Ask (nicely) and you might receive! – Darryn
It is my firm belief that many young people are struggling to find sound engineering jobs because their CVs aren’t up to scratch and they simply don’t know how to ask nicely! As
the owner of an agency that specialises in finding opportunities for engineers, I get sent dozens a week, and I peruse them all. The few well written ones, I either contact (if I have
an opportunity for them) or file for future reference (and send them an email saying so); the ones which come across as lazy (bad cut & pastes, poor formatting, incorrect spelling)
get binned without response (if you can’t be bothered to present yourself well, I can’t be bothered to respond).
Your CV is a sales document; it’s an advert for you. So make an effort when writing it. If it looks lazy, then I have to assume that you are lazy and will be lazy on my job; I will,
therefore, not even consider you. A CV is the only way you have to introduce yourself to total strangers; so, make sure it creates a good impression.
Writing your Covering Letter A CV should always be accompanied by a covering letter (email is fine), which is less
formal; introduces yourself to the recipient; and is the first step in getting them to actually read your CV.
Your covering letter should:
• Make people want to read your CV.
• Give the reader a small insight into your character (answer the question “who am I?”).
• Give a broad overview of your skills (answer the question: “what can I do?”).
• Catch the reader’s attention. This is the only contact that the reader has with you, so make it count! You need to stand out from the hundreds of other CVs and emails that
employers get every year. Make sure that you spell things correctly (especially the names of people and gear), and present yourself properly. If you’re applying for work in a language that is not your first, get a native-speaker to check it. Use spell-check, but beware of autocorrect. We’ve all done it – autocorrect can make you say things you really didn’t intend to! Once you are happy with your letter, print it out and proofread it again – it’s astonishing how many more errors you pick up on from a printed page than from a screen.
Then, get your grandmother to proofread it and check your grammar and punctuation (two
things which really matter.) Everything – including formatting – should be neat, legible, and
consistent.
Read it again as though you were receiving it. Would you give yourself a job? Do you
think you come across well? If not, start again. Remember, the letter will most likely be the first contact an employer has with you; so you
want it to create a good impression. It doesn’t matter if you’ve spent a lot of energy getting
experience under your belt; if it looks like you haven’t put the same amount of effort into
conveying it coherently, you won’t find much employment because you come across as
lazy, and frankly, a little bit shit. You need to come across as excellent.
Writing your CV
Your CV should make you stand out from the crowd. It should be neat; legible; and well
written, and a maximum of two pages long (except in special circumstances).
A CV should always be written in the first person; if you write in the third person, you are
selling someone else, not yourself, which just doesn’t work. The whole idea of the covering
letter and CV combination is to give the recipient an insight into who you are, what you
can do and to make them like you from the start. You need to make that all-important
connection; so, speaking of “him” or “her”, instead of “I”, disconnects the reader
immediately.
In the same breath, try not to start every sentence with “I”, either! Find other words to start
sentences with. “During my time at A Sound Company, I mixed monitors at A, B, & C
Festival and looked after FOH regularly at A Venue” is much more pleasant to read than: “I
did this; I did that; I did the next thing”. It’s good to show humility whilst, at the same time,
presenting your skills well. Too many “I”s sounds boastful and disconnects the reader.
Your CV should have the following sections:
• Start with your name and contact details, and what you are (sound engineer,
lighting engineer, stage manager etc.)
• If you fulfil more than one function, it might be worth having separate CVs.
• Follow with a personal statement that is like a mini covering letter. This should give
an indication of your character, your level of your skills, and your ambitions.
• Next comes “Relevant Experience”, which is all sound/event experience (whether
paid or not).
• List specific “Skills” – what mixing desks you can use, what software, what gear?
Do you know how to rig? Can you do electronic repairs? What can you actually do?
? “Other Experience” is any other jobs you might have done. Even a receptionist’s job
leaves you with some skills, like how to answer a phone properly; a sales job leaves
you with good client-facing skills; etc.
• “Education and Qualifications” – start with your higher education. Unless you did
something particularly spectacular in your A-Levels, and are within a year or two of
having completed them, no one really cares; certainly, no one gives a damn about
your GCSEs once you’ve hit age 20 (it also makes you seem very young to list
them, even if they were all ‘A’s). • List “Driver’s licences“ and other things you’re licensed for (scissor lift, fork lift, etc);
but be honest about any points.
• Two referees. Some people write “references available upon request”; I find this
seriously annoying. Make it easy for the employer! Give phone numbers and/or
email addresses, and make sure you’ve asked your referees if it’s okay to include
them.
