Need a little advice on crafting my beer resume

[imaguitargod]

Searched the site and didn’t find much on the subject (sorry if I missed the thread if it’s out there). I am needing a little advice on how to craft my beer resume because I’m now looking full time for a brewing position at a brew house (anywhere…it doesn’t matter where).

What I have so far is a three page document. Now, everything I’ve been told about resumes is keep it to one page. I’m assuming this isn’t true for this field as they probably want to know about my brewing history of sorts.

So page one is the usual resume (previous work history, awards, activities, etc). Page two and three are a list of each beer I’ve brewed to date broken down into partial mash and all-grain with dates and style (along with what I named the beers). For each, there is a one paragraph description outlining what hops and malts I used and the reasoning behind them (for the most part) and alcohol content.

Now, I have no idea if this is a bonus or a negative. Am I missing something? Should I add some stuff? Take some things out? I used my cover letter to outline that I’ve been brewing for almost two years now, read 7 plus books on the subject, and built my own all grain system.

If you would like to check out the resume, it can be downloaded by going here: It's a word doc.

UPDATE
Here's the revised resume based on everyone's wonderful words of advice. Also, for the record I'm not looking to be hired as a head brewmaster. An assistant is fine and I know I'm going to be shoveling alot of grain. I just don't want to be slapped onto a bottling asembly line and that's all I do for a year.
New Resume right here.

 

[arturo7]

Never gone for a brewing job but, I would keep it at on page. Maybe add a line telling how long you have been brewing and how many batches you have done. My guess is unless you have professional brewing experience they won't really care to know the details about what you've done in your garage.

Just my two cents, which won't get you much.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

It's an interesting concept at least - but I think it might be a little overkill as arturo is pointing out.

Maybe give a brief background of your brewing history (e.g. the 2-years at AG, built your own system, read countless books, etc.) on the resume and put some boilerplate statement that you can provide further documentation regarding specific styles/recipes you've brewed, awards won, etc. if they so desire? At least then they have to ask for the additional 2 pages of detail and if they don't want it, they won't... ?

Again have no clue b/c I've never attempted something like this (going into new career and especially not brewing career), so take it with a grain of salt.

Good luck though, wish I could take the paycut to do something like this...

 

[Edcculus]

I'm going with arturo. Listing every beer you have brewed is extreme overkill. You can show your technical level by putting down how long you have homebrewed, any awards won, and that you brew all grain.

 

[forcera]

I would keep it at on page. Maybe add a line telling how long you have been brewing and how many batches you have done. My guess is unless you have professional brewing experience they won't really care to know the details about what you've done in your garage.

I second this. I have built some pretty cool stuff in my garage, but that doesn’t mean that Im an engineer.

Good luck on the job hunt though.

 

[TexLaw]

First, change your objective, unless the RCMP is branching out.

Second, edit your emplyment history. Much of what you have there is irrelevant to a brewing position. You don't have to eliminate it, but you can reduce it quite a bit. For example, combine all the video game production entries into one blurb. Especially in this case, where your past employment has very little to do with what you are seeking, you want your resume to list your skills more than than your past employers.

I agree that the homebrewing experience section is excessive. Again, summarize what you've done (i.e., how long, how many batches, and what have you done of note). You don't need to describe every single batch, but you probably want to point out that you have brewed both mid and high gravity beers. You should point out that you have experience with fruit beers, S/H/V style beers, wood-aged beers, and wet hopping. You can say that you've brewed American, Belgian, and German styles, as well as some beers that are somewhat off the wall (although I think you might want to come up with a better phrase than that). You want the resume to lead to an interview, not to give your biography.

Finally, no matter what, the best resume for a brewer comes in a bottle.


TL

 

[claphamsa]

Call greatlakes and ask them what they look for... then put that in.... get a job with them, then send me all their recipes

seriously, call greatlakes, the people there are super friendly!

 

[jgln]

First, change your objective, unless the RCMP is branching out.

Second, edit your emplyment history. Much of what you have there is irrelevant to a brewing position. You don't have to eliminate it, but you can reduce it quite a bit. For example, combine all the video game production entries into one blurb. Especially in this case, where your past employment has very little to do with what you are seeking, you want your resume to list your skills more than than your past employers.

I agree that the homebrewing experience section is excessive. Again, summarize what you've done (i.e., how long, how many batches, and what have you done of note). You don't need to describe every single batch, but you probably want to point out that you have brewed both mid and high gravity beers. You should point out that you have experience with fruit beers, S/H/V style beers, wood-aged beers, and wet hopping. You can say that you've brewed American, Belgian, and German styles, as well as some beers that are somewhat off the wall (although I think you might want to come up with a better phrase than that). You want the resume to lead to an interview, not to give your biography.

Finally, no matter what, the best resume for a brewer comes in a bottle.


TL

Yeah, that really had me confused. I had to read it all to tell if it was a joke or not and I am still not sure. Jokes in resumes probably not a good idea even if you are applying as a writer on a comedy show. Be sincere with your objective, a cover letter could explain that although you have yet to work as a paid brewer you have done a lot on your own and want to seriously pursue it as a career. I would just try for a job there doing anything and then work your way up with your interest and work ethics. I think it would be rare they would give an apprenticeship based on a resume of a home brewer unless you had a very well known name or some kind or relationship with them. No harm in being aggressive I guess though, just don’t limit yourself to it.

