Resumes and cover note

[EnglandJoe]

Can you guys help me out a little please? I've written a couple of resumes to apply for work in the USA. The first one I wrote is the better one, I think, but my lecturer thought otherwise and gave me a new template to type it into. There's a fair few americans on here, what do you reckon?

Bear in mind that the "professional production experience" on resume 1 is being a little flexible with the truth, apart from the Director of Lighting one they are all projects I have done at college or university.

My cover note is this:
Dear Sir/Madam

I am an English student currently studying the second year of a three year course to attain a BSc (Hons) in Film Production. I am very interested in obtaining experience in the industry by working with your studio for a year. I am willing to work at minimum wage and I will work any hours that suit you.

Although I am not American I hope you will consider me for a work placement with your company, I am a hard and ambitious worker and with my friendly good natured attitude I feel I could be an asset to your team.

I have sent my resume as an attachment, it will open in MS Word.

Yours sincerely,
Joe Pegg

The resumes themselves can be found here

http://www.angelfire.com/ab8/joepegg/resume.doc

and here

http://www.angelfire.com/ab8/joepegg/resume2.doc

Thanks for helping me out

[KvHagedorn]

My advice to you is not to use angelfire.

[Umfriend]

Not american, not in that business my advice would be: use the template as the appendix and make the letter a bit shorter focussing more on why you want to do it and why they should be interested in you aside from your qualifications to which you should refer only briefly and point to the formal template at the end. I'd say all-in-all, yopur freeform text should prolly not exceed a one pager, Letter letter size.

[KvHagedorn]

Why don't you get a job in the British film industry? Hollywood is a pit.

[Sasq]

as well as the fact sorting visa's is a PITA until you graduate

[EnglandJoe]

Umfriend - thanks taken on board

Kvh - yeah I just tested the links and angelfire do indeed suck. I don't want to work in Britain because I get s.a.d pretty bad.

Sasq - Yeah, I hear you loud and clear on that one. That's gonna be a case of crossing the bridge when (and if) I come to it

[EnglandJoe]

This is the resume I'm currently using:


Joe Pegg

Application for one year work placement

*Resume

I am currently studying for my second year of a three year course in BSc
(Hons) Film Production Technology at Staffordshire University. I also
have a BTEC National Diploma in Media Arts for which I was graded
highly. These courses have helped me to develop skills in film and
television production including live broadcast skills (Globecaster,
studio quality cameras), post-production (Media 100 non-linear editing,
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe AfterEffects, AVID and Maya), scriptwriting,
media technology, Authorware (Director), business management and
economics. I have plenty of experience of operating the Canon XL1 3 chip
digital camera, location lighting and sound recording.

I would like to gain experience in Film, Television or something similar
as part of my year out.


*Interests

I have always been very interested in film as a very effective and
versatile means of conveying a story or message to a mass audience. I
decided to take a degree in Film Production so that I could increase the
knowledge I require to get hands on, helping on set to produce high
quality productions. Although I am very capable with post-production
editing packages, I am particularly interested in on set/location roles
at any level. I am considering all aspects of the industry at this stage
in order to gain as much experience as possible.

I’m very friendly and I understand the importance of a good team
dynamic. I’m ready to give 110 percent to your company in any role I
find myself in. I’m very motivated and ambitious, good at meeting
targets and enthusiastic in all that I do. I’ve had professional
production experience in which I was director of lighting working with a
council funded arts project for children in the area of Bridgwater.

I hope you will take my application into consideration. I am fully
capable with Windows based packages such as Word, Excel and Powerpoint
and I also have knowledge of maintaining computer hardware.


*Qualifications

Eight GCSEs
Three AS Levels including business studies and theatre arts
BTEC National Diploma Media Production


*Address

****

*Contact telephone number: ****

Email address: ****@hotmail.co.uk


*Date of Birth

22nd January 1984


*Previous Employment

The Crab Apple Inn – October 2000 to September 2002
Southern Way
Clevedon

Burnham Service Station (Cashier) – October 2002 to September 2003
Oxford Road
Burnham-on-Sea

The Bear Inn (Bartender) – February 2004 to December 2004
High Street
Stafford
Staffordshire


*Production Experience

Worked with the Chiltern Arts Project to create a “dance for film” piece
and also a documentary on how the arts project was educating children
about local artists. I operated camera and also directed lighting.


*Referees

Peter Hughes
Award Leader
Staffordshire University
*****
England

Tel: ****
Email: ****


Matthew Harbour
Award Leader
Bridgwater College
***
England

Tel: ***
Email: ***

[Fat Tone]

My 2p:

1. Don't mention minimum wage - value yourself highly. I did a thick sandwich whilst studying at Stafford and was paid more than minimum wage. Not much more mind you

2. Mention that you can communicate effectively with people at all levels.

3. Wherever possible alude to wider experience and abilities.

4. Ditch the hotmail address.

5. Send paper copies where possible.

Good luck!

Tony.

[EnglandJoe]

You studied at Stafford? That's pretty cool

I'll do all those things, that's good advice, thanks!

Now where do I get a better email address from? I was going to use my uni email but it's pq34641@staffs etc and it's a little long winded.

[Fat Tone]

Yeah, of course it was a polytechnic back in those days. I was at the Stafford campus, along with the rest of the spotty engineers The main computer building didn't even exist in those days.

email: How about a gmail account? Let me know if you need an invite. Or you could always buy yourself a nice relevant domain with email forwarding.

[EnglandJoe]

My housemate is doing an engineering course. I have gmail, but my email for that is englandjoe@hotmail.com... which doesn't sound very professional. If I invite myself do you think it will let me set up another account?

Out of interest why am I ditching the hotmail address?

[Fat Tone]

I see all the application emails where I work. It doesn't matter as we respond equally, but some of the names people choose really make you wonder what kind of person they are. englandjoe@... doesn't seem too bad.

There have been issues with our spam-filter blocking certain hotmail addresses. I think it was because of people using the pop-based Hotmail account, and Spam Assassin decided it was forging an Outlook header.

Anyway, as long as it sounds professional and not something like 'bigbuttcheeks@hotmail.com' (and yes, I have seen that, along with 'bootlyliciousbutt@...') you should be ok