Resumes and CVs How They Differ and Why Artists Need Both

March 2024, by Daniel Grant

What is the difference between a resume and a curriculum vitae, and why does it matter? 

Both documents tell select people who you are. They frequently offer different information, because most artists run their lives on two separate tracks — the first is earning a living and the second is describing their career accomplishments. 

A resume is an employment history, indicating the types of jobs the individual has held, the responsibilities of these jobs and the initiative the person has taken, and how long the individual has been employed in one or another job. A CV, short for curriculum vitae, is a professional history, listing solo and group exhibitions, commissions, names of collectors, a list of articles or reviews written about the artist (or by the artist), and professional training. 

The documents are two distinct ways of describing oneself and should be separate in most cases. An art editor or gallery owner, for instance, does not need to know the artist works at Wal-Mart, and the information might work against the artist. 

Some dealers believe an artist is not fully committed to art if he or she has a full-time job. Conversely, a prospective employer might not be pleased to see the person applying for a job is putting so much time and energy into getting art exhibitions, because that shows a potential lack of commitment to the actual job at hand. 

A resume tends to be brief, no more than a page or two, for most job applicants. Prospective employers want to quickly see if the individual applying for a position has the requisite skills and experience, as well as a commitment to working at a company for a reasonable length of time. Filling up a resume with lots of different jobs might suggest the applicant is flighty, does not have a good relationship with people, or something negative. 

Resumes That Work for You 

William L. Ayers, president of The Ayers Group in New York City, a human resource consulting firm that assists people in career planning and change, likens the resume to “a sales brochure marketing the job seeker as the product. As a marketing tool, the resume needs to make a strong and favorable impression, both visually and through content, on those who read it.” 

He said it is helpful to use white space generously, creating wide margins, as well as spaces between different jobs, to focus the reader’s attention on the content. Too many capitalized letters or words printed in bold and too many pieces of disparate information packed closely together generally have the effect of distracting the reader from the sense of the words, leading that person to concentrate instead on the way they look, ostentatious or disorganized, which is not the best first impression. 

A resume acts as a marketing brochure. It needs to capture a reader’s attention and convey information clearly and easily, with details about job titles held and skills used in lucrative work. Page after page of exhibitions, awards, teaching stints, and articles written not only are unlikely to reveal one’s marketable skills and employment record but suggest the job applicant has too many other interests and concerns to perform one job effectively. A lengthy resume is also cumbersome for an employer who wants to immediately know what a prospective employee has done and can do. 

Some entry- or lower-level jobs strike artists as being beneath them as college-educated, highly trained, and resourceful individuals, and they are undoubtedly correct. A resume listing a variety of lofty achievements unrelated to a particular job suggests one’s disdain for the more mundane work in question, which an employer can easily sense. Resumes must be specific to the sought-after job, not serve as a salve for the applicant’s ego. 

Contents of a Solid Resume 

A resume succinctly describes one’s employment history and career accomplishments, emphasizing the most recent experience (past five or 10 years), with less attention devoted to jobs of the more distant past. Current and recent employment should come first, listing the name of the employer (and division within the company, if relevant), job title, and dates of employment. The only exception to the reverse chronology resume is for those who have been out of the professional job market for a period — related to parental leave, schooling, or prolonged illness — and for whom it makes sense to highlight relevant experience. 

For each job position listed, emphasize the most significant accomplishments rather than offering a job description. One wants to be seen as an employee accomplishing tasks and achieving goals, not just as the person responsible for this-and-that task. 

Accomplishments are most evident when using strong, active verbs like administered, budgeted, controlled, designed, developed, directed, evaluated, maintained, managed, negotiated, organized, originated, planned, produced, streamlined, structured, supervised, trained, uncovered, and won. “Strong verbs suggest initiative and hard work, while passive verbs indicate simply filling a position,” Ayers said. 

Resumes need to be targeted to specific employers. While the job history does not change regardless of the position one is seeking, the accomplishments cited may better reflect an individual employer’s interests. Managing a budget may have been a small aspect of previous employment, and it may not merit mentioning it for a job that does not involve financial responsibilities. 

However, for another job requiring knowledge about operating a budget, that earlier experience should be cited, again in strong verbs. This is about making the strongest case for your qualifications. Resumes are a prelude to an interview, getting one’s foot in the door. 

Ayers recommends including a summary statement at the top of the resume. This statement is a headline of three to five lines encapsulating one’s experience and relevant skills. “This piques the interest of potential employers, who at a glance can compare the applicant’s skills with their requirements for the job rather than having to ferret out that information by reading through all the individual’s work experience on the resume,” he said. 

