CVs - Third or First Person

[Bobbsy]

 

Opinion would seem to state the preferred wording would be something along the lines of...

 

VENUE:

- Look after the requirements of the visiting artists

- Use equipment provided in house

 

Close. Could I suggest you can sneak in a bit more information:

 

August 2013-Present: Assistant Technical Manager, Pendley Theatre, Tring

 

-Organised and scheduled crewing for a mixture of local and touring productions

-Operated sound and/or audio as required

-Made tea for the Technical Manager

 

July 2010-August 2013: Theatre Assistant, El Schmucko Theatre, Little Hopeless

 

-Deputised for sound and lighting operators as requred

-Handled general set construction and rigging for all theatre users

-Maintained all equipment and kept rig compliant with the theatre technical specification

 

...and so on.

 

Start with the most recent job first and work backwards; in each job, start with the duties that seem most relevant to the job you're applying for. Keep it to easy to read bullet points that are likely to strike a chord with somebody skimming quickly. Burying the fact that you lit a Madonna tour in the middle of a verbose paragraph won't help you much.

 

If it's a purely technical job, include a few details of gear you know well (especially if it's good pro stuff. If you've had formal training, it never hurts to mention it: "Attended five day course in operation of GrandMA lighting desks and have used them extensively for 2 years."

 

As per your original question, if you're not comfortable with this style, it's not a big deal to move a bit to first person with things like "My duties included:" but just be aware that every line like this takes away from your 2 pages if you have a lot to say.

 

Well, this is my take on it anyway...there are lots of differing opinions!

 

Finally, on the "ten applications a day" thing, I know of managers all over the UK who hate and resent this because they're inundated with hundreds of unsolicited applications for jobs that don't exist from people who wouldn't be qualified.

 

Edited to add: Pay better attention to spelling, grammar and punctuation than I did in the above post!