I am moving this over from the auditions forum, as it seems a more appropriate place to discuss.

What makes a good resume? Recently, two friends with identical experience and education sent resumes to an audition. One was accepted, one was rejected. It turns out, one candidate's resume was poorly written and formatted, and this made it seem as though that person was less qualified.

I've been thinking about this a lot, and have asked several people for their thoughts. What should be included on the resume? How should the resume be organized? Should you include dates or not? How much description should be included? It seems to me like this should be discussed while one is in school, and I know a few schools are actually offering classes on how to market oneself.

I don't really know the answer to this but mine has a heading with all my information, then orchestral experience starting with positions held and followed by substitute playing (I only include dates for positions held). Next is education (with dates) and last are people I have studied with and their positions (whether it be orchestral, educational, or both)

I think that clarity is key for all of this. If someone is looking through 200 resumes for an audition they just want to see all the necessary info right away.

I agree that clarity is key. Also, avoid resume padding at all cost! I've seen a ton of resumes that list sometimes 20+ obscure pick-up orchestras under "performance experience." Not only does it look like a shameless attempt to cover up for a lack of experience with more major orchestras, but it also makes it really hard to spot anything on your resume that might actually be impressive. I was on a committee recently, and one of the finalists' resumes had so many tiny, no name orchestras on it that it was almost impossible to spot that they had also subbed with the CSO.

I think flute3000 makes a great point. You are selling yourself to this organization that you are worthy of hearing and hiring. Listing the most impressive parts first and clearly will go a long way.

I think that it is important to not list dates for substitute performances. On my resume the top line of places I have subbed with is a top 10 orchestra. It is not the group I have played the most with or most recently with, but it is the most impressive. Also, if you list the dates and have only subbed once with a group and maybe that was a year or so ago, it can cause people to ask questions like "Why haven't they been asked back?". You are selling yourself to an orchestra for the opportunity to get in the door of an audition and should only put information on the resume that helps your cause.

One confusing thing can be simply listing "substitute". Does that mean you just got on their sublist, or you actually played with them? I agree, dates aren't necessary, but I would only put the word "substitute" if i actually played with the group, vs. taking a sub audition & not ever actually getting hired. However, if you have played with them regularly, "regular substitute/extra" implies something much different & speaks for itself.

I have always wondered this: how much weight does putting an orchestra on a resume have? For instance, if player A has advanced in these orchestras, while player B has subbed with them, is just having the name enough? I'm sure it would be more impressive to see someone who's advanced in, say, Boston in the past 5 years than someone who says they subbed with Boston 15 years ago. Or are both equally important, assuming that a player has recent subbing experience & has recently advanced in full-time groups?

Orchdork - I wonder the same thing. I think it is important to have some differentiation between taking a sub list audition and never being hired, subbing with a group once, and being hired as a regular sub. For instance, I want to be able to show that I have played the past 4 seasons with the same orchestra - experience is experience, whether or not your "job" starts with a capital "J."

Dates can help or hurt you, but I really think they lend a lot more credibility to your resume. I do know one personnel manager who really does not put any stock in a resume unless it has dates on it, but I do not know if all PM's would agree with that.

It would be great for someone on here who works as a PM to weigh in on this!

I'm not a PM, but the former PM of the Dallas Symphony gave a lecture, years ago, when I was a student at SMU.

What he looked for in a resume:

What do you play? ( His advice was put that right under your name. If the PM has to scour your resume to figure out what you play that's not good)
Name, address, Current! phone #'s. I would add current e-mail address as well. (He stressed the need for the most current contact info. Nothing more annoying than getting an ex-wife, ex-husband, ex bf/gf or "Dude? he hasn't lived here in months".

What have you done? Professional experience.
Who did you study with? His advice was to stick to your primary teachers only.
Where did you study? When?

Just my 2 cents.

Back to the Grassy Knoll, maybe Eryka Badu will be running around nekkid agin!! : 0

After being on a jury screening resumes the other day, I would add:

- List major teachers, but leave out the local teacher you started with, who nobody heard about.

- List major experience, leave out orchestras the jury probably doesn't know, leave out non-music jobs. I saw one resume where the impressive info - a half year contract in a full-time orchestra - was hard to find between supermarket and kindergarten jobs. If there are holes in your music experience, it doesn't matter. We know musicians often have to make their living from other jobs, we don't care which ones, we won't think you were in jail or something.

- Do not list 20 big-name teachers you just payed for a private lesson once each, or where you attended a master class. If you list a player in the orchestra you apply for, make sure that person remembers you. (and that they don't remember you for not paying your lesson...)

- Do not write half a page about your motivation to apply for this job. Hey, we are orchestra musicians, we're just like you, we know why you want this job.

- Do not include a copy of your entire masters thesis. (Yes, one guy actually did this. A thesis about teaching violin to four-year-olds when applying for a concert master job in a full-season orchestra. No further comment.)

- Make it serious. No jokes. Have an email based on your name, not "worldsbestviolinist@whatever.com" or "ilovebitterchocolate@something.net".

- Have someone proofread your resume, especially if you're not a native speaker of the language you're writing in. I have seen a "culliculum", I have also seen someone listing their experience on "maden violin" (as opposed to baroque violin).

I'm not sure if people do this on resumes, but I've seen similar things Eurobassoon listed on musician bios, such as orchestra personnel & college faculty pages. It's annoying when people name drop big names that they've played in a masterclass for. Also, the overuse of big words is unnecessary. Here are the most common ones:

auspices
tutelage
concertized

I should add that it's not necessarily the fact that someone uses 1 of these words that is so bad, but they tend to overuse them & fabricate the bio, making it appear more impressive than it really is. If someone has subbed or made finals in some major orchestras, that's impressive enough. The most impressive bios I have found simply state the facts in an unassuming way & they never use big words or fluff up their bios - they let the facts and experiences speak for themselves. Also, capitalizing the word THE, like when someone is referring to The Somewhereville Symphony, is unnecessary.

What about teaching resumes? I'm not talking about full-time teaching positions, but for people interested in either doing part-time instruction in a school that doesn't have private lessons, or just to let them know you're a teacher in the area? Can this be just a modified version of your performance resume with your teaching experience, or should it be a more drawn out one like when applying for full teaching positions?

Thoughts?