How I... Structure My Resume

A resume is your first foot in the door, see how differently a resume for freelancing is and how to format yours for each specific need.

Here are links to Templates you can copy/paste to use for your own resume!

ATS https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRy1rpoGEYxvnzL0L5s7tzQcgBIBvYjydPhNgzl_AP9LmKSGcZFSroqljuuf0B6Pg/pub

Regular https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSJS-wQ60w7HyUbL9eLg5q2Ul2RvQPy_xnxfUHmiqEnnWLn8GXUuQ2iYi_zEkkAQq8hN8Fbtj1kGXq1/pub 

0:48 Episode Introduction

2:15 The TOP!

3:50 Work Experience vs Freelance Experience

4:15 The Meat of your Resume

5:56 How to properly write job descriptions

8:15 Hyperlinks!

8:42 How to list your Freelance experience

9:42 Additional

10:20 ATS Formatting

11:10 Recap

12:00 Wrapping Up

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Chapters

• 0:48 Episode Introduction
• 2:15 The TOP!
• 3:50 Work Experience vs Freelance Experience
• 4:15 The Meat of your Resume
• 5:56 How to properly write job descriptions
• 8:15 Hyperlinks!
• 8:42 How to list your Freelance experience
• 9:42 Additional
• 10:20 ATS Formatting
• 11:10 Recap
• 12:00 Wrapping Up

Transcript

00:08
Catherine
Hello there. My name is Catherine and I am 22 years old and working as a full time freelancer in the media and entertainment industries. And welcome to the House Diaries podcast. This podcast is a diary of how I'm currently going about my life and career. If you are someone who has a passion for media and entertainment, or find yourself wondering how people end up working on set and land other jobs in the industry and the freelance lifestyle appeals to you and this is your one stop shop for everything you need to know about breaking into it all these episodes are all about sharing everything I wish I knew earlier and the stuff I'm continuing to learn

00:40
along my journey, as well as my personal stories to help get you on your way to another kind of random episode topic. But freelancing is different from regular work, so that means most of things related to getting these jobs are different. Hence my other episodes on interview prep and, you know, internships and all of that sort of thing.

00:59
So go check those out. They're all very helpful. And like I keep reiterating, it's all a domino effect. I also have some episodes that kind of outline the kinds of stuff that are currently on my resume and how I build them up. So anyway, freelancing resumes are very different from typical resumes we are used to. One Freelance resumes are ever changing at a more frequent rate too.

01:21
You often may have to make several different versions of a resume, highlighting different experiences just depending on what exactly your niche is or several niches are, I guess. And three people who are hiring freelancers look at resumes in a very different way. So let's get into it. Today, I'm going to give you some tips on how to properly put together a resume that will get you work.

01:44
And then after you do that, go listen to my episode about interviewing, how freelance interviewing works and that sort of thing and just interviewing in general. That's also very, very helpful. Going to give you some tips on how to properly put together a resume that will get to work. And in the show notes below, you will see some links to the resume templates I'm talking about just because some of this info is visual and I can't explain it that well through audio format, so go get it and just plug in all the stuff that you have.

02:15
Starting off the top is name, phone, email, city links to websites, social media, etc. I personally don't have social media up there just because it's not necessary for me. Some people use Instagram or other things as portfolios. Eventually I will have a link to a website up there that should all be at the top and then for email.

02:36
I highly recommend making a new email for work purposes. If you have not already, don't use a college email. Don't use like say an email that you've had in high school. Start to separate things for your education. You should only put your most recent education example if you are in college or trade school or whatever. You should put that if you've graduated, put your graduation date.

02:58
If you haven't, just put your anticipate at graduation year in month. You don't need to list your high school education. The only reason that would stay is if you have no further education afterwards. I remember when I was in college and the first time I went to a career counselor and brought them my resume, she was like, Okay, time to delete everything from high school.

03:17
And I was like, Oh my God, it's going to be empty. Don't be afraid just do it. And then if you are at school, college, see what your career center offers. Usually it's free. I mean, quote unquote, free. You're going to college. There is a resources. And then there are two sections of experience, work experience, and then freelance experience.

03:37
I'm going to say just an overlay and comment. Again, nothing you did in high school matters. You will need to do the individual thinking of if something needs to stay from that period, if it is worth the space on your resume. But usually things start piling up, so save space when you can. So work experience is going to be four relevant jobs that you've had on a longer term basis.

03:58
So, for example, under my work experience, I have three jobs, two of which I talked about here because I quit them. But nonetheless, they're so experienced. It was my job at Electric Lady and my job at the International Institute for Learning. And the third one I just added because I just got it and it's for the summer, which is at the New York Film Academy.

04:15
Your work experience section is important because these are going to be what has ballooned to, you know, the typical lists of your skills and responsibilities and descriptions and whatever and what supports and justifies your freelance section because the issue with freelance that people run into is that you don't have enough space on your resume to keep it one page.

04:35
You should always just keep it one page. So this is kind of a way to save space, only explain and highlight the jobs that you've had. There should be a select few that you highlight and put in work experience, and that's where you're going to explain. Freelance section does not have those descriptors for space saving purposes, so choose wisely what goes there.

04:53
And of course you can always move things around constantly. Whatever you are, if you have no freelance experience yet, you don't need the section and just work on building up the work experience part and fill your resume. This is again why those decisions that you make about what you're doing in college or during your summers home or whatever matter.

05:12
I always had in mind the jobs I took were going to benefit my resume, not even just objectively, but just skill base to like, do you want to get in production in this industry? A job in an office looks better than any job in the food industry. Those little small choices you make, I don't necessarily want to get into job choices you should be making along the way in this episode, but if that's something you'd like, let me know DM me or something.

