I’m going to start this blog by apologizing. I know this is probably getting a bit old now as I keep repeating myself. But do you remember how I wrote a blog post a while ago about how to customize your resume for different programs?
I was so dedicated to that blog that I actually ended up writing two resumes: one for Selena Gomez’s music achievements and Selena Gomez’s film achievements.
And yeah, I know! This girl is so talented and accomplished that you can write two full resumes about her career without repeating any information!
Since I’ve already published a blog about Selena Gomez’s music resume, I figured I’ll dedicate this blog to Selena Gomez’s film resume.
This is what I learned! Hopefully, it’s insightful for you too!
LESSON #1: CONSIDER INCLUDING LINKS TO YOUR OWN WEBSITE
Standard resume advice has changed a bit over the years. It wasn’t uncommon for people to consider social media a very personal and private thing a few years ago.
But nowadays, social media is just as much a personal medium as it is a central part of any business.
In fact, having a clean, professional, and authoritative online presence will likely make you more competitive now than not having one.
So if you have a blog, website, or online portfolio of all your work, you can consider adding a link to it at the top of your resume.
Just remember that your website is not intended to replace your resume so make sure that you still include information about all your most important achievements on your resume.
If your target audience is interested in learning more about your work, they will visit your site. But that’s the second step, the first step is to win them over on your resume.
Another friendly reminder about social media content. Even though the lines have blurred between personal and professional use of social media, you should still be careful of what you post online.
You should also consider scrubbing your profiles clean before you apply for your dream scholarship, internship, or job.
LESSON #2: BE STRATEGIC ABOUT WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR RESUME
Sometimes, what you exclude on your resume is just as if not more important than what you ultimately include on your resume.
And yes, that means that you sometimes find yourself in a position where you just can’t fit all the things you want to so you have to make some strategic sacrifices.
Here’s an example from the television resume I wrote for Selena Gomez.
When it comes to her experience in television, she actually has a lot of experience and was pretty much active every year from the time that she debuted. But not every project is wildly well-known or picked up accolades that can really help raise her profile on paper.
So you have to make a difficult decision.
Do you try to list out all of her experience in television so it doesn’t look like she has gaps in her employment history? Or do you forgo these gaps and just spotlight select projects that can really highlight her experience?
When in this situation, I almost always choose the latter option because I firmly believe in quality over quantity.
It’s more important to thoroughly demonstrate her skills and experience than to show that she has a lot of experience.
LESSON #3: PLAY AROUND WITH DIFFERENT WAYS TO WORD YOUR SENTENCES
The way I look at resumes is that it’s 90% quality of skills/experience, 5% strategic decisions, and 5% strategic wording.
So what that means is that resumes are ultimately about the quality of your skills and experience, you simply can’t write a stellar resume if you don’t have the experiences in the first place.
But…even with limited experience, you can still pull off a presentable resume by being strategic about how you present all the information. And that includes how you describe your achievements.
So play around with different ways of wording a phrase to make it as concise as possible while highlighting your achievements.
Here are some examples of the different phrases I experimented with in Selena Gomez’s resume before finally settling with the last one.
LESSON #4: USE LISTS SPARINGLY
So I don’t know if you paid any attention to what I said in Lesson #2, but just in case, let me repeat it again for you. When in doubt, always chose quality over quantity.
It’s always better for you to thoroughly present a few reasons why you’re a good candidate than to list out multiple reasons that don’t have much weight.
With that said, however, sometimes you just can’t fit it all in your resume. So for the things that want to add to your profile but aren’t necessarily a priority, you can consider including them in your resume in the form of a list.
While I’ve rarely seen resumes written this way, but you can also consider adding in parenthesis that this is a “partial list” if you couldn’t include everything that you wanted to include.
Do you have any resume questions for me? Or is there another celebrity that you’ll like me to write about? If so, make sure you leave a comment below!
Sources:
“Selena Gomez – Oslo Spektrum 2013” by NRK P3 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Adaptations made under the same terms.
“selena-gomez-tight-white-dress-los-angeles-event-1” by conceptx_design is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
“Selena Gomez MTV VMA 2011” by AleeDear is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena_Gomez https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_(Selena_Gomez_album)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_(Selena_Gomez_album)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_Dance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_of_Waverly_Place:_The_Movie#Awards_and_nominations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Breakers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena_Gomez_discography
