Welcome to crowd-sourced resume review for LIS job hunters!
Please help the job hunter below by using the comment button to offer constructive criticism on her resume. Some guidelines for constructive feedback are here, and the ALA NMRT has brief tips for reviewing resumes here.
This 4 page resume was submitted by a job hunter who says,
The job I’m applying to is one that I desperately want but I haven’t looked for jobs in over four years. The job is for a Digital Archivist at a small, liberal arts college. I have to apply by September 1st.
The qualifications for the job are: “Required qualifications: Master’s in Library Science from an ALA accredited institution, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Experience working in archives with collection management applications; understanding of digital preservation standards and their application; excellent organizational and problem solving skills; strong written and verbal communication skills; flexibility and enthusiasm to accept, manage, and incorporate change and ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities in a dynamic environment. Desired qualifications: ability to collaborate with technical colleagues; project management; familiarity with ArchivesSpace.”
Instead of redacting personal information, I changed the information because I still want feedback on font size, type, layout, etc. I realize my Skills section in my resume is long, but there are many skills I learned in class that I didn’t get through work experience and I want to highlight that somehow.
To submit your resume or CV For Public Review,
- send it as a Word document, PDF, PNG or JPEG to hiringlibrariansresumereviewATgmail.
- It will be posted as-is, so please remove any information that you are not comfortable having publically available (I suggest removing your address and phone number at a minimum).
- Please include a short statement identifying if it’s a resume or CV and
- describing the types of positions you’re using it for (ie institution type, position level, general focus).
- Finally, you will also need to confirm that you agree to comment on at least five other posted resumes.
Hiring Librarians 
Hello! I think your cover letter reads very well. I really like it.
I think your resume is formatted nicely, but it is long. Maybe you could shorten it up by removing the references? I know when I usually apply for jobs, there is a specific section in the online application for references. I would also remove the skills “Customer Service, Communication, and Attributes.” I feel like they just add space but don’t really add much to the resume. I’m sure you’re great at all of those – but I feel like your experience already covers all of those pieces of information. Best piece of resume/cover letter writing nugget I ever learned was “show, don’t tell.” I do think the “Digitization and Metadata, and Technology and Digital Tools” are relevant, though.
I wish you the best luck in your job search! 🙂
LikeLike
Remove customer service, communication, and attributes from your skills. These are subjective and there’s no reason to mention them, you’ll show it in your writing and interactions. See more at http://www.askamanager.org/2015/08/stop-claiming-subjective-traits-on-your-resume.html. Also, correct the spelling for CONTENTdm.
LikeLike
I agree with the other commenters — leave out the references and subjective sections, it will shorten your resume and also there’s no real way for them to evaluate those traits from a list. I like your letter! (And also, that Ask a Manager blog is an amazing resource for workplace norms, cover letter and resume advice, and also crazy work stories… 🙂 )
LikeLike
Thirding the Ask a Manager blog as an amazing resource for all sorts of workplace issues. It’s incredibly valuable even if you don’t have a specific problem.
I also have to agree that the resume is a bit long. If there’s a lot of applicants, whoever is doing hiring is unlikely to spend a lot of time reading through the whole thing. I’d really recommend tightening it up to a page if at all possible. When you’re listing your jobs, try to focus on the stuff you did that really stands out from what the role typically involves, that you can point to and say “This. This is why I’m awesome.” You want to grab their attention quickly or you may not grab it at all.
LikeLike