Collen:

Use as many pages as you need as long as it's relevant information for the
position you are applying to (and all resumes and cover letters should be
tweaked for the position you are applying for).

But I have this advice for people looking for their first position. I've
been reviewing resumes here at the college for a grant program that places
students into real work experiences in the community and I'm troubled by
students' inability to explain on a resume or in a cover letter just how
working at McDonald's qualifies them for working, say, as a marketing
assistant at a local historical society. Most students seem embarrassed by
these very real work experiences. Your master's degree gives you only the
most basic qualifications for whatever museum job you are after and there
are hundreds of others just like you churned out every year competing for
the same spot. You'd better flaunt every advantage you have.

Here's what your resume should say about your fast food experience:

   - Taught me how to show up to work on time
   - Taught me how to fill multiple roles working on a team
   - Taught me that details are important.
   - Taught me how important it is for everyone on a team to do their job
   well or it affects everyone else on the team.
   - Taught me how to smile and be pleasant and say "thanks you" to
   customers who didn't deserve it because it was good for the franchise
   (professional behavior)
   - Taught me how to live within a budget.
   - Taught me how NOT to manage people (or maybe you did learn something
   if you had a good manager)
   - etc.
   - etc.

I've been monitoring this list for almost 15 years and this time of year
there is an inevitable flurry of
"Oh-my-god-I'm-gonna-graduate-and-i-need-a-job-what-do-I--do?" posts. My
advice is that if you're applying to work in a small to mid-sized museum
you ignore everything your college's or university's career counselors tell
you about resumes. You need to be noticed and your personality needs to
shine through. The person reading your resume should say, "I want to meet
this person." You can't do that following the corporate philosophy where
page lengths, job titles, and career paths actually matter. Museums want
flexible, multitasking, problem-solving, innovative, pleasant superstars.
Corporations might not think that working the stock room at Target
qualifies you to be an entry level junior accountant, but the right museum
might think you're the perfect person to work in collections because you
had to pay attention to details in recording the physical placement of
merchandise in storage so the computer inventory system was accurate.

EVERY position you have ever held has prepared you for whatever job you are
applying for. Dog walker, baby sitter, dishwasher in the college cafeteria.
Your challenge is to figure out how it did and tell the person reading your
resume why it helped make you an awesome person to hire.

Best,

Dan
-- 
Dan Bartlett
Curator of Exhibits and Education
Instructor of Museum Studies
Logan Museum of Anthropology
Beloit College

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