Good afternoon from the Great Lakes region, everybody! We wanted to talk about making yourself look good on your resume, CV or cover letter. Having a well-crafted resume is a real asset to getting into your dream school or landing your dream job.
So what’s the difference between a resume and a CV? CV stands for “curriculum vitae,” or course of life. As the name suggests, a CV thoroughly lists any and all academic or professional work you’ve done. Length is not an issue; if you’ve done a lot of stuff, list it all! Many academic institutions may ask for a CV because they want to see the full breadth of your musicality and your personal achievement to get to know you as a person. On my CV I have all of my music jobs I’ve held, schools I’ve attended, recordings I’ve appeared on, compositions of mine, etc.
A resume, on the other hand, is short (no more than a page) and should be very focused. You’ll want to only include professional or academic experiences that are extremely relevant to the position you’re applying for and leave off everything else. Many musicians applying for orchestral gigs need to submit this kind of document. When applying for grad schools I had to submit resumes for some schools as well.
If you want some more information, check out this website run by Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore about what resumes and CVs are. Tune in next month when we’ll set you up with some more resources for how to make your CV/Resume and get into the nitty gritty of what to put on it. Feel free to comment so we can get a discussion going.
Peabody Conservatory Resources
(Greg Santa Croce)