Increase Your Chances of Finding a Great Job After Sound Engineer School

You attend classes, take good notes and study hard for exams. But is that really enough to land you that all-important first job after audio engineering school?

Studying and keeping up with all the lessons in your sound engineer school is important. But there is more that you can do to make yourself more attractive to prospective employers upon graduation.

1. Get an internship

Does your audio engineering school offer an internship program? There are many good reasons why you should use it. An internship position:

• gives you a chance to put the skills learned at sound engineer school to the test
• lets you discover your own strengths and weaknesses
• helps you build your professional network
• gives you more credibility on the job market
• lets you add letters of references from the “real world” to the ones acquired from your teachers at audio engineering school

2. Fine tune your audio engineer resume

A recent study shows that recruiters spend six seconds looking at a resume before making their first decision about you. Six seconds! What kind of information are they looking for? Your name, experience and education. As a new graduate of sound engineer school, it is therefore in your best interest to make sure that this information is the first thing on your CV:

• Your Name
• Your Relevant Work Experience
• Your Diploma or Certificate from Audio Engineering School

Some recruiters and companies even run CVs through a software program that looks for sought-after keywords. Try to figure out which keywords are relevant to your industry by reading the bios of successful graduates of audio engineering school. Make their buzzwords your own.

Other tips for your first CV after sound engineer school:

• make sure that your email is professional sounding
• don’t include a photograph of yourself
• don’t include your marital status, number of children, etc.
• keep it short – as a new graduate of audio engineering school, one page is probably long enough

3. Be realistic about your salary expectations

Remember that as a new graduate of sound engineer school that you can anticipate jobs with entry-level salaries. The experience that you get in those initial years after audio engineering school will have more of an influence on your overall career earnings than the exact salary earned in those years. Aim for experience rather than a high salary in these critical early years.

4. Distinguish yourself

Start a blog. Get a Twitter account. Write a music column in your school paper. You don’t have to establish yourself as the sound engineer school expert, but as an aspiring voice in the industry. A little extra something – whether it be a social media presence or some other platform – will lend instant credibility to your job applications after audio engineering school.

So, hit the books, but don’t forget to think strategically about life after sound engineer school!