 

[srm775]

The point of keeping it to one page, initially, was to keep it easily faxible and so that pages wouldn't be lost. Now, that's not really the case anymore. However, for someone you age (you seem pretty young) it really shouldn't be that long. You just don't have enough experience to warrant that long of a resume.

Some of your more notable or professional experience should be noted, and some of the older positions should be dropped. Combine your brewing experience into 1/4 of the page and list the styles a paragraph of your experience.

How'd that smoked pumpkin porter come out? That sounds like a really odd combination.

Edit: Oh, and take out education ... unless it's a higher education degree or something relevant to the position, then I think it's assumed you graduated high school or it doesn't matter either way it's irrelevant. And please, please proof and re-proof your resume. There are several editorial and grammatical errors like "My second beer brew (brew) season (session) consisted (it didn't consist - it was) of an ambitious, high alcohol beer. 4 ponds (pounds) of Extra Light (don't need to capitalize) DME

 

[Homercidal]

At any rate, make sure your resume states that you really like to CLEAN THINGS.

 

[jgln]

At any rate, make sure your resume states that you really like to CLEAN THINGS.

Exactly, that is where someone will probably start unless they are already a professional brewer. Start there, make friends and the rest should fall into place.

 

[craven_morhead]

You have a massive amount of irrelevant material in there if you're trying to land a position as a brewer; it either needs to be cut, or you need to persuade the person hiring you why its relevant to brewing. Also, it's a bit tough to read. Pay attention to fonts and whitespace.

 

[jgln]

I do think you need to provide a solid work history though, that you can hold a job and are working, not just your history relevant to brewing. All that is very important too, probably more so than each and every beer you brewed in detail.

 

[mmb]

Listing out every beer you've brewed and your reasoning behind that is way overkill. All your trying to do with a resume is sell yourself so that you get a callback for an interview.

Put your job history, how long you have been brewing, awards won, etc but get ready to be shoveling grain out of the mash tun and cleaning tanks for quite some time. Siebel offers some online courses that could be impressive on a resume as well.

 

[imaguitargod]

GREAT advice so far everyone, thank you! Looks like I've got some reworking to do.

First, change your objective, unless the RCMP is branching out.

Yeah, that really had me confused. I had to read it all to tell if it was a joke or not and I am still not sure.

The reason for the objective was actually to see if anyone reads it and also to get people's attentions. It's odd and out there. If they don't question me about the objective in the interview than I figure they didn't read the resume.

I'll probably change it though....

How'd that smoked pumpkin porter come out? That sounds like a really odd combination.

The porter came out AMAZING! It's gettign some rave reviews. Thanks for the heads on the the proof reading thing. I did a quick run through of it and was saving a through proof reading before I started submitting it.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

1) I would definitely remove the objective... they may stop reading at that point assuming you have lack of attention to detail. It appears as you are applying for a brewing position, but gave them a resume that looks like either A) a template from the internet that you forgot to completely update or B) an old resume you sent out prior and forgot to update for this specific position. Even if they don't take that view of it and see it as a joke or whatever, it's just too off the wall to sit well with many people who are looking to seriously hire someone for a position...

2) Also, agree that your job history, as it is presented, doesn't do a lot to sell you for a brewing position. You are obviously a talented and diverse individual who has held positions at video game design, graphic design, sales, and even retail, but none of the positions appear to have lasted very long (that's a lot of positions in 7 years or whatever) and none relate to brewing. I would try to condense this somehow and combine all the video game positions, etc. to make it appear as if the position lasted longer than it did? Also delete some of the positions that are older and have no relevance (CVS), etc. Don't fabricate or falsify, just present it more eloquently, I guess? Save more room for the brewing related background. To put it bluntly, it would scare me, if I were an HR person (or even just a brewmaster hiring staff) to see this resume with so many positions, for such short times, and over such a diverse range of subjects/positions. So, I wouldn't necessarily accentuate the fact that you've had such a history. Please don't take this as a shot at you at all, I have no clue of your history or reason behind the job history -e.g. as to whether you were laid off from these other positions often or whether these were more like free-lance, short-term positions by choice as you search for your calling, or whether you may really be a problem employee people don't like to keep around for long, etc. But if the hiring person even thinks any of these things it may hurt your chances. Then again, if the right person is the interviewee, it might help. I would just put my odds on the former, than the latter.

3) Also - no offense, but they probably really don't care if you were in drama club, etc. in high-school. Not nit-picking at this one thing, but illustrating a point. Take out the horticulter, blah blah blah, they won't care or be all that impressed unless you score an interview with the very right kind of person who finds all these endeavors of yours interesting and so they want to give you a chance. Remember, they are looking to hire a brewer and your resume should show you are serious about that, not all these other items that are basically irrelevant.

