Archivist Resume Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is for an archivist who started in corporate records, took a grant-funded project post and now works in university special collections across processing and digital preservation. The institutions are invented. Adjust the standards and systems to the ones you actually use.

Archives hiring is usually done by a committee against a written position description, not by a single manager scanning a page. That changes the strategy: your resume needs to prove each requirement in the posting, in the same words the posting used.

• Output. Linear feet processed, finding aids published, objects ingested, boxes described. Committees compare candidates on volume because it is the only comparable number in the field.
• Standards. DACS for description, EAD for encoding, Dublin Core or MODS for digital objects, PREMIS for preservation metadata. Naming them shows you were trained rather than improvising.
• Systems. ArchivesSpace is the common one, plus a preservation repository and a digital collections platform. Say which versions and what you did in them: migration, template building, administration or just data entry.
• The digital side. Born-digital and web archiving skills are the biggest gap in most applicant pools. Even a modest amount of real experience makes you stand out.
• Public services. Reference numbers, instruction sessions, reading room hours, exhibits. Academic postings almost always include this and candidates often leave it off.
• The degree. Most professional archivist postings ask for a master's in library and information science with an archives concentration, or a master's in history or public history with archival coursework.

• Description and standards: DACS, EAD, MARC, Dublin Core, MODS, PREMIS, METS, controlled vocabularies and authority work, reparative and inclusive description.
• Processing: appraisal, accessioning, arrangement, minimal processing, processing plans, rehousing, condition surveys, preservation basics and environmental monitoring.
• Digital preservation: OAIS concepts, forensic disk imaging and write blockers, BitCurator, format identification and migration, fixity and checksums, storage tiers, email and web archiving.
• Systems: ArchivesSpace, Preservica, Archivematica, CONTENTdm, Islandora, Omeka, Aeon or another request management system, and any migration you have run between them.
• Digitization: capture standards, color management, quality control, OCR and transcription, metadata creation at scale, project workflow design.
• Access and legal: copyright and fair use, privacy and personally identifiable information, donor restrictions, freedom of information requests, deeds of gift and loan agreements.
• Public services: reference interviews, reading room supervision, instruction and primary source literacy, exhibits, social media and outreach, community archiving partnerships.
• Records management: retention schedules, disposition, legal holds, electronic discovery support, information governance, offsite storage and certified destruction.
• Project and people: grant writing and reporting, budgets, supervising students and project staff, documentation and manuals.

• The degree: most professional postings ask for a master's in library and information science from an accredited program with an archives concentration, or a master's in history or public history with archival coursework. Some corporate and government roles accept a bachelor's plus experience.
• Certified Archivist (CA): the credential from the Academy of Certified Archivists, earned by exam and maintained by petition or re-examination. Common in job postings as preferred rather than required.
• Digital Archives Specialist (DAS): a certificate from the Society of American Archivists built from a set of courses. Worth listing and worth doing, because digital skills are the scarcest thing in the applicant pool.
• Records side: Certified Records Manager from the Institute of Certified Records Managers, and the Information Governance Professional credential from ARMA International. Both matter for corporate and government records roles.
• A subject master's, a second language, or paleography and handwriting skills can be decisive for a specific collection. If the posting names a subject area, put your matching background high on the page.
• The CV question: many academic archivist postings ask for a curriculum vitae rather than a resume. If they do, send a CV: it runs longer, and it adds presentations, publications, professional service, committee work and grants. If they say resume, send two pages maximum.
• Membership and service: the Society of American Archivists, your regional archives association and any committee or editorial work. In this field, service is genuinely read.

Entry to archives is competitive and heavily project-based. The first job is usually a term-limited project archivist post, a processing assistant role or a fellowship. Your resume has to show you have already done real processing, not just studied it.

1. 1Turn every practicum, internship and volunteer post into a job entry with hours, linear feet processed and finding aids produced. '46 linear feet processed independently, 5 finding aids published in ArchivesSpace' is the line that gets interviews.
2. 2Name the standards you were trained in even if the volume was small. DACS, EAD, Dublin Core, PREMIS.
3. 3Get into the systems. ArchivesSpace has a public demo and there are free digital preservation tools. Practice, then say what you can do in them.
4. 4Do the digital work nobody else does. Disk imaging, format identification and web archiving experience will lift a new graduate above candidates with more processing hours.
5. 5Include student work with real outputs: a class project that produced a finding aid, a digital exhibit, a metadata schema, a records survey.
6. 6List related library, museum, records or research jobs. Reading room work, circulation, cataloging and research assistance all count.
7. 7Say you will relocate and that you will take a term-limited position. Most first professional posts are one to three year projects.
8. 8Join the professional associations and go to a regional meeting. Archives hiring runs on a small network and being visible in it matters.

• Two pages is normal in this field, unlike most professions. One page only for an entry-level candidate with little to show.
• Send a CV instead if the posting asks for one, and add presentations, publications, grants and professional service.
• Plain single-column layout, no photo, no date of birth. University and government applicant systems will parse your file and often ask you to retype it into a form, so keep the structure simple.
• Order: contact, summary, experience, skills grouped by function, certifications and professional service, education. Entry-level candidates put education second.
• Mirror the posting's exact language: 'arrangement and description', 'DACS', 'EAD', 'accessioning', 'born-digital', 'fixity', 'finding aid', 'reference services', 'primary source instruction', 'retention schedule'.
• Answer every required and preferred qualification somewhere on the page. Committees often score literally against the list.
• If the job is at a state or federal institution, follow the application form to the letter and repeat your content in its fields. Those systems score the form, not your PDF.
• Send a PDF named firstname-lastname-archivist.pdf.

“Give me linear feet, finding aids and the standards you used, then tell me what you have done with born-digital material. That last part is where most applications go quiet, and it is the part every repository is trying to hire for right now.”