The Yellow Board

The Yellow Board
[ The Yellow Board ]

Seasoned Resume

Posted by BD on 12/16/2024, 4:06 pm

The latest trend that I am finding for the fresh, up-to-date resume is:

1. No address, just the city.

2. Experience should not be listed beyond 15 years.

I have 30+ years in the business. I love what I do, and am at the stage where I have gotten rid of the stupid teaching mistakes. Looking for my next gig!

Feedback on resume design?

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by me on 12/19/2024, 10:13 am, in reply to "Seasoned Resume"

Having hired directors, the most important things I'm looking for are the needs of the program. If I know I need someone who has a strong background in clarinets, that's where my focus is first and foremost. Then, I narrow down the list of people that meet that need. I contact references to talk about these people and then ask the best candidates based on the reference talks to come and have an interview. If the interview goes well and there's a genuine spark it might be time to hire right then and there. If there's a little bit of a spark but we know there's other good people to listen to as well, we might do some more digging and see what we find. Ultimately, schools want to find the best fit. Personality matters and that's a tough one in education. We all have egos in the fine arts. How will they mesh? Will they be a good partner with our administration and meet the goals of what the board and upper admin want with the program? How will they be perceived by the community? There's a lot that goes into it. I've also been at the point where I wanted to hire and I had to wait and then the candidate is gone because another school took that person. That HURTS when you're the head director trying to fill your staff out with the best people. Just wanted to elaborate and say that it's not one thing or "just knowing people" that gets you jobs. Knowing people is also known as networking. That's an important skill.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by MS on 12/18/2024, 8:24 am, in reply to "Seasoned Resume"

The reality, it's all about who you know. If they don't see someone on that reference list that they know or know of, you ain't getting a call.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Sometimes on 12/19/2024, 11:41 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

A personal reference helps, but it's entirely possible to get a job without it.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Baloney on 12/19/2024, 9:11 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

If that was true, I would not have been teaching in Texas for one year...let alone 24. I'm from out of state, went to a small college that doesn't have much of a reputation footprint to speak of, and nobody, even in that state, knows much of anything about the music staff at the college. I was able to get a plethora of interviews & offers here in Texas with what was on my reference list...according to you, my resume should have been no more than birdcage liner.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by MS on 12/20/2024, 8:22 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

So what made your resume stand out? Did you have DCI experience? Are you a percussionist?

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by not true on 12/18/2024, 12:22 pm, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

Absolutely not true. I've been on enough panels where this was not the case. Sometimes, yes, they already know who they want, but not always.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by OP on 12/18/2024, 11:46 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

Aint that the truth!

Thanks for your response.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by makes sense to me on 12/17/2024, 7:09 pm, in reply to "Seasoned Resume"

I remember an interviewer getting back to me and complaining that they contacted my employer 15 years prior and nobody I had listed as a reference still worked there. What do you expect me to do about it? Maybe not consider people I worked for a decade and a half ago to be reliable sources of information about me.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Concur... on 12/19/2024, 9:19 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

I agree. That's why there are some people who I got fantastic references from in the past who are no longer on my resume. They have long since retired, and in the case of a couple of them, have passed away. I try to keep my references as "fresh" as possible, usually within 10 years.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by 1A HBD on 12/19/2024, 8:26 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

Update your contacts with current addresses, e-mails and phone numbers.

I always list where they work now with the relevant information so even if it is 15 years later, they can be contacted to provide a reference.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by BDSO on 12/17/2024, 5:09 pm, in reply to "Seasoned Resume"

So, I've been at my current position for 19 years. I shouldn't list the previous 8 years? I know we are a "what have you done lately profession, but I'm proud of all of my experience and the early part of my career is filled with success in less than ideal situations. As to the address, I've never put my address on my resume. It's on the application already. Email address and phone number are all I have ever put on the resume.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by OP on 12/18/2024, 9:22 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

Thanks for the response.

I agree, I have lots of success early in my career that I am proud of. I guess the resume writer is speaking to the current trend of not hiring older applicants.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Hmm on 12/17/2024, 11:52 am, in reply to "Seasoned Resume"

Brevity is the goal, imo, regardless of experience.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Yep on 12/19/2024, 9:24 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

Yes. I try to keep my resume within 2 pages (maybe 3 if the 3rd page is just references). I provide a little more detail for positions I've had in the past 5-10 years, but beyond that (I have 24 years experience) I just list school and service dates. That helps with the brevity without "neglecting" the early years.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by OP on 12/18/2024, 9:23 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

Makes sense.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Respectfully on 12/17/2024, 9:32 am, in reply to "Seasoned Resume"

Be very careful of those "resume advisor" people if you're going for a band job. They are great at tailoring your resume for a job outside the education field.

Your best bet is honestly going to be your cover letter and your references. If you don't have a good attention grabber on your cover letter, no matter how good your resume is, it will likely go in the "discard" pile as every decent band job these days has a hundred applicants. You need to differentiate yourself immediately. If you have a good reference that can pre-emptively call the HBD and recommend you, that might help too.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Question on 12/18/2024, 10:43 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

I am not looking, and I am at the end of my band director career. Does every decent job have a hundred applicants, or a lot? I haven't seen those numbers with Head people looking for assistants. I know big metro places possibly.

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by OP on 12/18/2024, 9:24 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

Thank you for the response. Solid advice!

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Lost on 12/18/2024, 8:25 am, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

What should go on a cover letter? I have seen templates of teaching cover letters but I feel like none of them say anything at all

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by Respectfully on 12/18/2024, 1:26 pm, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

It depends on who gets it.

If you're being screened by a FAD or HBD, include who you studied conducting with, your relevant experience, awards your ensembles have won, and any individual accomplishments your students have achieved. Make it content-centered.

If you're being interviewed by a principal, 99 times of 100 they won't know why ANY of that matters. Talk briefly about UIL participation (because that matters to school accountability scores), growing programs, philosophy of "supporting across the curriculum" and things that will make a STAAR-addled principal want to look twice.

You can easily have basically the same information in both, but it'll all be about the audience you're writing it for and the presentation of that information.

(It's very easy to spend 5-10 minutes talking about your composers and/or the source/inspiration for their music and meet that cross-curricular checkbox they're after)

Re: Seasoned Resume

Posted by OP on 12/18/2024, 3:27 pm, in reply to "Re: Seasoned Resume"

Great advise.

Thank you!

« Back to index

[ The Yellow Board ]