at too young of an age. If you are looking for more experience in lighting in general (which is very reasonable at your age), then you shouldn't label yourself as a lighting designer. Heck, your resume isn't showing enough experience for you to have that title. I disagree with metti with the assertion that board op experience does not translate with LD. A good LD needs to understand the limitations of the consoles that they work with in order to communitcate with their programmer. If I see that you are that young and did not have experience with running a console, I would question your ability to have comprehensive design skills.
Also, not to pick on metti, but I do think that showing that you can use either a Mac or a PC is relevant, but I agree that you should list the specific applications in Office that you are proficient (and be sure that by proficient, you mean greater than intermediate level). 

Do you have non-theater, real world work experience? Ever worked for an employer? Do you have volunteer experience? Are you a Scout (level achieved)? When you are starting out, you need to flesh out your resume so that potential employers get a chance to know who you are before they meet you.


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## Pie4Weebl (Oct 16, 2010)

I'm gonna pop in and say I really like your font and colors! For a 14 year old I think you are doing alright. I don't think I even made a resume till senior year!


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## metti (Oct 17, 2010)

ruinexplorer said:


> Also, not to pick on metti, but I do think that showing that you can use either a Mac or a PC is relevant, but I agree that you should list the specific applications in Office that you are proficient (and be sure that by proficient, you mean greater than intermediate level).


 
I think at this point it is good that he is showing his board op experience BUT as he gets more design gigs, those should disappear. I think it goes without saying that established designers don't have anything but design credits on their resume. I would also say that being a board op is VERY different than being a board programmer. I have a couple of programming credits for larger more moving light or media server intensive shows on my resume but I wouldn't bother listing that I had sat in the booth and pressed "Go" when the SM called my cues over coms. At this point, losing the board op credits makes his resume too short so he should keep them at the moment.

I am going to go ahead and disagree with you on the Mac/PC thing. I would assume that any teenager in a relatively technical field is pretty well versed in computer use. I look at a fair amount of resumes and when I see one that indicates experience with computers (not specific software), I assume the person in fact is probably NOT a strong computer user. Saying that he knows Lightwright, Photoshop and/or other relevant software says that he knows how to use computers in general. The very fact that the resume has layout that goes beyond the simplest of MS Work formatting says that he knows how to use a computer.


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## Footer (Oct 17, 2010)

metti said:


> I think at this point it is good that he is showing his board op experience BUT as he gets more design gigs, those should disappear. I think it goes without saying that established designers don't have anything but design credits on their resume. I would also say that being a board op is VERY different than being a board programmer. I have a couple of programming credits for larger more moving light or media server intensive shows on my resume but I wouldn't bother listing that I had sat in the booth and pressed "Go" when the SM called my cues over coms. At this point, losing the board op credits makes his resume too short so he should keep them at the moment.
> 
> I am going to go ahead and disagree with you on the Mac/PC thing. I would assume that any teenager in a relatively technical field is pretty well versed in computer use. I look at a fair amount of resumes and when I see one that indicates experience with computers (not specific software), I assume the person in fact is probably NOT a strong computer user. Saying that he knows Lightwright, Photoshop and/or other relevant software says that he knows how to use computers in general. The very fact that the resume has layout that goes beyond the simplest of MS Work formatting says that he knows how to use a computer.


 

Time for a bit of the real world to leach into this thread.... 

He is 14. The sheer fact that he has a resume', knows what a lighting console and lightwright is, and should know how to use a wrench is more then enough. At 14, your not looking for design gigs. At 20 you should not be looking for design gigs. Hell, at 25 you should just start marketing yourself as just a designer and only after you have plenty of credits, plenty of connections, and plenty of ALD work under your belt. I would give the kid an internship with that resume'. Right now, that is all he is looking for and should be looking for.


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## MNicolai (Oct 18, 2010)

Footer said:


> Time for a bit of the real world to leach into this thread....
> 
> He is 14. The sheer fact that he has a resume', knows what a lighting console and lightwright is, and should know how to use a wrench is more then enough. At 14, your not looking for design gigs. At 20 you should not be looking for design gigs. Hell, at 25 you should just start marketing yourself as just a designer and only after you have plenty of credits, plenty of connections, and plenty of ALD work under your belt. I would give the kid an internship with that resume'. Right now, that is all he is looking for and should be looking for.



I say unless you can get something at your school or a facility a couple miles from your house, an internship or overhire gig would be more probable at age 16, but take what you can get. You have a lot more on your resume than most people do before their junior year of high school. You're well on your way to having a good background before you go to college.

I started school gigs in 8th grade, started volunteering at a local community theatre spring of my freshman year. As a sophomore, the people who led the tech work in the school district had me helping them build sets for other school districts they worked with that presented their productions at a roadhouse. When I turned 16, the tech director at the roadhouse asked me if I'd be interested working there as an overhire. That lasted a couple years and in the process I picked up another overhire gig at a different roadhouse. By my senior year, we were opening a new roadhouse as a part of my school district, where I then also picked up a lot of overhire work. Now that I'm in college, I'm brought back two or three times a year to my school district to do some design work and I continue to overhire there. All of that experience built up, I scored an internship at ETC this last summer which was due to a combination of my electrical engineering major and my theatre background.