4) Lastly, as someone mentioned, any online courses or real education you can get in brewing would probably be helpful. Attending Seibel, etc. for real is obviously not cheap or possible for everyone (would require relocation for a period of time unless lucky enough to have one within commute distance, etc), but taking a few online courses that may cost you a bit of money will show initiative and probably actually expand your brewing knowledge. You can learn a lot on HBT, but some of the more scientific courses, etc. offered by them would almost be guaranteed to expand your knowledge I would think and look great.

5) As mentioned, remove the history of beers you've brewed. Way too much information to digest. Summarize this down somehow in your 1/4-1/2 page of beer history once you remove a bunch of the stuff discussed above. I think someone else pointed out a few ways you could show your 'extensive' homebrewing background - e.g. tell them all the styles you've brewed, high/low gravity, you brew all grain, you have a somewhat automated AG system you designed, you've won these awards, etc.

Hope these thoughts help and you land a position that will fulfill you for life! Get ready to work your way up though without the formal education! It will be worth it, if you enjoy it!

That's all I got for now...

 

[imaguitargod]

RoaringBrewer, thank you very much for the time and effort you put into the post, very well thought out. You bring up lots of good points.

I once went into an interview for a job about two years ago where they were quite lerry on the job history thing. I explined to them that alot of those jobs were either seasonal (the poilce work) or contract hired for projects (the video game testing). Needless to say I didn't get the position.

I think I'll just say from this date to this date I was under contract by various video game companies for delevopment of a project....or something.

Tomarrow I'm going to do some edits and I'll post the changes for furthur review!

 

[Bobby_M]

When you're planning a career change, the only thing relevant about employment history is that you have one and can hold a job. Just my 2 cents, but I don't think you're going to get a paying brewer position based on homebrewing. You could be this year's Ninkasi and I still don't think anyone would trust you to start brewing 7BBL out of the gate.

I think the first place to start is an assistant brewer spot making minimum wage by day and then busting your ass at night to make more money. Maybe you can wait tables or bartent at the brewpub a few nights a week to augment the money.

 

[imaguitargod]

When you're planning a career change, the only thing relevant about employment history is that you have one and can hold a job. Just my 2 cents, but I don't think you're going to get a paying brewer position based on homebrewing. You could be this year's Ninkasi and I still don't think anyone would trust you to start brewing 7BBL out of the gate.

I think the first place to start is an assistant brewer spot making minimum wage by day and then busting your ass at night to make more money. Maybe you can wait tables or bartent at the brewpub a few nights a week to augment the money.

Ya, not looking to become a head brewer, just assistant at this point.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

RoaringBrewer, thank you very much for the time and effort you put into the post, very well thought out. You bring up lots of good points.

I once went into an interview for a job about two years ago where they were quite lerry on the job history thing. I explined to them that alot of those jobs were either seasonal (the poilce work) or contract hired for projects (the video game testing). Needless to say I didn't get the position.

I think I'll just say from this date to this date I was under contract by various video game companies for delevopment of a project....or something.

Tomarrow I'm going to do some edits and I'll post the changes for furthur review!

No problem man - also no problem with the job history thing, makes no difference to me and understand some people move around a lot... Just wanted to throw out some things to think about that might land you a position doing something beer-related. Glad they helped!

As many have mentioned, not sure you'll score a head-brewer position no matter how much advice we give, but I think you can get in somewhere on the totem pole and from there just stay committed, show work ethic, and work your way up...

 

[Homercidal]

I've heard from a few brewers that usually, if someone is in place as an assistant, and they are doing a good job, they will be moved up to head if the position opens up. Anyone new will be stocking, cleaning, paying attention, learning, and cleaning. At some point they might be trusted to help brew, but starting out with no experience means doing the crap jobs and helping clean. There is enough cleaning to go around and then some.

After a couple of months you might get to help brew and see how you do. Trust me, going from homebrewing to running a large brewing system is completely different. Not only that, but there are several systems and they all work differently. You would not be expected, or even trusted to know how to brew on them for a while.

 

[imaguitargod]

I've heard from a few brewers that usually, if someone is in place as an assistant, and they are doing a good job, they will be moved up to head if the position opens up. Anyone new will be stocking, cleaning, paying attention, learning, and cleaning. At some point they might be trusted to help brew, but starting out with no experience means doing the crap jobs and helping clean. There is enough cleaning to go around and then some.

After a couple of months you might get to help brew and see how you do. Trust me, going from homebrewing to running a large brewing system is completely different. Not only that, but there are several systems and they all work differently. You would not be expected, or even trusted to know how to brew on them for a while.

I'll state this once again. I know that. I am not looking to run a brewery as a head brewmaster. Just want an assistant job. I know I'll be cleaning stuff for a while, but at least I'll be working and learning on large systems.

 

[IrregularPulse]

wow, yeah, definitely wouldn't list all those brews and descriptions of them. Leave that for a question during the interview or something. If I'm a hiring manager and going through hundreds of applications, and I get a 3 pager....I'm not reading that. They're quickly scanning for keywords and separating into piles. Interview and trashcan.

 

[imaguitargod]

Ok, based on everyone wonderful suggestions here's the new resume:
New Resume right here.