Some job seekers describe an objective instead of a summary statement, which may appeal to a prospective employer but may also be limiting. A job applicant must discover which skills the employer is looking for — a search that may require a telephone call or personal visit. 

The more assistance one offers to prospective employers, who are receiving scores of other resumes, the more grateful they will be. “A resume is not merely a retrospective — about the past and the good deeds that have been done over the years — but an indication of potential for the future,” said Caroll Michels, an artist’s career adviser in East Hampton, New York. In a resume, as in an interview, one must be positive and forward-looking, revealing ambition. 

Resumes for those with less job experience, numerous short-term jobs, or lengthy periods between employment may need to be structured differently. Companies understand that summer is the time when students can work full time. The brevity of employment is not held against a job seeker. 

When the applicant’s history of employment consists of several jobs that lasted a few weeks or months, an itemization of every position with start and end dates, as well as responsibilities, would look odd and raise questions about the individual. Instead, one may create a category like this:  

Jobs Held Between 2016 and 2018 

Create an Impressive CV 

Artists are likely to have two or more resumes based on their marketable skills and artistic accomplishments. A resume for a dealer, art critic, or college art department dean may be a lengthy document, listing (in separate categories) one-person exhibitions; group exhibitions; awards, fellowships and grants received; commissioned work; art teaching experience; juried shows entered; works in private or public collections; articles, books, and reviews written about the artist; and articles, books, and reviews written by the artist.

This resume, also known as a CV, is designed to track one’s professional achievements as an artist. It is not concerned with how an artist earned a living but with how much activity has taken place professionally in the individual’s career.

A CV may go on for pages. The number of group exhibitions in which the artist has participated, the number of awards won, the number of speaking engagements, the number of reviews and articles written about the artist and his or her work — all these suggest making a positive presence in the art world.

However, CVs should not be overly long — five or six pages is plenty. List the most important exhibits and most notable collections.

A document that lists show after show after show might make someone reading it wonder why they have not heard of this person if the artist has had so many exhibitions. Artists do not want the document they are presenting to raise awkward questions or seem to diminish them.

A related document is the bio, which is always written as a narrative in the third person and offers highlights from a CV, such as the most prestigious awards and most important exhibitions.

More Resume Advice 

“A resume should not raise questions or provide unnecessary information,” said Joan Stoia, director of the Campus Career Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. An example would be describing on a resume why one left a particular job or how much one earned. 

“Those points may come up at an interview, at which time one may discuss them at length and in the context of the job sought,” she said. In general, one should leave off a resume the names of references, offering them selectively when specifically asked (there may be different reference contacts for different jobs) and offer briefer descriptions of jobs five or 10 years in the past than for those that are more recent. 

One might note membership in a relevant trade association, union, or club, because that reflects knowledge of, and a commitment to, the field in which one is applying for a job. However, mention of groups or personal hobbies not specifically related to the area of employment tend to distract a prospective employer from one’s professional qualifications and may lead the hirer to conclude the applicant’s outside interests are paramount. Further, job applicants should not include personal information (age, health, height, weight, marital status, or religion) or a photograph. 

Resumes are not sent alone but are introduced by a cover letter, which establishes the reason for which the resume was sent. Cover letters should not be lengthy. Two or three brief paragraphs are adequate, with each paragraph limited to one idea and one’s goal stated in a clear and succinct manner. The correct spelling of the name and the correct title of the person to whom one is sending the letter and resume are vital.  

The body of a cover letter describes one’s experience and skills, listing one or more accomplishments and how this background would be well suited to the employer. The final paragraph requests an interview with the person to whom the letter and resume are sent. Include how you want to be contacted, sharing a phone number or email address. 

There are many opportunities to write other types of letters in an employment search: A thank-you note to someone referred by a mutual acquaintance for any advice or leads given (showing appreciation for the individual’s time and efforts, maintaining that person’s willingness to offer assistance in the future); a thank-you after a job interview for the individual’s time and consideration (affording job seekers the opportunity to restate their qualifications and interest in the position); an acceptance of a job offer (expressing pleasure in the opportunity to work together and restating the terms of employment — salary, starting date, and title, for instance); or a rejection of a job offer (thanking the employer for the offer). 

A note might also be sent to an employer who did not hire the job seeker after an interview, expressing thanks for the individual’s time and interest and the hope that one might be considered if a similar job is available in the future.