I debated whether this post belonged on this site, or over at www.glasscitytheatre.com because it is through getting ready for those auditions that I have had these revelations. I decided to post it here because it is my personal opinion, and not that of the company.
In the past two weeks I’ve had about 50 actors from around the lower mainland submit themselves to audition for Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train & I am very excited about those auditions. I can’t wait to see all of their talent in person. However, there have been a number of things that could be fixed simply to make an even better impression.
1. Send your resume as an accessible document
So don’t use .docx files. I don’t actually use MSWord. I have open office, which is great. But it means that when people send a .docx file I can’t open it. I can open a .doc or a .pdf, but not .docx. PDF’s are a great way to send resumes because they keep your formatting & don’t have any sort of spell check still going once I open it on this end. Not sure how to save files as PDFs? Check out this e-how article.
2. Correctly spell the names of productions you’ve been a part of
For example, if you played a principal role on Battlestar Galactica, please don’t spell it Gallatica. I’m aware of the show, and your poor spelling makes it look like you aren’t. And you were on it. The same is true for plays, director’s names, & theatre company names.
3. Put your name in your file name
I have downloaded 50 resumes from the e-mail account in the past couple of weeks and only a handful of them are identifiable. Most of them are simply called “Resume” or “theatre resume” or “acting resume.” I don’t know who they belong to until I open them. Put your name in the file name so I can find yours quickly! When I send out my resume I send out “Lois Dawson Theatre Resume”. It’s a slightly longer title, but it makes it easier to find once its on their computer.
4. Write a cover letter
It doesn’t have to be long – even a couple of sentences. But make it professional, even if we know each other.
5. Attach your resume
The number of e-mails that have come through missing attachments amazes me. And these are ones where they don’t follow up to attach it. I don’t have the time to chase after people to get my hands on their resumes. Similarly, don’t put the resume in the body of the email. I need to download it to share it with the other producers & the director, and you are making that much more difficult.
None of these tips are rocket science, I know, but the small things really do make a difference.
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Hmm, my version of OpenOffice opens .docx, almost always successfully. Once in a while it chokes. Make sure you’ve got the newest version.
Also, on your resume, put the info closer to the top that is most relevant to what you’re applying for. So, for an actor, the top section should be your acting experience. Include backstage experience, but after your acting info.
I just went through the process of coordinating general auditions, and may I please add (even though it seems obvious):
Make sure your contact information (phone and email) is a) on your resume; b) up to date; c) doesn’t contain typos; and d) is easy to find
It was amazing not only how many actors didn’t include a phone number and/or an email address on their resumes, but how many resumes had incorrect contact info (either old, misspelled, missing an underscore or whatever), or had info that was hard to find on the first pass (buried in the footer using a tiny font, for example).
There were a handful of actors we would have seen, but had no way to get in touch with….
Thank you for this Lois- we did audition submissions via email and we had a good number of emails from actors with non-pdf resumes and no-name file names.
Another random suggestion..
- photo resolution and file size – convert (or have someone else convert) your 5MB head shot into a size that’s more manageable for the person receiving it.