Land Your Next Gig With These Essential Production Job Hunting Tips

We’re thinking about all the production accountants out there looking for their next gig post-strikes as we head into 2024. 

So we’ve put together some valuable production accounting job hunting tips to give you a leg up. 

Let’s start at the top with making sure your resume is in order.

✅ Less is more

GreenSlate recruiter Jena Larson has read through thousands of resumes and she still sees candidates trying to cram every skill and bit of work experience in there. 

Don’t do that. 

Jena says to think of your resume as a marketing document selling yourself as an ideal candidate for the role. 

She strongly advises job seekers to “tweak your resume to highlight only the accomplishments and skills that are most relevant to the position you are applying for. This will help anyone who reads it see exactly why you are the perfect fit!”

That said, there is a difference between the highly experienced candidate and the newbie. For somebody with lots of experience, the list of projects worked on is important.

For the production accountant career starter, gear it towards highlighting your skill set that matches the work in production accounting. 

GreenSlate’s Account Relations & Placement Specialist Tonnie Tyler agrees. She says keeping as much of your information to between one to two pages is important, along with making sure what you’ve got in your resume is specific to the job you’re applying for and that it addresses the needs laid out in the job description. 

Tonnie emphasizes most employers want to know you can do the job based on their needs.

✅ Clean copy, neatly presented

Assuming you’ve managed to pack in all of the relevant experience and skills into one or two pages at most, if that resume also includes typos or is poorly laid-out, the chance of it being discarded into the “nope” pile increases dramatically. 

Check for typos. Run a spell check. Run it through AI tools. Read it again to check for whatever was missed. 

Then read through it one more time. Once you hit “submit” and send that resume through, that’s it. No turning back. One little typo can ruin your chances because it shows a lack of care and attention to detail. 

Most HR professionals, recruiters, or GreenSlate clients uploading jobs to our job board don’t have tons of time to review a resume.

If you lose them with an errant typo, poorly organized resume layout, or hit them with skills and accomplishments that don’t speak to their needs…

You guessed it, into the nope pile it goes. 

✅ A little extra AI help

Heard about generative AI? Of course you have. Hard to avoid. Well, no different in the resume building world.

There’s loads of AI resume building tools out there to help you get a handle on your own. 

Here’s a list of the 14 best AI resume builders according to HubSpot, and here’s a $39 resume builder option which Mashable says could help you outsmart application scanners. 

Remember though that “one size doesn’t always fit all” in regard to industry-specific resume preferences by hiring managers. This is true with the production accounting industry as much as any other. 

If you go the AI route, keep this in mind. AI can be great for formatting, design, and highlighting key points if you already have an understanding of what needs to be included. 

Yes, we’re at the stage of using AI to outsmart other AI. That’s just how it is now.

✅ Utilize the GreenSlate Resume Uploader

The GreenSlate Resume Uploader exists as a service to both our clients looking for production accountants and those accountants, particularly those with some GreenSlate experience, who are on the hunt.  

In addition to the importance of including accounting software skills on your production accountant resume, if you’re uploading into our system with our clients, be sure to indicate if you’ve used GreenSlate before. 

If you’re unfamiliar with using GreenSlate or just want a refresher before finalizing your resume, register for any of our live training session webinars and get up to speed. 

Looking to break in?

It’s always harder to break into an industry than it is to secure a job when you have at least a few years of highly relevant experience. 

The good news is that it is possible. 

Tonnie shares that she once assisted an accountant with no production accounting experience who wanted to break into the industry as an accounting clerk in revising his resume. 

She advised him to take out anything and everything that had nothing to do with accounting, to really emphasize his software skills, and keep the education that only specialized in accounting. 

“His resume truly stood out after the changes were applied.”

Molly Doria, current GreenSlate Director of Product Design and former production accountant, says, “While a background or education in finance and accounting can be helpful, it isn’t necessary for getting a job as a production accountant. This is show biz — things work differently here.”

“You don’t have to be a certified accountant,” says Doria. “There’s less emphasis on degrees and more on work experience and connections.”

Doria suggests breaking in as a clerk in the accounting department. “From there, it’s all about doing solid work, building rapport with producers and making sure they think of you for their next project.”

Additionally, many of the unions offer workshops and job skills training. 

Joining a union (if you haven’t already) could be a good option as most large films and series will only hire union workers. Joining a union also affords wage protection and benefits. But the drawback is you’re required to pay dues and work exclusively on union productions once you join. 

Who are you?

Brett Gantt, GreenSlate’s SVP, Head of Accountant Relations, has been around the block. He’s spent 20 years on Production Accountant Street to be exact. 

Over the course of his career, he’s noticed certain personality types are more drawn to, or end up in, certain production accounting roles. 

Reflect on your personality type. Do you like completing a cycle, or do you like running marathons (metaphorically speaking)? 

Brett says for those who like a routine cycle that has a predictable end, he’d suggest working in payroll. People must be paid routinely. There is closure. 

Marathon runners could think about the accounts payable side of production accounting as there is always something to do and rarely a defined end date. 

You’re gonna run for a while. 

The main point is, consider what it is about your personality that engages and drives you, and consider it when thinking about which types of production accounting roles you're interested in applying for.

Good luck. You got this!

Follow these production accounting job hunting tips and you’ll at the very least put yourself in a decent position to land your next gig.