But I think both Amy and Wesley's advice CAN be correct as far as they go, but could be deadly if followed too rigidly. I've hired literally hundreds of museum staff, most part time docents but many managers and full time educators as well not to mention lord knows how many interns, I have been on the market three times in my 20 year career always successfully, and have consulted professional Museum HR people on more than one occasion. I don't claim to be an expert or have the answers. But here are some points to ponder that you can take or leave:

1. No one way will work either in terms of page length, organization, or in any other way. I have seen colleagues throw out resumes because the applicant used "pompous stationary." (It was for a design position, so maybe it was an appropriate call, I don't know) What might be a solid gold cover letter and resume for a three staff member historical society in New England could quickly find the bottom of the trash bin at a larger institution in California with a professional HR department. Find out as much as you can about the institution before deciding anything about your application materials. With all of the resources the internet brings to our desktops, there is no excuse for not tailoring all of your materials to the institution and people receiving your resume.

2. While I am a fan of the shorter resume, the one page rule has been dead for a long time. A more important guide is appropriate length. If you don't have enough material for two pages, don't stretch it with clubs you were president of in College or your hobbies. But if you have a full background that can fill two even three pages addressing the specifics of the ad and position. Go for it. Whether you do a CV or the shorter resume is a tougher call. Unless it is an academic position, a CV is rarely called for. However, if the ad says things like "intellectual leader in the field," "history of scholarship," or if the job has any academic responsibilities, a CV might be appropriate. Or if you know the people or person you are sending your resume to has a bent for CV's you may want to tailor your application materials to suit. For example a university affiliated museum that uses a central HR department might be more comfortable with a CV than a shorter resume. (see points 3 and 4)

3. Never assume a museum professional will be the first one to read, rank, and weed out your resume. It may be an HR person who knows museums generally, but not the specialty being hired and not the subtleties of the profession. It may be someone who knows nothing about museums, especially if the position is with an institution which does more things than museums like governments with civil service laws, universities, scientific organizations, etc. In these cases, I would argue that you do indeed need to address the job functions point-by-point USING EXACTLY THE VOCABULARY FOUND IN THE AD OR ANNOUNCEMENT somewhere in your application. Cover letter or resume makes no difference, but sooner rather than later. If the ad calls for 5 years experience brushing hair, don't say you have five years experiencing styling hair and assume the first person to read your packet will know that brushing is contained in he concept of "styling.". The person reading your resume may not know the subtleties of styling and brushing and move on to the next resume assuming you don't meet the qualifications when in fact you exceed them.

3a. Heck never assume the person reading your resume is actually reading it. I don't know what the latest stats are, but for some positions there may be a 100 applicants. The person opening your letter and reading may have to cull 20 - 50 or more in a week or less in addition to all their other duties. They may only have time to scan, check off qualifications needed, and rank in minutes. Don't make it hard for them. Don't make them interpret your words. Short is a virtue but not at the expense of clarity.

4. Never assume that your resume will initially even be read and ranked by a human being. In our increasingly computerized world many applications are done online or resumes and cover letters are scanned into the computer and key words searched for. What are those key words? They can be found in the job ad or announcements. If they want educational leadership, you say "I show evidence of educational leadership beause...." so that when they plug "educational leadership" into their search engines and scan 100 resumes in 2 minutes, yours makes the first cut. And when it comes to page count bear in mind a couple of things. If you submit your application electronically page count is irrelevant. If your application will be scanned and searched, page count is nearly irrelevant.

In addition to the issues above, the electronic age also suggests the following pieces of advice to make scanning more efficient and accurate:

1. Send your application in a flat envelope, do not fold.

2. Use plain white paper with no fancy graphics or watermarks.

3. Eschew fancy typographical flourishes. Use at least a 12 point san serif font with plenty of line spacing and ample margins. (Thinking of your application as an ADA compliant museum label would be a good rule of thumb.)

Again, my last few points may not hold for a packet going to a smaller museum and it will be read and judged by museum professionals who can spend quality time with it and appreciate stylistic embellishments. You must learn as much as you can about the institution to which you are applying so that you can customize your packet.

And lastly, please think twice about a "Goal Statement" at the top of your resume. Those went out with attaching a photograph. Most will go unread. Even if read, savvy reviewers assume you are making something up to endear yourself to them, and nothing will get your resume passed around for laughs faster than a pretentious goal statement. Trust me on that. Do yourself a favor. Anything you want to convey in a goal statement would be better in a cover letter as part of a more complete thought.

On Sep 25, 2007, at 11:11 AM, Tracie Evans wrote:

Amy,

I have to say that I disagree with Wesley’s description of what to include in your cover letter.