If that's a messy paragraph to follow, that's because getting into theatre can make for a disorganized career of a little over here with a little over there. Over the next decade, do things that make sense. Give some, but not all of your expertise away for free, and you'll probably end up somewhere good. At a month shy of age 20, I've easily done more work for free in my lifetime than I have been paid for, but I can already tell that it's all going to be worth it when I'm job hunting after college.

Coming back to my original point, what are you doing now and where are you trying to get to? What opportunities do you have right now and which are you trying to get your foot in the door for? Is this something you do because you enjoy it and it fills the time or do you want to do it professionally? Do you want to go to college for it or do you want to go to college for something else, maybe keeping the arts as something peripheral to your primary profession?


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## ruinexplorer (Oct 20, 2010)

metti said:


> I think at this point it is good that he is showing his board op experience BUT as he gets more design gigs, those should disappear. I think it goes without saying that established designers don't have anything but design credits on their resume.


Yes, but as Footer says, this will be quite a while down the road and the help is needed now. 


> I would also say that being a board op is VERY different than being a board programmer. I have a couple of programming credits for larger more moving light or media server intensive shows on my resume but I wouldn't bother listing that I had sat in the booth and pressed "Go" when the SM called my cues over coms. At this point, losing the board op credits makes his resume too short so he should keep them at the moment.



However, in many smaller theaters, the board op and programmer are one and the same. In larger theaters, I expect the board op to know more than how to push "GO". If your op is only a button monkey, then they will ultimately help your show crash and burn as soon as anything goes wrong. 


> I am going to go ahead and disagree with you on the Mac/PC thing. I would assume that any teenager in a relatively technical field is pretty well versed in computer use. I look at a fair amount of resumes and when I see one that indicates experience with computers (not specific software), I assume the person in fact is probably NOT a strong computer user. Saying that he knows Lightwright, Photoshop and/or other relevant software says that he knows how to use computers in general. The very fact that the resume has layout that goes beyond the simplest of MS Work formatting says that he knows how to use a computer.


 
That's fine to disagree. Certainly a computerized resume will establish basic computer skills (but not necessarily the layout since there are pre-formatted resumes in most word processing programs), but it does not show proficiency in BOTH Mac and PC platforms. I have known quite a few stagehands who are proficient in PCs who can barely navigate a Mac and vise versa. It's too bad that you assume that if someone states that they have experience in a certain skill then you assume that they do NOT have that skill, especially since you are already assuming "that any teenager in a relatively technical field is already pretty well versed in computer use". That to me expresses that you do not have a lot of experience in hiring.


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## museav (Oct 20, 2010)

metti said:


> You're also going to want to move towards only listing shows for which you were a designer or ALD. The skills required to stage manage or even board op don't really translate in a meaningful way. Someone may have been a board op on broadway but I'm still not going to hire them as an LD.


I also disagree with this. For someone at that point in their lives I see the potential of someone either looking at them as a board op who could learn from experienced LDs and potentially move up or possibly for something like a community theatre where the LD, programmer and board op roles are all filled by the same individual.

I also see a potential LD who also has board op experience, or vice versa, as potentially representing some common ground between the two parties, the likelihood of better communication between them, the potential of fewer misunderstandings and problems and perhaps a more complete understanding of addressing both the conceptual and implementation aspects of the design. And this can extend into professional applications, my resume to potential clients for consulting identifies my contracting experience as though that is not the services I am offering it potentially associates the benefits noted above and thus may increase my potential value to the project and Client.

As far as software and computer experience, I tend to only list those things that may be directly applicable to the position/role for which you are looking. I also tend to avoid terms like "proficient" unless there is some related standard for proficiency that you meet. Realistically, I have gotten to where I almost ignore any general computer skills people list in resumes unless there is some related certification or education, a result of too many past experiences with people listing computer "experiences" or "proficiencies" that turn out to be little of either. Those are the kinds of things I will ask them about in person where I can get more details and perhaps a demonstration.


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## metti (Oct 21, 2010)

museav said:


> As far as software and computer experience, I tend to only list those things that may be directly applicable to the position/role for which you are looking. I also tend to avoid terms like "proficient" unless there is some related standard for proficiency that you meet. Realistically, I have gotten to where I almost ignore any general computer skills people list in resumes unless there is some related certification or education, a result of too many past experiences with people listing computer "experiences" or "proficiencies" that turn out to be little of either. Those are the kinds of things I will ask them about in person where I can get more details and perhaps a demonstration.


