I agree with Jerry on all points. Put relevant information on your CV (believe it or not, we know when you are padding). Length isn’t an issue if it give us a good idea of your education and experience. One more note on cover letters. I’m noticing more and more that applicants don’t know the purpose of a cover letter. It is not to reiterate your resume. It is your opportunity to sell yourself, talk about things that may not be easily put into the format of a CV, demonstrate your communication skills, convey your excitement for the opportunity to apply for the position at the particular institution. Just don’t say you’re excited, tell the reviewer why in specific terms.  A cover letter isn’t just a pro forma piece of paper, people read it and most of them want to see something that sets you apart from the masses.

 

Heidi

 

Heidi Campbell-Shoaf

Executive Director

Historical Society of Frederick County

24 E. Church St.

Frederick MD 21701

301.663.1188

www.hsfcinfo.org

 

 

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of jerry symonds
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 6:52 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: [log in to unmask]">Scher Thomae, Dawn

To: [log in to unmask]">[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

 

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