Opportunities and Your Résumé

Last night, I decided to catch up with my guilty pleasure, “Real Housewives of Atlanta”. During the most recent episode, one of the “housewives”, Sheree, is making moves towards her acting career. She was previously taking acting classes and had been given some “good” news by her acting coach. Her coach had gotten her a play to do; it’s unpaid and would only require two weeks of commitment. Sheree’s response (to the camera): she is a grown woman with grown bills and two weeks of her time is asking a lot. Sheree was also informed she would need an agent and her coach got her an agent audition. At this audition, the agents asked Sheree a few questions regarding her experience. Sheree had done two plays. When asked which plays, she could only remember one and forgot the other. This prompted one agent to ask did she enjoy doing the play she forgot.

Unpaid Opportunity

I understand doing free work is not always appealing, especially when one cannot afford to do so. I have certainly been there. I support myself completely, which leaves me with little opportunity to do unpaid internships/jobs. I do this blog for free but it’s done on my own time, from home. But, I have never been offered a two week unpaid job that will further my career. Two weeks is a small enough commitment for some people to do. Sheree may have grown bills but Bravo does pay its reality stars and she has been on the show for three seasons. Actors and actresses are often asked to do unpaid work so as to build their résumé. If your career is important, you have a job, which will not be jeopardized by a two-week commitment, and you have two weeks to spare, take the opportunity. Two-week unpaid résumé-boosting opportunities are not always available.

Your Résumé

I know my work history. When I interviewed for my present job, I spent the night before and the hours leading up to my appointment rehearsing my résumé. I reminded myself of important dates, great moments, challenging moments, and anything about my work history employers typically ask for and want to know during interviews. So, I was disappointed in Sheree, who claims to be serious about her career, for not remembering her previous work. You should always know your history, especially for a job interview, networking events, and job fairs. Your history is about you and during interviews, employers/ agents do not know you but expect you to know yourself.

You don’t have to care about the show to understand my main points about it (the show is not business oriented so watch only if you like drama). The points are to evaluate opportunities relative to résumé boosts it can give and your ability to commit to them, and failing to know your résumé translates into a failure to know yourself and disbelief in claims that you are serious about your career.