As an archivist, you may find it challenging to effectively convey the depth of your archival knowledge and experience to match the swiftly evolving digital curation landscape. Our guide is designed to help you navigate this resume challenge, providing pragmatic advice to showcase your expertise and adaptability in a way that resonates with modern employers.
- [Job title] resume samples that got people hired at top companies.
- How to perfect the look-and-feel of your resume layout.
- How to showcase your achievements and skills through various resume sections.
- How you could hint to recruiters why your resume is the ideal profile for the job.
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Archivist resume format made simple
You don't need to go over the top when it comes to creativity in your Archivist resume format .
What recruiters care about more is the legibility of your Archivist resume, alongside the relevancy of your application to the role.
That's why we're presenting you with four simple steps that could help your professional presentation check all the right boxes:
- The reverse-chronological resume format is the one for you, if you happen to have plenty of relevant (and recent) professional experience you'd like to showcase. This format follows a pretty succinct logic and puts the focus on your experience.
- Keep your header simple with your contact details; a headline that details the role you're applying for or your current job; and a link to your portfolio.
- Ensure your resume reaches an up-to-two-page limit, only if you happen to be applying for a more senior role or you have over a decade of relevant experience.
- Save your Archivist resume as a PDF to retain its structure and presentation.
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PRO TIP
List your educational qualifications and certifications in reverse chronological order.
Fundamental sections for your archivist resume:
- The header with your name (if your degree or certification is impressive, you can add the title as a follow up to your name), contact details, portfolio link, and headline
- The summary or objective aligning your career and resume achievements with the role
- The experience section to curate neatly organized bullets with your tangible at-work-success
- Skills listed through various sections of your resume and within an exclusive sidebar
- The education and certifications for more credibility and industry-wide expertise
What recruiters want to see on your resume:
- Experience with archival standards and practices, such as knowledge of Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) or International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G)).
- Proficiency in archival digitization techniques and managing digital archives, including familiarity with digital preservation platforms and metadata standards like Encoded Archival Description (EAD).
- Expertise in handling and conserving a range of historical documents and materials, demonstrating knowledge of preservation techniques and condition assessment.
- Experience with archival research and providing reference services, showcasing ability to assist users in accessing and interpreting archival collections.
- Evidence of project management skills, including experience with collection processing, cataloging, and creating finding aids for diverse archival materials.
Five dos for building your archivist resume experience section
The best strategic approach to your archivist resume experience section is to support your particular responsibilities with actions and achievements.
For example, you could list:
- Up to six responsibilities in your day-to-day work, supported by why they're important for your role, department, or organization;
- Experience items that have helped you sustain and enhance your technical knowledge within the field, or, perhaps, have helped you grow as a professional;
- Any metrics that pinpoint your success within your past roles;
- How you've solved specific problems in your day-to-day work;
- Strategies and solutions you've implemented for growth - and how that growth was measured.
The archivist resume experience is your best shot at making a good first impression on recruiters. That's why we've included some real-world professional examples to get you thinking about how you present your experience:
- Led the digital transformation initiative for archival collections, digitizing over 10,000 documents and photographs, enhancing accessibility for researchers worldwide.
- Collaborated with IT department to implement a new archival database system that improved retrieval times by 30% and supported the preservation of critical historical data.
- Established a cross-departmental seminar series on archival best practices, raising staff competencies and contributing to a 25% reduction in handling-related document degradation.
- Spearheaded a comprehensive cataloging project that accurately processed and archived over 15,000 artifacts and manuscripts, increasing the institution's collection visibility.
- Developed a volunteer program that led to the enlistment of 50+ volunteers annually, significantly expanding the operational capacity for archival projects.
- Initiated an outreach program to engage community members, generating over 200 unique donations of historically significant personal collections.
- Managed the preservation of over 5,000 audiovisual recordings from the 20th century, implementing state-of-the-art archival standards that reduced media decay rates.
- Partnered with local universities to create an internship program, supervising 15 interns per semester and creating a talent pipeline for future hiring.
- Curated a successful exhibit featuring rare archivals from the Civil Rights Movement, attracting over 10,000 visitors and increasing public engagement by 40%.
- Orchestrated the migration of physical records to cloud-based storage, overseeing the scanning and metadata tagging of 25,000+ documents, ensuring long-term preservation and improved data security.
- Coordinated with historical societies for the accurate documentation of local archives, resulting in the expanded representativeness of regional histories in the state archives.
- Authored grant proposals that secured $150,000 for archival restoration projects, directly impacting the protection of fragile documents and enhancing their longevity.
- Directed an archival team responsible for the organization and cataloging of a special collection encompassing 500+ maps and blueprints from the early 1900s, streamlining research accessibility.
- Implemented a 'train-the-trainer' program for 20 staff members, cultivating a culture of continued education and expertise in archival preservation techniques.
- Negotiated with software vendors to adopt a new archival management system, improving document tracking efficiency by 35%.
- Pioneered the institution's first web archiving program, preserving over 100 TB of digital content and ensuring compliance with national archive standards.
- Trained and led a team of 8 archivists in digital preservation methods, thereby safeguarding the integrity of the collection amid rapidly changing technological landscapes.
- Launched a public history initiative that digitized and shared 200+ oral histories online, enriching the community's understanding of its cultural heritage.
- Conceived and managed a multi-year project to digitize primary source materials from WWI, allowing for the creation of an interactive public access portal visited by over 50,000 users.
- Leveraged grant funding to enhance physical storage facilities, effectively doubling the lifespan of sensitive archival material through improved environmental controls.
- Engaged in community partnerships to develop educational workshops for K-12 students, reaching over 3,000 students and fostering appreciation for historical preservation.
- Coordinated with a team to conduct a large-scale deaccession project, evaluating and ethically removing 1,000+ redundant items, thereby enhancing the collection's coherence and navigability.
- Authored and implemented a disaster recovery plan safeguarding key historical documents, which was put to the test and successfully protected the collection during a fire emergency.
- Facilitated a collaboration with the local university's history department to integrate archival materials into the curriculum, increasing scholarly usage by 50%.
Quantifying impact on your resume
- Enumerate the size of the archival collections you have managed, highlighting the volume of items to demonstrate organizational capacity.
- Specify the percentage of digitization you have achieved in collections to showcase digital transition skills.
- Quantify the number of research inquiries you have effectively resolved, demonstrating customer service and problem-solving abilities.
- Indicate the amount of funding obtained through grants or other sources for archival projects to show your ability to acquire financial resources.
- Detail the exact number of preservation and conservation projects completed to exhibit your expertise in maintaining historical material integrity.
- List the number of exhibits or displays curated to evidence your ability to engage with the public and showcase archival materials.
- Highlight the frequency of your workshops or training sessions given to communicate your role in education and outreach.
- Record the decrease in retrieval times after implementing new cataloging or retrieval systems to display efficiency improvements.
Action verbs for your archivist resume
What if my archivist experience doesn't match the requirements?
You've just graduated from college and may have no real world job experience . What should you include within your resume then?
Instead of making up information or adding irrelevant past jobs (e.g. your on-campus work during freshman year), you can:
- Shift the focus from your professional experience to your community impact with your volunteer work. This would showcase numerous soft skills you've built over time (e.g. interpersonal communication);
- Highlight the projects you've completed, as part of your coursework, or, on your own. Thus, you will align your technical background with recruiters' requirements;
- Consider spotlighting your transferrable skills. Or, what lessons and talents your current professional and personal experience has taught you and how they could benefit your potential employers;
- Even if you've had a few months of internship experience, that is relevant for the role, make sure to include this. Recruiters do care about the years of experience you happen to have, but, at the end of the day, your profile would also be assessed based on role alignment.
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PRO TIP
If you failed to obtain one of the certificates, as listed in the requirements, but decide to include it on your resume, make sure to include a note somewhere that you have the "relevant training, but are planning to re-take the exams". Support this statement with the actual date you're planning to be re-examined. Always be honest on your resume.
In-demand hard skills and soft skills for your archivist resume
A vital element for any archivist resume is the presentation of your skill set.
Recruiters always take the time to assess your:
- Technological proficiency or hard skills - which software and technologies can you use and at what level?
- People/personal or soft skills - how apt are you at communicating your ideas across effectively? Are you resilient to change?
The ideal candidate presents the perfect balance of hard skills and soft skills all through the resume, but more particular within a dedicated skills section.
Building your archivist skills section, you should:
- List up to six skills that answer the requirements and are unique to your expertise.
- Include a soft skill (or two) that defines you as a person and professional - perhaps looking back on feedback you've received from previous managers, etc.
- Create up to two skills sections that are organized based on the types of skills you list (e.g. "technical skills", "soft skills", "archivist skills", etc.).
- If you happen to have technical certifications that are vital to the industry and really impressive, include their names within your skills section.
At times, it really is frustrating to think back on all the skills you possess and discover the best way to communicate them across.
We understand this challenge - that's why we've prepared two lists (of hard skills and soft skills) to help you build your next resume, quicker and more efficiently:
Top skills for your archivist resume:
Cataloging and Classification
Preservation and Conservation Techniques
Digital Archiving
Research and Reference Services
Archival Standards and Procedures
Record Management
Historical Knowledge
Database Management
Understanding of Metadata
Digitization of Materials
Attention to Detail
Organizational Skills
Analytical Thinking
Problem-Solving
Communication Skills
Time Management
Collaboration and Teamwork
Adaptability
Ethical Judgment
Curiosity about History and Records
PRO TIP
Listing your relevant degrees or certificates on your archivist resume is a win-win situation. Not only does it hint at your technical capabilities in the industry, but an array of soft skills, like perseverance, adaptability, and motivation.
Maximizing your archivist resume: education and certification sections
To effectively showcase your industry knowledge in your archivist resume, it's important to properly list your education and certifications.
For the education section, ensure you include:
- Higher education degrees pertinent to the industry or those at a postgraduate level;
- The start and end dates of your education, along with the name of the institution you graduated from;
- Your GPA and relevant coursework, but only if they are impressive and applicable to the role.
Additionally, create a separate certifications section to spotlight your most notable recognitions. Another excellent place to feature a leading industry certificate is in your resume header, right after your name.
Below is a list of key industry certifications that are often sought after by recruiters
The top 5 certifications for your archivist resume:
- Certified Archivist (CA) - Academy of Certified Archivists
- Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) - Society of American Archivists
- Certified Records Manager (CRM) - Institute of Certified Records Managers
- Certified Records Analyst (CRA) - Institute of Certified Records Managers
- Archival Studies Certificate - Various universities and colleges
PRO TIP
If you happen to have some basic certificates, don't invest too much of your archivist resume real estate in them. Instead, list them within the skills section or as part of your relevant experience. This way you'd ensure you meet all job requirements while dedicating your certificates to only the most in-demand certification across the industry.
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Adding a summary or objective to your archivist resume
One of the most crucial elements of your professional presentation is your resume's top one-third. This most often includes:
- Either a resume summary - your career highlights at a glance. Select the summary if you have plenty of relevant experience (and achievements), you'd like recruiters to remember about your application.
- Or, a resume objective - to showcase your determination for growth. The perfect choice for candidates with less experience, who are looking to grow their career in the field.
If you want to go above and beyond with your archivist resume summary or resume objective, make sure to answer precisely why recruiters need to hire you. What is the additional value you'd provide to the company or organization? Now here are examples from real-life archivist professionals, whose resumes have helped them land their dream jobs:
Resume summaries for a archivist job
- Seasoned Archivist with over 12 years of experience specializing in the curation and preservation of historical documents. Possessing a robust knowledge of digital archiving techniques and expertise in maintaining and digitizing fragile materials. Proudly managed a high-profile digitization project that increased public access to rare collections by 75%.
- Diligent Library Science professional pivoting into the Archivist field, bringing 10 years of experience in document management, cataloging, and reference services. Adept at utilizing digital archival software and creating metadata for enhanced searchability. Spearheaded a library digitization initiative that improved user engagement by 60%.
- Dynamic IT specialist with a passion for history and archiving, seeking to transfer 7 years of experience managing digital databases to the field of archiving. Strong technical acumen, with hands-on expertise in data migration and content management systems. Instrumental in developing a data backup solution that reduced data loss incidents by 95% in my current role.
- Dedicated Archivist with 15 years in the field, excelling in document preservation, archival research, and public outreach at the Metropolitan Archives. Expertise in archival standards and practices, with a significant role in the expansion of the archive's online database, which has doubled its user base since launch.
- Eager to embark on a career as an Archivist, aiming to leverage a recent Master's degree in History and an internship experience at a local museum. Strong foundation in research methodology and archival theory, with a commitment to preserving cultural heritage and making historical resources more accessible to the public.
- As a fresh graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Archival Studies, I am enthusiastic to apply academic knowledge to practical scenarios, aspiring to support the preservation of historical documents. Eager to develop expertise in archival digitization and contribute to making significant historical collections available to a broader audience.
Other relevant sections for your archivist resume
Apart from the standard archivist resume sections listed in this guide, you have the opportunity to get creative with building your profile. Select additional resume sections that you deem align with the role, department, or company culture. Good choices for your archivist resume include:
- Language skills - always ensure that you have qualified each language you speak according to relevant frameworks;
- Hobbies - you could share more about your favorite books, how you spend your time, etc. ;
- Volunteering - to highlight the causes you care about;
- Awards - for your most prominent archivist professional accolades and achievements.
Make sure that these sections don't take too much away from your experience, but instead build up your archivist professional profile.
Key takeaways
We trust that this Enhancv guide has been informative and useful. To summarize the essential points:
- Opt for a simple and readable format, focusing more on your archivist achievements rather than just duties;
- Emphasize your accomplishments in the archivist experience section over mere responsibilities;
- If lacking relevant experience, utilize various resume sections like education and volunteering to demonstrate your suitable skill set;
- Never overlook the significance of pertinent higher education, training, and certifications;
- Incorporate diverse sections in your resume to highlight not just your skills expertise but also your personality.