 
I definitely agree with this. In response to ruinexplorer: First of all, when push comes to shove we can't have any hope of efficiency in our lives if we aren't allowed to make assumptions based on prior experience. In my experience, really tech savvy people tend to assume that this will come across naturally and they only list skills that are directly relevant to the position (Lightwright, Vectorworks, etc). This is not always the case but it is more often then not. No actually computer literate person would list Word because everyone and their grandma can use it so they just assume that it is entirely unimpressive and not worth their precious resume space. People who think knowing how to use software like that is a big enough deal to warrant taking up space on a one page document like this, probably aren't actually very good with anything that goes beyond basic computer skills. Again, this is not always true but it is more often than not. While I don't have a lot of experience hiring teenagers specifically, I do have a lot of experience teaching them about lighting and I can tell you from that experience that they tend to pick up software and computer based skills much faster and more easily than most adults ever could because they have grown up with this stuff. I don't expect every teenage to understand advanced software that they haven't been exposed to but the VAST majority of them are solid with all but the most advanced (and typically unnecessary) computer skills, usually on both major platforms. I'm sure there are computer illiterate teens in the lighting field somewhere, I just have yet to find one. Obviously, this is a subjective issue and I feel like this discussion is shifting towards a less productive and more personal path so you can feel free to post whatever response to me you want but, as I think I have said my piece and given the OP my thoughts, I'm done.


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## museav (Oct 21, 2010)

metti said:


> No actually computer literate person would list Word because everyone and their grandma can use it so they just assume that it is entirely unimpressive and not worth their precious resume space.


The other side of this is that what I sometimes encounter are people who are literate with how to use Word but rather illiterate in regards to what they create with it. Saying that you know how to use some software may indicate that you are familiar with how to run it but is not actually indicating that you know how to do anything useful with it. That's why if some particular software ability matters I may want to see some actual work done with it in order to assess any practical proficiency.

The inverse occurred to me once in an interview for a possible change in job. The person interviewing me asked if I was proficient with a particular piece of software. I said that I had only used it minimally, however I had used similar programs extensively and understood all the concepts behind it, so I was sure I could become proficient with it quickly. That individual could not see beyond just not having used that software, I'm not even sure they knew what it was other than hearing that people should know how to use it. Ironically, some years later that same company hired me multiple times to do work that included using that very software, which I had in the interim indeed readily learned to use proficiently.


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## derekleffew (Oct 21, 2010)

museav said:


> The other side of this is that what I sometimes encounter are people who are literate with how to use Word but rather illiterate in regards to what they create with it. Saying that you know how to use some software may indicate that you are familiar with how to run it but is not actually indicating that you know how to do anything useful with it. ...


Along the same lines...
Sadly, I see this all too frequently--individuals who know how to program the grandPA III to make it do spectacular things, but don't know _how_ to light. The 2000W washlights in a pixel-mapped rainbow chase, sine-square wave-cosine bally, and multi-winged strobe effect is all for naught if the singer is in the dark.


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## cpf (Oct 21, 2010)

(This post concerning software knowhow, not lighting/whatever skill).
I've encountered this issue with assumed prerequisites on resumes before. From a hiring perspective, it varies completely on who's reading the resumes. Some more technically-oriented people will assume that if you're applying for Job X, you will already have adequate knowledge of all the software that forms the basic foundation around that job, but they will still look for an explicit reference to top-level software (e.g. MS Office Suite is assumed, but SolidWorks needs to be directly specified). On the other end of the scale is the person who has been given a list of requirements, and if your resume does not contain that exact list it's into the recycle bin.

I find a good compromise is to list the general categories of auxiliary software you are familiar with, so for example "Basic word processing & spreadsheets," "Advanced image editing," or "Some Adobe After FX" knowledge vs. "Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003[...]Adobe Photoshop CS3, CS4, CS5..." This way, more "advanced" readers aren't bogged down/getting the wrong idea from your massive list of software, but other readers won't bin your submission simply for the lack of a (what you assumed was implicit) reference to software X.


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## DuckJordan (Oct 21, 2010)

I have to pretty much mimic what people were saying here, at 14 your way ahead of the game. Board op experience is a plus whether or not these volenteers or student think so many people who haven't been in a show critical environment where if something goes on a true board op doesn't just know how to push a button, if that was the case we could go to those labor ready places and stick a headset on them and tell them to press this button when we tell them to. 

As far as being proficient in software, Microsoft word requires a proficiency, as well as powerpoint. I have seen many of the same people I'm competing against for summer stock state they are proficient with PowerPoint (remember 18-20 year olds, TEENAGERS WHO ARE ASSUMED TO HAVE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT TECH) go to write a paper or make a PowerPoint and completely destroy themselves because they don't know what a margin is, they don't know that sounds and flashy animations are a little too "artsey" for a professional presentation. 

I can't remember how many times I've gotten a job or a volunteer position because I can actually think and use software most people find "Common".

So to sum it all up for a resume at 14 it looks like you know what your doing other than a few minor things that I'm certain you'll learn as you get older and get more experience you are on the right track.


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