Professional Musician CV example

Whether you want to be in a band, choir or orchestra, if you love music, a job as a professional musician could be perfect for you.

That said, this is a highly competitive industry, so not only do you need to be musically gifted, but you also need to be able to sell your skills effectively on your CV.

To help you do this, we’ve put together an example of a professional musicians CV below.

 

Guide contents

  • Professional Musician CV example
  • Structuring and formatting your CV
  • Writing your CV profile
  • Detailing work experience
  • Your education
  • Skills required for your Professional Musician CV

 

 

Professional Musician CV example

Professional Musician CV-1

Professional Musician CV-2

 

Unsure of what your Professional Musician CV should look like?

Take a good look at the CV example above to get familiar with the structure, layout and format of a professional CV.

As you can see, it provides plenty of relevant information about the applicant but is still very easy to read, which will please busy recruiters.

 

 

Professional Musician CV structure and format

Think your CV is just about words? Think again.

Your CV needs to look professional and be easy for recruiters to read, meaning the structure and format of your CV are equally as important as the content within it.

Facilitate ease of reading by working to a simple structure which allows recruiters to easily navigate your experience.

 

CV structure

 

Formatting Tips

  • Length: Whether you’ve got one year or three decades of experience, your CV should never be more than two sides of A4. Recruiters are busy people who’re often juggling numerous roles and tasks, so they don’t have time to read lengthy applications. If you’re a recent graduate or don’t have much industry experience, one side of A4 is fine.
  • Readability: Recruiters appreciate CVs that they can quickly scan through without trouble. Ensure yours makes the cut by formatting your headings for attention (bold or coloured fonts should do the trick) and breaking up long paragraphs into smaller chunks or short, snappy bullet points.
  • Design: The saying ‘less is more’ couldn’t be more applicable to CVs. Readability is key, so avoid overly complicated designs and graphics. A subtle colour palette and easy-to-read font is all you need!
  • Avoid photos: Logos, profile photos or other images aren’t necessary and rarely add any value – save the space for written content, instead!

 

CV builder

 

Structuring your CV

Divide your CV into the following major sections when writing it:

  • Name and contact details – Head your CV with your name and contact details, to let the reader know who you are and how to contact you.
  • CV profile – A brief paragraph which summarises your skills and experience and highlights why you’re a good match for the role.
  • Core skills list – A snappy, bullet-pointed list of your most relevant skills.
  • Work experience – A structured list of your work experience in reverse chronological order.
  • Education – A summary of any relevant qualifications or professional training you’ve completed.
  • Hobbies and interests – An optional section, which should only be used if your hobbies are relevant to the jobs you’re applying to.

 

Now I’ll guide you through exactly what you should include in each CV section.

 

 

CV Contact Details

Contact details

 

Write your contact details in the top corner of your CV, so that they’re easy to find but don’t take up too much space.

You only need to list your basic details, such as:

  • Mobile number
  • Email address
  • Location – Don’t list your full address. Your town or city, such as ‘Norwich’ or ‘Coventry’ is perfect.
  • LinkedIn profile or portfolio URL – Remember to update these before listing them on an application.

 

 

Professional Musician CV Profile

Your CV profile is basically a short introductory paragraph, which summarises your key selling points and highlights why you’d make a good hire.

So, write a well-rounded summary of what you do, what your key skills are, and what relevant experience you have.

It needs to be short, snappy and punchy and, ultimately, entice the reader to read the rest of your CV.

 

CV profile

 

Tips for creating an impactful CV profile:

  • Keep it brief: The best CV profiles are short, sharp and highly relevant to the target role. For this reason, it’s best to write 3-4 lines of high-level information, as anything over might be missed.
  • Tailor it: Before writing your CV, make sure to do some research. Figure out exactly what your desired employers are looking for and make sure that you are making those requirements prominent in your CV profile, and throughout.
  • Don’t add an objective: If you want to discuss your career objectives, save them for your cover letter, rather than wasting valuable CV profile space.
  • Avoid cliches: If there’s one thing that’ll annoy a recruiter, it’s a clichè-packed CV. Focus on showcasing your hard skills, experience and the results you’ve gained in previous roles, which will impress recruiters far more.

