Resume Advice for Arts, Creative & Culture Applications

1. Get Creative with your Job Descriptions

To land your dream job in the Arts, Creative and Culture field, you need to present a job description section that adequately presents your talents as an artist, creative designer, or cultural professional. You can show recruiters what you have done in terms of including links to portfolio URLs, websites, YouTube channels, and pages such as Instagram and Pinterest, or Mypage. Be cautious though to not overdo things with links, and then completely forget to give a written account explaining what you have been up to during your career. Your resume should SHOW and TELL prospective employers about your current position and most recent gigs for the last five to ten years.

2. Provide proof of excellence in your accomplishment section

The term proof of concept is well-known in creative jobs. The accomplishment section of your resume is similar to a proof of concept or proof of work. List the top skills (or talents) you have, then use power verbs and numbers linked to accomplishment statements about projects you have won awards for, are most proud of, or received accolades and recommendations from clients, reviewers, journalists or industry organizations.

3. Avoid these Resume Faux Pas

Take note of these mistakes that will guarantee your application a journey to the recycle bin: Ideal Arts Creative Resume Length: A maximum of two pages. Frills, Bells, and Whistles: Basics before graphics is always better, thus ensure that you don’t commit ‘’resume overkill’’ by an elaborate use of color and distracting fonts. Hyperlinks: Including links to your portfolio, website or social media pages are vital for visual credibility, but do not go overboard and thereby overshadowing the written content of your resume. Frilly Language, Slang and Jargon: Personal adjectives and adverbs serve the purpose of amplifying sections such as your profile summary and accomplishment statements (too many and the impact gets lost). Keep the tone and verbiage simple, but do not use slang words. Including industry-specific jargon and terminologies is acceptable, but only if used minimally to accentuate certain themes in your resume document.

4. Pitfalls of Career Portals

Increase the shortlisting odds in your favor by making a few smart choices regarding career portals and online applications: Choice 1 – Set proper boundaries by subscribing to two or three job portals, and limit your time scrolling and clicking for jobs to 30 minutes per day. Activate job alerts by picking the keywords that are most used in the type of jobs you would be interested in. Doing it this way ensures that the ‘’bots’’ screen available jobs automatically and you only receive the relevant ones. Choice 2 – Forget FOMO, you are going to miss out on opportunities, that's just how the job-seeking journey transpires. It is impossible to search and view every single vacancy advertisement out there. Choice 3 – Quality always trumps quantity. Rather apply for fewer roles, but customize your resume for each one individually, than following the spraying and praying approach.