05:37
I just think it's so personal to every single individual that I it doesn't make sense to make an episode about it, but anyway, hit me up, so we'll be happy to talk. If you have any questions specific to you next describing those bullet points for what you did at the job is key use numbers when you can example.

05:56
Instead of saying that you trained employees, you can say that you trained five to ten new employees like obviously if you trained more than five to ten, but whatever you think that you did. But putting numbers into descriptors is very appealing. Another thing like I mentioned in my interview prep episode is look at what other job descriptors say to the jobs that you're applying for.

06:18
You can even Google what does a production assistant do or what does a dip do? What does an AC do, you know, those sorts of things and use the Internet to your advantage. Use those words that whatever comes up on Google, you know, next to each work experience is. It's also important to add the city you worked in and the time you spent there and months, not specific days and not just years.

06:39
You should add the month you started in the year and then the month you ended in the year. Example May 20, 22 to current. That's an example if you're working there, obviously current or like August 20, 20 to June 20, 22 and then list things chronologically. So the top one being the current or the most recent, etc.. So now for the freelance section, you these are short bullet points with hyperlinks for me you can and again you can see this if you go down to the shownotes Just look at it or download it, whatever.

07:10
For me, I don't have every single thing I've done, but I usually try and keep what I lists consistent in the job title and add mostly the stuff that I do that is re-occurring. That is why it is beneficial to make multiple resumes. Mine that I have now is for production assistant flash driver jobs and for podcasts related jobs to the rule of thumb is you want your resume tailored and easy to read.

07:32
So again, keep it to one page. Always do whatever you need to do whatever working around, whatever, formatting, you know, margins, all of that. Keep it to one page. People for freelance are looking for very specific information and they are almost all the time. Want to see that you've done almost, if not exactly what they're needing to hire for, which makes sense because job titles across production are all the same for each set is a lot different than other employers because often they have whole teams or software is dedicated to pulling applicants.

08:02
Productions usually have a very short window finding people, and that is also why most of the time people prefer taking references from other people than to go and do a whole resume search. It's not what you know, it is who you know anyway. Hyperloop links are also important, especially if you have websites or portfolios. That is a whole resume in itself and a plus because it's even more visual than a boring resume.

08:26
But make your resume credible enough so that people want to click those links in the first place and make sure it's obvious. If it's a hyperlink for the more creative positions and production they're going to ask for reals anyway, so it doesn't hurt to include it. The bullet points under freelance experience are formatted like this. It's going to be the company name with the hyperlink to their website for another added layer of credibility comma job title, comma, the year that I did it.

08:53
And then if I've done it multiple times, reoccurring, lean, yada, yada, yada, I will put a forward slash and then recurring. And if it's not recurring, you just leave it at the year that you did it. So even though I'm considered staff at the company, I do Q seeing for and transcription, it saves me room to add those experiences under freelance then work experience.

09:15
My resumé before this recent version I had, those were in work experience and who knows, maybe one I will probably if I find myself wanting to do more QC work or transcription work, I will make a whole separate resume highlighting different things. What I'm saying, like everything is movable around you, you just need to make tailored versions. But yeah, the freelance sections should also be chronologically ordered and if possible, to keep any similar job titles consecutively listed.

09:42
The last section is labeled additional this is where you can list technical skills, relevant coursework, interpersonal skills, awards achievements and gear lists. If you're a photographer or an audio person, etc. And then for me, I have my podcast titles there just because I don't really have a formal website yet. And I think it also credits me in some other roundabout way.

10:04
So that's where I have that and I have the hyperlinks to my podcasts on those. Again, in the show notes below, there is a downloadable template of this format I'm talking about and this is obviously a lot easier to also explain visually to you can see what I'm talking about, but that leads me into the next last little portion, which I just learned from my sister, who learned it from her friend Lee, who works in H.R. in hiring.

10:29
So shout out to you guys within each version of your resume as a freelancer. There should be two versions of that, one version. Does that make sense? So I have a put up my current resume now. It's the same resume, but I have two versions. It's one that's formatted for job boards like indeed or other big sites that use ATS, which is applicant tracking softwares, and then one formatted for when, you know, it's like directly being read by a person and or sent to an email and not put through an algorithm or other third party thingy.

10:59
I'm not going to try and explain this. And I just because one, I don't really know that much about it, you know, the basic premise of it, just look up resume formats for ATS and you'll be able to see, but that is also linked below and downloadable. So just a recap for my last point is remember to keep in mind what I mentioned earlier is make sure it's concise and easy to read people hiring freelancers are objectively looking for what you've done.

11:25
That is almost exactly what they need, which is also why you may need to make specific resumes for different job titles. Example one for PR work, one for videography or DPI work. Last point is to try and update and move things around on your resume every one to two months or after you've worked on something that is a big boost if you haven't had any major things to add, play around with the formatting and sections.

11:48
See if that could help get you more responsive. But I am one of those people. If it ain't broke, don't fix it sort of thing. I also read somewhere one time that where docs are the best format to submit your resumes and so that is it for this episode. Feel free to take a listen to my other episodes and topics.

12:05
And like I said, LinkedIn, the show notes below are templates you can download to just plug in your specific experience. As to how I was visually talking about all these things. And yeah, if this reaches you and you have any burning questions stories, I feel free to follow me on Instagram. At How I Diary Show Me and I'd be more than happy to connect and start building a community around all this sort of stuff.

12:30
Feel free to also send me your finished resumes through DM on Instagram and I'd be happy to give some feedback. Be sure to listen to all my other episodes for various other topics relating to freelancing in this industry, and please consider subscribing liking ratings sharing the show. It takes 2 seconds and it really, really helps. So I post five new episodes at the end of each month, so keep an eye out and until next time. Thank you for listening