 

What to include in your Professional Musician CV profile?

  • Summary of experience: Start with a brief summary of your relevant experience so far. How many years experience do you have? What type of companies have you worked for? What industries/sectors have you worked in? What are your specialisms?
  • Relevant skills: Employers need to know what skills you can bring to their organisation, and ideally they want to see skills that match their job vacancy. So, research your target roles thoroughly and add the most important Professional Musician skills to your profile.
  • Essential qualifications: Be sure to outline your relevant Professional Musician qualifications, so that anyone reading the CV can instantly see you are qualified for the jobs you are applying to.

Quick tip: Your CV is your first impression on recruiters, so it’s vital to avoid spelling and grammar mistakes if you want to appear professional. Use our quick-and-easy CV Builder to add pre-written content that has been crafted by recruitment experts.

 

Core skills section

Underneath your profile, create a core skills section to make your most relevant skills jump off the page at readers.

It should be made up of 2-3 columns of bullet points of your relevant skills.

Before you do this, look over the job description and make a list of any specific skills, specialisms or knowledge required.

Then, make sure to use your findings in your list. This will paint you as the perfect match for the role.

 

CV core skills

 

CV builder

 

Work experience/Career history

Now that recruiters have a good overview of your skills and abilities, you need to jump into the detail of your career history.

Give them a more thorough insight into what you can do by creating a detailed list of your relevant experience.

Start with your current role, and work backwards through all the relevant positions you’ve held.
This could be freelance, contract or voluntary work too; as long as it’s related to the role you’re applying for.

 
Work experience
 

Structuring your roles

If you don’t pay attention to the structure of your career history section, it could quickly become bulky and overwhelming.

Get in recruiters’ good books by creating a pleasant reading experience, using the 3-step structure below:

 
Role descriptions
 

Outline

Firstly, give the reader some context by creating a punchy summary of the job as a whole.

You should mention what the purpose or goal of your role was, what team you were part of and who you reported to.

 

Key responsibilities

Use bullet points to detail the key responsibilities of your role, highlighting hard skills, software and knowledge wherever you can.

Keep them short and sharp to make them easily digestible by readers.

 

Key achievements

Finish off by showcasing 1-3 key achievements made within the role.

This could be anything that had a positive effect on your company, clients or customers, such as saving time or money, receiving exemplary feedback or receiving an award.

 

 

Education

In your education section, make any degrees, qualifications or training which are relevant to Professional Musician roles a focal point.

As well as mentioning the name of the organisation, qualification titles and dates of study, you should showcase any particularly relevant modules, assignments or projects.

 

 

Interests and hobbies

Although this is an optional section, it can be useful if your hobbies and interests will add further depth to your CV.

Interests which are related to the sector you are applying to, or which show transferable skills like leadership or teamwork, can worth listing.

On the other hand, generic hobbies like “going out with friends” won’t add any value to your application, so are best left off your CV.

 

CV builder

 

Essential skills for your Professional Musician CV

Tailoring your CV to the roles you are applying for is key to success, so make sure to read through the job descriptions and tailor your skills accordingly.

However, commonly desired Professional Musician skills include:

Musical abilities: It’s impossible to be a musician if you can’t play at least one instrument; therefore you need to be experienced in your chosen instrument(s)

Teamwork: Unless you choose to be a solo act, it’s likely that you’ll be working with other musicians and therefore, you need to be able to collaborate and work well together

Self-motivation: Practising your instrument and learning new pieces takes lots of time, dedication and motivation

Organisation: You’ll be required to organise your diary, know where and when you’re performing and make sure you always have everything you need with you (such as sheet music)

Confidence: A huge part of the role is performing, whether that’s in front of huge crowds or just a handful of people, either way, you have to be confident in your abilities and performance

 

 

Writing your Professional Musician CV

Once you’ve written your Professional Musician CV, you should proofread it several times to ensure that there are no typos or grammatical errors.

With a tailored punchy profile that showcases your relevant experience and skills, paired with well-structured role descriptions, you’ll be able to impress employers and land interviews.

Good luck with your next job application!