Jerry, 

Yes, I truly believe that a good cover letter can convey essential
information but as I stated below, most do not.  That is my lament. 

Dawn

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of jerry symonds
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 5:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A question about CVs and Resumes

 

Based on my 30 years experience of reviewing CV's my advice is this:

 

1. Being concise is important, but the number of pages is not as
important: if you need 2 - 3 pages and it's concise, so be it.

 

2. I beg to differ with Dawn below on covering letters: this is an ideal
opportunity for a good candidate to link their special qualities to the
job on offer in a cogent, well written letter. I've seen many poor ones
and am impressed by the ones that are well written: it certainly
increases the chance of being selected from my stand point!

 

3. I don't think that 1 and 2 have changed over time: in periods of
economic prosperity sloppy CV's still don't impress!

 

4. If you are a student with little work experience/ or just starting on
the employment ladder I tend to give somewhat different advice than to a
mid-career professional, when completing CV's. But that's another
discussion, perhaps? 

 

Regards,

 

Jerry Symonds - Senior Internal Auditor

Historic Royal Palaces

Surrey, England    

	----- Original Message ----- 

	From: Scher Thomae, Dawn <mailto:[log in to unmask]>  

	To: [log in to unmask] 

	Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 11:00 PM

	Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] A question about CVs and Resumes

	 

	I am sure that this will generate a lot of discussion as the
subject of resumes and CVs usually do.  In addition to the several hats
that I wear, I have been teaching a resume workshop to our graduate
museum studies students for the past 10 years.  The question below is
always one of their most frequent. My response is that if you only have
enough information to fill one page, then keep it to one page.  Most of
our students, however, have had several internships or museum positions.
In the museum world it is important not just to list the job title,
museum and year (as one might in a CV) but you need to describe what you
did during the internship or in the position with two or more relevant
bullet points.  Most museums want to get the most talent for their money
from the people they hire and a one-page resume rarely provides the
ability to review the myriad skills, abilities and knowledge that people
have picked up through the years. Sometimes this can be expressed in a
cover letter but I have found through vast experience that ninety
percent of the cover letters are so generic that little can be gleaned
from them.

	 

	Dawn Scher Thomae

	Milwaukee Public Museum

	MPM/UW-Milwaukee Museum Studies Graduate Program 

	 

	From: Museum discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Meegan Carr
	Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 11:02 AM
	To: [log in to unmask]
	Subject: Re: A question about CVs and Resumes

	 

Please respond on list, if possible. I am interested in Marc's question
too.

Thank you!

--- On Thu, 12/3/09, Marc Mahan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


From: Marc Mahan <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: A question about CVs and Resumes
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 11:49 AM

Some time ago there was a discussion on this list about the length of
Resumes/CVs and their content. The general wisdom at the time was that
the age of one page resumes was over. 

In this era of heightened cometition and scarce employment, have the
standards changed, and if so what are they now?

Please respond either on or off the list. Thank you.

 

Marc M. Mahan

[log in to unmask]

 

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