If you put respond “point-by-point” to every essential job function, your cover letter would be several pages long. That is simply ridiculous. No one hiring is going to read a multiply page cover letter. I agree that you should address the job function, but the point of the cover letter is to get the hirer to look at your resume, therefore, the cover letter needs to highlight your skills and abilities (according to the jobs essential needs) so that someone will look at your resume for more details.

Cover letters should say, I have this much experience, these are my areas of knowledge, they match what you have asked for in this way, that I want to work at your institution and you think I would be a good fit because of these reason, but they should not be more than 1 page in length.

As for your resume, there is not a “right” length. It needs to explain what you have done in your job/career both the general that would be expected for the position and the projects or “special” skills/activities that you have done or acquired. However you decide to arrange it (and I agree bullet points are just uninformative) it needs to show your strengths, skills and accomplishments not just a list of duties. It is not necessary to go in great length and detail about the expected skills (Registrar will have done paperwork for loans and gifts, collections people deal with donors, etc.) unless you are just starting out and want someone to know you have the basic expected skills. If you held a position for several years the person reading it will expect that you did the basic work. That being said, you should give a brief overview of your basic tasks since all museums have slight variations in job positions/titles.

When I read a resume, would rather see a short paragraph stating the basic responsibilities of X,Y and Z (the expected) and more detailed information about the projects that you did (wrote a new collections manual, renegotiated 5 loans to gifts, etc) which includes details, outcomes, etc.

There are five major ways to arrange your resume (Chronological, Functional, Performance, Focused and mix of any of the other forms) each with their various pros and cons. If you are not familiar with these types find out. I personally like the Functional and Performance types myself but I use a combination of Functional, Performance and Chronological in my resume.

The best resumes are those that are information and detailed yet succinct and show your personal strengths. Make sure to use good paper (white is generic but don’t get wild with color), good grammar, check your spelling especially of the name of the person you are sending to, and have someone besides you proof if. They will also be able to point out when you are making no sense at all.   If you are applying to a government or university position make sure to fill out their job application completely and if allowed send in your resume. Also, if they ask you to write an essay or answer questions be sure to read the directions and follow them to the letter. Don’t assume that they will read all the questions together, or that the same person will read the all. If they tell you to include everything, do so for each question. (I’ve sat of these type of review panels and it’s a VERY common mistake)

If you have any questions or want to talk, let me know
Tracie Evans
Collections Manager
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 4:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Museum resumes

Good Afternoon Amy,
My first response is to give the search committee whatever the search committee wants. This direction should be given to you in the official vacancy announcement. If no specific direction is given – I recommend the following:
1.)     A cover letter. The cover letter should respond “point-by-point” to the essential job functions listed in the official vacancy announcement (OVA). For example, if the OVA lists that cataloging “widgets” is an essential job function – then your cover letter could say – for example – that you have (how many) years of experience cataloging widgets and you wrote the manual for your museum on cataloging widgets. Your cover letter should (if possible) respond to each and every essential job function listed in the OVA. The cover letter should tell the search committee that your knowledge, skills, abilities AND experience “matches” point-by-point the essential job functions listed in the OVA……and the cover letter should close with……that you are familiar with the institution you are applying to and want to further your career there…and it meshes with your career goals…etc….etc….and any other information that you think might serve to influence the search committee.
2.)     A one or two page resume. The resume should list the positions you have held and the key roles and responsibilities of those positions, and your major accomplishments described by quantitative measures of success, while in those positions. At the end of the resume, I would mention that a CV is available on request. CVs can be long and tedious for some search committee members to read. My resume is one page long and it covers my 35 year career in an “quick and easy” one minute read. My CV is 14 pages long….and even puts me to sleep!
3.)     Remember, nobody gets a job solely based on the cover letter and resume (and/or cv)….however, a non-persuasive cover letter and a resume that does not “relate” to the position that you are applying for – will deny you an interview. The purpose of a cover letter and a resume is to get you the interview. The interview, your references….and other observations (sometimes a search committee member will visit your institution as a “secret visitor – it happened to me…twice!) will be the determining factors in deciding who gets the job.
I hope this helps…..and,
Best Wishes for Success,
Wesley
Wesley S. Creel
Administrator of Programs
Pink Palace Family of Museum
Memphis, TN
www.memphismuseums.org
telephone          901.320.6370

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Amy Smith
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 3:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Museum resumes

I am preparing my resume to send out to museum announcements and I have been given two different opinions. One opinion is to do a CV another is a more formal one page resume. I have been in the museum world for a while but I don't think a CV is really necessary. What do all you hiring people want and look for in a resume?

Thanks,
Zoe
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