25 July 2010, 11:27 pm
I major in Performing Arts Communication, which is really 80% business communication management and 20% stagework. I'm in my final year of college, but at 25 am slightly older than most of my classmates. Within the next three months I need to find an internship, but since I'm not counting on my stagework subjects, I'm planning to find experience in other communication fields. It's not that I've never worked before, but most of the times I've applied for jobs I've found that most of the experience I put on my CV has gotten me into trouble more than helped me. So I've decided to trim my CV and mention only "relevant" ones, but I need some help here. I'm planning to apply to several companies, including PR-Advertising companies, media consultancies, news TV stations, magazines, newspapers, and embassies. Here are some of my schooling experiences: - The one I'm doing now: Performing Arts Communication in Indonesia, graduating next year. Not crazy about its quality or its future prospects, but at least my campus has a strong brand reputation. - 1 year of Advertising in The Netherlands (2004-2005). Great program much better than my current one, but didn't finish. - 1 year of Marketing-Management in the US (2002), but it was an unaccredited religious college. And my complete list of work experiences: - Freelanced on and off as a translator, interpreter, MC, and event organizing. - Tried to start an event management business with friends, supported by a senior couple who are alraedy operating several businesses of our own. We produced one event and tried to continue, but failed. I wasn't paid a penny for this, but I was working 9-5 Monday to Friday and treated it as I would a job, so I think I still learnt a lot of things that could be valuable in the workplace. - Did 10 episodes of a journalistic radio talk show as a means of strengthening the brand of an independent newspaper some professional acquaintances started. The newspaper went out of business, though :-( - Multilevel marketing, between 2004-2006. Hardly anything to show for it now, but it helped me handle objections professionally, develop emotional stability, learn how to sell stuff, and it was arguably the first place where I learnt comprehensive branding strategies. If I had known the pitfalls of the industry I probably would have not chosen this job, but it left a significant mark on me in terms of building my character for the better. - I sometimes list "multimedia personnel" for this organization (which I tend to refrain from telling employers that it's really my church), in which I worked together with these contemporary Christian recording artists in producing multimedia, written work, and event management. Other than that, I've taken several short courses in journalism and TV presenting. I've been told by some that mentioning all the qualifications here above can be intimidating for an HR recruiter, especially that I'm not even a fresh graduate yet. But at the same time, I'm also afraid that if I don't mention them, I might fail to compete with younger candidates who seem to have a lot more to offer than I do. A prospective employer over an interview once told me that I'm the type who knows what I want, but unfortunately does not have what it takes to get it in this competitive career climate of Jakarta, where preference is given to the young and obedient instead of intelligent risk takers like me (especially that I'm older but have not been able to show "commitment"). Anyway, in order to get a great internship ASAP, which studies and work experiences should be on my CV? It would be great if you could also help me differentiate how to write different versions of my CV when writing to different company types. Thank you :-)... Read More »
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