Top 5 CV Mistakes to Avoid!

One of the topics we get asked for help with most frequently at MusicLeader London is CVs. A CV should be your sales pitch, a chance to show how your fantastic and unique skills and experiences could benefit a project or an organisation. Personally I think there’s no such thing as a perfect CV as the content and format should depend on your audience. There are, however, a few pitfalls that can easily be avoided – here are my top five:

1.    Too long
It’s highly likely that whoever is reading your CV will not have a great deal of time to spend on it, so help them out by including only the information that is relevant. If you are applying for a teaching post may not want to list every single concert you’ve performed in, but a summary of your diverse work as a performer may be useful. As a general rule, try to keep it to two sides of A4.

2.    Unsupported claims
It’s no good just saying your problem solving skills are excellent, you need to show why! A clear example relevant to the position/project shows you understand what the job entails. For example "I have excellent problem solving skills, as demonstrated when I arrived to lead a year 6 music class following the theft of all their percussion instruments. By teaching the group the basics of beatboxing I achieved the objectives of the lesson and inspired them in a new genre of music."

3.    Unnecessary personal details

Don’t include unnecessary personal details such as date of birth, marital status and how many children you have. These do not (or should not!) affect your ability to do the job. Discrimination on grounds of age, marital status or other factors is illegal so best to avoid giving this information at all unless you are asked for it on a separate monitoring form (which is fairly common).


4.    Style over substance
Presentation should be clear and simple – let the content speak for itself! Stick to standard fonts such as Arial or Helvetica (as these are allegedly the clearest to read) in size 10 or 11. Pictures are best avoided – if you want to show how and where you’ve worked, these can be included in a separate portfolio document. To avoid any differences in formatting, it’s always best to convert your CV to a pdf. There are many free programmes available to download that do this, such as Primo PDF. 


5.    Going it alone

MusicLeader runs subsidised CV workshops around the country offering expert advice and guidance on your CV. To find out when and where these will be taking place visit the MusicLeader Training Directory and search for ‘CV’. There are many free tools and example CVs available online. Use them for inspiration and guidance but beware of copying and pasting! Make sure you check the country of origin of any materials as all will have different conventions and terminology. The Next Step website is also good place to start.

Do you agree with these tips? What are your biggest challenges when writing your CV? We’d love to hear what you think! You can comment directly onto our blog, or email your comments to London@musicleader.net.

Happy writing!

Anne
MusicLeader London Manager

Top Tips to be a Healthy Musician

Whether you're a performer or teacher, instrumentalist or vocalist, in order to prolong your enjoyment of music and your professional career it's essential to stay fit and healthy. There is a wealth of information bout being a healthy musician available online and through specialist organisations. We've started a list of our top tips, which is by no means comprehensive - please let us know your thoughts and add your own tops tips and techniques that you've tried and tested!

1. Look after your hearing: High noise levels and loud special effects are often a hazard of the job. The website www.soundadvice.info gives useful guidance on what you can do to avoid the harmful effects of prolonged exposure to these. The MU also offer a Hearing Passport scheme for members offering hearing examination, assessment and advice.

2. Take care of your voice: Inside the Voice, a recent publication from Sing Up, shed light on this issue for teachers, quoting research that has shown almost a third of teachers have had vocal health problems at one point. This this accessible and engaging resource has been created by Stuart Barr and Jenevora Williams. Designed for classroom teachers and other professional voice users, it contains everything you need to know about how your voice works, and how you can look after it. Click here to download the guide for free!

3. Physical and mental wellbeing: From physical pain and tension injuries to voice strain or stage fright, early recognition of symptoms is key. The British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) offer a range of medical support services for performing and teaching musicians, including free health assessment clinics by appointment.

The London Region of the Musicians' Union is hosting a FREE event for MU members and MusicLeader members covering ‘Health and Hearing’ for performing and teaching musicians. A panel of experts will give short presentations which will be followed by a Q&A session. 
 
 Registration will take place at 5pm and the seminar will start promptly at 5.30pm with presentations from:

    •    Paul Checkley, Musicians’ Hearing Services
    •    Sanchita Farruque, BAPAM
    •    Jenevora Williams, Singing Consultant, Teacher and Vocal Health Expert

The advice and guidance offered will be relevant for both performers and musicians who teach and there will be drinks and networking from 7.30pm – 8.30pm, offering a chance for attendees to meet with speakers, MU officials, MusicLeader staff and fellow musicians.

The event is FREE to members of MU and/or MusicLeader but booking is essential as places are limited. Please click here to book.

Are workplace qualifications the way forward for the arts?

Last week the announcement that fast-food chain McDonalds are to introduce their own degree course in business management, enabling employees to achieve a nationally recognised qualification whilst working. And why not? In the current climate of increasing university tuition fees and high levels of unemployment among recent graduates should we expect people to choose between education and a job?

Apprenticeships and workplace learning have been the traditional route into the trades for a while now but the arts seem to have been slower to catch on. A great start has been made with the Diploma in Creative and Media, offering young people in England the chance to develop knowledge, experience and skills with direct employer involvement. Creative Apprenticeships are the next level up, offering the opportunity to 'earn and learn', with the knowledge that they will be trained to meet current industry requirements. Perhaps an antedote to the large numbers of arts graduates having to take unpaid positions in order to gain the experience to secure a paid job in the arts?

In his White Paper: The Importance of Teaching, Michael Gove indicates a clear move towards on-the-job training through a 'school-centred initial teaching training and the graduate teacher programme'.

Do you think more workplace opportunities would help the creative sector? How can creative sector employers be supported and encouraged to take learners?

Five ways to get your message across

The BBC reported last week that a recent survey suggested one in five music services (chief providers of music in schools) expect that councils will completely axe their grants and half fear cuts of up to 50%. At a time when cuts are rife how can music fight its corner?

• Write! ... A news article for your website, a letter to your MP, a blog... With today's raft of online media it's easier than ever to get your words out there.
  
  
• Petition! Whether you want to petition the Prime Minister, your local council (as Bedfordshire are doing), or anyone else there are a raft of websites offering to host your petition for free. Just type 'petition' into Google...
  
  
• Campaign! Today is Youth Arts Campaign Day, just one initiative that forms part of ENYAN's Youth Arts Tranforms lives - FACT! campaign. Case studies are a really important part of this campaign and I think are a very tangible way of getting a message across.
  
  
• Get people talking! ... Face to face and online! Cuts to music services are up for discussion on Mumsnet, Facebook ...
  
  
• Flashmob! This is one of my favourite examples of Dutch musicians protesting drastic arts spending cuts recently proposed by the Netherland's new government...
  
  

Do you or would you use any of these to fight for your cause? Which are the most effective in your experience?

Working for free for a foot in the door

I noticed this week that Arts Council England have now suspended adverts for unpaid work, work experience, voluntary roles or internships on their ArtsJobs list, arguably one of the most popular free job search/job advertising tools in the industry.

They've explained that this will enable them to 'make developments to the website that will help users to post genuine volunteering opportunities only and stay within Minimum Wage Regulations.'

Certainly these types of unpaid positions can be a great way to get experience in an industry and build up a CV but is this experience only be available for those who can afford it? If music organisations are tightening their belts could unpaid internships ease the pressure? Education charity WORLDwrite took to the streets of East London last week and proved that there's no easy answer...


The view from the streets: working for nothing from worldwrite on Vimeo.

If both parties have something to offer, surely this could be a win-win situation... Check out Internocracy who have some ideas...

Have you had to work for free to get where you are today? Can music organisations benefit from those wanting experience who'll do anything for a fiver?