Turn Your Music Production Resume into a Hit
Identify and fix the most common mistakes that keep hiring managers from pressing play on your application.
Common Mistakes That Kill Your Chances
Each mistake includes why it hurts, how to fix it, and before/after examples
- Hiring managers can’t quickly see your career focus
- ATS may skip your resume if the summary lacks keywords
- Leaves a generic impression that you’re not specialized
- Write a 2‑sentence headline that mentions your genre expertise and target role
- Include key production tools and years of experience
- Align the language with the job posting’s keywords
Objective: Seeking a position in the music industry.
Objective: Experienced electronic music producer with 5+ years mastering Ableton Live and collaborating with indie labels, seeking a Studio Engineer role to drive innovative sound design.
- Fails to demonstrate technical proficiency
- ATS scans for specific software names and skips generic terms
- Employers can’t gauge your toolset
- Create a dedicated "Production Tools" section
- List software versions and proficiency levels
- Prioritize tools mentioned in the job ad
Skills: Teamwork, Communication, Creativity, Music Production
Production Tools: Ableton Live (Advanced), Pro Tools (Intermediate), Logic Pro X (Advanced), Native Instruments Komplete (Expert)
- Hiring managers assume inactivity or lack of relevance
- ATS may flag gaps as missing experience
- Reduces perceived reliability
- Add brief freelance or project work for gap periods
- Label gaps as "Independent Production" or "Skill Development"
- Include any relevant courses or certifications completed
2018‑2020 – Unemployed
2020 – 2021 – Independent Production (Freelance mixes for local artists, completed Ableton Live certification)
- Dilutes focus on music production expertise
- ATS may lower relevance score
- Recruiters waste time scanning irrelevant duties
- Trim non‑music jobs to one line each, emphasizing transferable skills
- Prioritize production‑related roles and projects
- Create a separate "Additional Experience" section if needed
2015‑2017 – Barista, Coffee Shop – Served customers, managed inventory, trained staff
2015‑2017 – Barista, Coffee Shop – Managed inventory (improved stock turnover by 15%), trained staff in POS efficiency (transferable to studio session coordination)
- Hiring managers can’t gauge impact
- ATS favors numbers for relevance ranking
- Resume looks like a list of duties rather than results
- Add metrics: streams, chart positions, budget sizes, project timelines
- Use action verbs followed by numbers
- Showcase awards or recognitions with figures
Produced tracks for various artists.
Produced 12 tracks that amassed 1.2M streams on Spotify and reached #3 on the Indie Electronic chart; managed a $25K production budget, delivering all projects 2 weeks ahead of schedule.
- Use a clean, sans‑serif font (e.g., Helvetica, Arial)
- Include a professional email and portfolio link
- Standardize dates to MM/YYYY
- Limit resume to two pages
- Proofread for spelling and grammar
- Save as PDF with searchable text
- Trim content to 2 pages
- Insert industry‑specific keywords
- Convert bullet points to action‑verb start
- Standardize date format to MM/YYYY
