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Entries in Feng Shui (1)

Sunday

Jun032012

Resume Feng Shui

by Jen Ponton

(All this is credited to the wonderful and magical Bonnie Gillespie, who you can and probably should follow, read, love, etc.)

Bonnie covered a really wonderful topic forever ago, and she called it 'Resume Feng Shui.' She wrote it years ago, but I find it's an essential lesson with virtually every actor I know--especially those preparing for their 'tier jump,' 'quantum leap,' or otherwise GIANT STEP UP. :)

So what is resume feng shui? Go on and read the article--but here's the essence of it: Your resume needs to show who you are RIGHT NOW and WHERE YOU'RE GOING. Sure, the actual timeline of the resume is where you WERE, but how the heck does that serve the people who are casting you NOW? This is especially true for older actors (whose treasured credits were in an entirely different 'type'), as well as young actors fresh out of college (who are holding onto fun credits that were WAY too old for them).

Hey, I'm a character actress--I get it! I was playing adults while I was in high school! Or if you killed as Juliet years ago, I bet you totally nailed it--but the person reading your resume isn't going to know how to cast you, since even YOU don't showcase the roles that are appropriate for you. The goal is to sweep out the credits that are there for sentimental value--those are special to YOU, and nothing can make them go away. But they don't belong on your resume. <3

Also, don't be afraid of white space. I know it looks like you haven't done anything--but the real principle (and something that's been a lesson everywhere)--make room in your life for bigger, better things. Literally! Make ROOM! The good stuff has to displace something else, it has to replace the lesser stuff--so REMOVE the lesser stuff to invite that goodness and abundance into your life, your career, and your resume.

Let me show you how I feng-shui'd the crap out of my old resume (circa Sept. '10). Here's the original resume:

There's a lot there, right? That's a heavy-handed resume, hard to digest. This is also VERY theatre-heavy, and I want to focus on TV and film (and now have substantially more on-camera credits to fill this up). Here's how I tear it apart: