How to Create a Touring Resume

How to Create a Touring Resume

Taking the time to create a touring resume is one of the best things you can do for your future employment prospects. Yes, touring is a reputation-based industry, and there are countless hires that happen every day simply because someone has toured with someone before. And that’s how it should work, but you never know when you might need to send off a resume at a moment’s notice, so it’s good practice to have one on file, ready to go. 

It never fails that you’ll get the call for your next potential gig while you are in the middle of another event. Someone has passed along your name, and your reputation has gotten you into contention for a new gig. Great! It could be a one-off opportunity, or it could be a substantial amount of life-changing work. Being able to quickly send over your resume says a lot about your professional aspirations and organizational skills. These positions oftentimes move fast, so don’t miss out on a new touring opportunity for lack of a resume.

Touring Resume Essentials: What to Include on Your Resume

Creating a resume for your touring career doesn’t have to be a daunting, unenjoyable task. Break the process into bite-size pieces and tackle them one by one. Follow the below steps, and you’ll have a resume put together you can send out when requested.

1. Add Your Personal Information

This one should be a no-brainer, but you need to include your name, contact information, and any relevant social media profiles. This is your name, phone number, and email address. For touring resumes, it’s important to list where you are based, as some gigs require you to be in a certain geographic location.

Additionally, it can be good to include social media profiles if it helps to highlight your professional career. It is common practice these days for hiring managers to seek out social media accounts and learn as much about a candidate as possible before hopping on a tour bus with them. If you have a website, it’s great to include that as well.

2. State Your Professional Objective

Depending on the role you are applying for, this is where you can tailor your resume to better fit the job description of what you’re applying for. Are you trying to land a tour manager gig? Maybe you’re a TM/FOH and you’re trying to move more into the audio side of things, or vice versa. This is just a quick professional statement of what you are trying to achieve in seeking out the role you’re applying for.

3. List Your Professional Experience

This is the most important section of your touring resume. Management wants to see who you’ve toured with, in what role, and for how long. A one-off is much different from a tour of length and should be clarified as such. This is also a way for the person hiring to see if there is any overlap in touring worlds and see if you may already have mutual friends.

Do you have any notable achievements or accomplishments? This is the time to make your resume shine. Maybe you have experience with an act that performed at major festivals, or you were part of a team that helped produce an impressive broadcast performance. Be sure to include those here.

4. Include Your Educational Background

You do not need a college degree to work in the touring industry, but it is good practice to include any relevant education or professional classes you’ve taken that could help highlight your skills for a particular role. Music business classes, production training, accounting classes, you name it.

5. Additional Skills and Professional Certificates

This is going to vary based on the position you’re applying for, but consider this the area to include mention of a valid passport, TSA Precheck, Global Entry, or any endorsements or professional certificates that might be required for the role you are seeking. Additionally, include skills that can set you apart as a candidate. Speak another language? Well-versed in Master Tour? Excel spreadsheet aficionado?  Include all of that here.

Tips for Creating a Touring Resume with Limited Experience

Perhaps you’ve read through all of this and you’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t have any touring experience, how do I create a touring resume?” Do not fret, everyone in the touring industry has been there at one point or another. Landing your first touring gig can be difficult. Check out How to Start Your Touring Career for some ideas on helping to get your foot in the door. Here are some quick tips if you’re just starting out.

1. Highlight your skills and achievements

Even if you don’t have any touring experience, you may have developed valuable skills through other activities such as volunteering, internships, or coursework. Include these skills on your resume and provide specific examples of how you’ve used them.

2. Include relevant coursework

If you’re a recent graduate or are still in school, consider including relevant coursework on your resume. Maybe you’ve spent time in a music business program, or perhaps you’ve been working with a mentor in the touring community. Showing that you are already on the right path can help lead to your first opportunity. 

3. Emphasize internships and part-time jobs

Any work experience, no matter how small, can be valuable when building your touring resume. Make sure to include internships, part-time jobs, and even relevant projects you’ve worked on as a freelancer. You’d be surprised how many other industries offer transferable skills to the touring industry. 

4. Use a functional format

If you don’t have a lot of work experience, you may want to consider using a functional format for your resume. This format emphasizes your skills and achievements rather than your work history. This is also a useful format if you have gaps in your employment history, or are in the midst of a career change. Use this as a way to get help land those first opportunities that will lead you to a career in touring. 

5. Focus on transferable skills

If you have experience in a field that is unrelated to the job you’re applying for, try to highlight transferable skills that may be relevant to the new position. For example, if you have experience in customer service, you may have developed strong communication and problem-solving skills that could be valuable in a touring role. 

6. Show enthusiasm and a strong work ethic

Even if you don’t have a lot of touring experience, you can show that you are a motivated and hardworking individual. Make sure to include any extracurricular activities or hobbies that demonstrate your dedication and commitment.

Additional Touring Resume Tips

Tailor your resume for the job you’re applying for. This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised by the number of people who submit a resume that really doesn’t have anything to do with the role they’re applying for. Don’t be that person! Take the time to customize it.

Show your personality. You don’t have to be a beep-boop-beep resume robot. It gives the person on the other end a sense of who you are and what they’re dealing with. Have an interesting hobby? Go ahead and list it.

Make it look visually stunning. There is nothing wrong with submitting a black-and-white resume, but a little bit of graphic design and color goes a long way in making your resume stand out. There are a number of free resume templates readily available.

Proofread your resume carefully. Spelling and grammar errors are a buzz kill when trying to come across as professional. This is important! If you’re not good at this, consider hiring a professional to double-check your work.

Consider the length of your resume. A resume should not exceed two pages in length, with a one-page resume being the key to victory.

Hire a resume specialist. There is a lot of competition out there, and hiring someone who can help you craft your resume is a great way to stand out.

Save it as a PDF. Please do not ever submit your resume as a .doc file. Those instantly go in the recycle bin.

Sample Tour Manager Resume

Jane Doe
123 Touring Lane
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (555) 123-4567
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.tourmanagerinfo.com
Based: Los Angeles, CA

Professional Objective

A passionate and organized individual seeking a tour manager role in the live music industry, where I can utilize my strong communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills to ensure a smooth and successful tour experience for all involved.

Professional Experience

Tour Assistant – XYZ Touring Company, Los Angeles, CA (June 2022 – Present)

  • Assisted tour managers in coordinating logistics and advancing various tours and events
  • Developed strong working relationships with artists, crew members, and venue staff
  • Gained experience working with Master Tour software and creating tour budgets in Excel

Event Coordinator – ABC Music Festival, Los Angeles, CA (April 2021 – May 2022)

  • Collaborated with the production team to organize and execute a successful music festival
  • Managed schedules, budgets, and communication with artists and vendors
  • Gained experience in event production, logistics, and problem-solving

Educational Background B.A. in Music Business – University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (2018 – 2021)

  • Relevant coursework: Event Production, Artist Management, Music Marketing, Live Sound Production

Additional Skills and Professional Certificates

  • Valid U.S. Passport
  • TSA Precheck and Global Entry
  • Fluent in Spanish and French
  • Proficient in Master Tour, Excel, and Google Workspace
  • Strong organizational and multitasking abilities
  • Effective communication and conflict resolution skills
  • Excellent problem-solving and decision-making capabilities

Hobbies and Interests

  • Avid traveler, having visited over 30 countries
  • Active member of a local hiking and nature photography club
  • Volunteer at a local music education nonprofit organization

References available upon request

Conclusion

Creating a touring resume is a great way to advance your career in the live events industry. A quality resume can land you touring opportunities that wouldn’t happen any other way. If you’re still trying to find that first gig, don’t be discouraged. Continue to upskill yourself and put the work in on your own time, and the right opportunity will eventually present itself.