Hot Tip: You may have just got your degree and are very proud of it, but don’t make this
your opening gambit. People want to know what you can DO, not how you learned
it. It is not necessary to have any formal qualifications in this industry, you just need
to be able to do the job and do it well. So make sure you are very specific about
what you can do. The degree is nice, but it doesn’t guarantee that you can DO the
job.
Practicalities
• Send documents in PDF format. This ensures the format will stay the same, no matter
what the recipient uses to open it. The formatting on Word, Pages and other documents
can often be ruined when opened on different devices.
• Make sure your contact details are very easy to find.
• Personally I quite like a photo to be included on the CV (it makes people easier to
remember) but it’s not strictly necessary.
• Age is not terribly important unless you are young. If you are just out of uni, and can
drive, I need to know whether you are over 21 so I know I can insure you on the
warehouse van.
Approaching Employers
Blind CV sending is often a waste of time; unless you are extremely lucky, sending
unsolicited CVs to every PA company in the country won’t get you any work. Jobs are not
advertised – bosses ask around amongst their crew when they’re looking for newbies, and
they will always rather go with a recommendation from someone they trust, rather than sift
through the 200 CVs they received that week. For the most part, CVs are only really
looked at when your name has already been put forward.
Bear in mind that unless you are responding to a (very rare) job ad, the people you are
approaching probably don’t really have any work, so you need to get their attention. Come
up with an opening sentence that will make people read the rest of your email.
If you are sending out unsolicited CVs, make a bit more of an effort than “Dear
Sir/Madam”; get the correct name of the person you are writing to. Also, for Pete’s sake,
get their gender right too. I suffer endless letters addressed “Dear Mr de la Soul”, even
though I am clearly a woman from my website – there’s a picture and everything! Employers are people too – it works to make the people whom you are approaching feel
good about themselves. Compliment their website. Mention something you have read
about them online – find some way to let them know you have actually done a bit of
research and are approaching them individually, not in a mass email. Tell people why you
specifically want to work for them.
Pay attention to detail – beware of ‘copy and paste’. I don’t know how many times I have
seen gaffs like sending an email to company X, saying how much they admire and want to
work with company Y. If you are copying and pasting, make absolutely sure you have
changed all the names in all the places they needs changing. Then check again before
hitting ‘send’.
Be likeable – a sense of humour can help. Don’t tell a joke; but a little something to bring a
smile to the lips of the recipient is helpful in creating the personal human contact that is the
first step in getting a response.
Hot tip: don’t put the address into the “to” bar until you are 100% you are ready to hit
send. This prevents accidental sendings.
Keep Learning
Even if you’ve just finished studying, you are really only at the beginning of your learning
curve. Keep up to date and keep networking! Good places to do this are events like
PLASA, where you can attend free seminars aimed at improving your skills, and network
your little socks off! Manufacturer led training is also a good source of information, as are
the trade mags. Joining sites like Soulsound will help you further and consolidate your
knowledge and motivate you to be a better engineer. Use the internet – follow people like
Sound Design Live and other reputable bloggers – just make sure you keep learning!
Persevere
As the old saying goes, “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”. Persistence pays
off. Give people a reason to respond to you – be personable and pleasant. Everyone in the
world is busy these days; we all have to be able to stay afloat in a recession. So, if you
want their attention, give them something to attend to.
In the same breath, there is a fine line between persistence and harassment! If you
thought you got a good response from someone, but never heard from them again, a
gentle reminder email is a way to make them think about you once more. Remind them of
who you are: “Dear Darryn, we had a chat via email a couple of weeks ago, and you
mentioned that there might be a chance of helping you out in the warehouse for a week. I
was hoping that the opportunity might still be available. I am free to jump in whenever you
need me…”, etc., etc.
If they still ignore you, try once more in two weeks’ time. After that, it’s probably a “no”. If
you actually called someone, and had a good response over the phone, don’t expect them
to remember you the next week. Follow all calls up with an immediate email: “Hi, this is
Jim; we spoke earlier today. You said that you were interested in my monitor engineering
skills. I’m attaching my CV for your records”. Then send the covering letter and CV. In an age when it is possible to do a month’s grocery shop without looking another human
being in the eye, personal contact means a lot. If you meet people face to face, look them
in the eye; let them see who you are – so much trust in human interactions comes through
the eyes. Show respect for their superior knowledge, and don’t show off; they really do
know more than you do!
For more advice on finding (and keeping) audio engineering jobs, download the free ebook
“Getting a Foot in the Door – How to make your way in the Live Sound Industry” at soulsound.co.uk . You can also view the seminar of the same name as presented at
PLASA Focus Leeds 2014.
Soulsound will also be presenting a six seminars at PLASA London 2014. Registration is
free as are the seminars. Book you seat just as soon as PLASA release the schedule.
And come say “hi” on our stand! We’d love to meet you in person.
