Home Archivist Resume template
Archivist resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what archivists actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most archivists should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Archivist with experience appraising, cataloguing and preserving institutional records across government, education and cultural collections. Skilled in applying metadata standards and digital preservation systems to keep both physical and born-digital material accessible and legally compliant. Comfortable balancing conservation needs against researcher and public access demands.
Key skills
- Records appraisal and disposal scheduling
- Regulatory compliance (Archives Act, State Records Act)
- Metadata cataloguing using Dublin Core
- ArchivesSpace collection management
- Digital preservation with Archivematica
- Conservation risk assessment
- Project management
- Full-text search indexing and discovery platform design
- Stakeholder and researcher liaison
Experience: example bullet points
- Catalogued and indexed manuscript and photographic collections using Dublin Core metadata, reducing item retrieval time for research staff
- Assessed incoming records against retention and disposal schedules, identifying which series held ongoing archival or legal value
- Migrated legacy finding aids into ArchivesSpace, improving public discoverability of the collection online
- Advised government agencies and community groups on record access protocols and freedom of information requirements
- Planned storage and handling conditions for fragile material, extending the usable life of at-risk items
- Coordinated a digitisation project from selection through to ingest into Archivematica, tracking progress against a fixed timeline
Education
Typical pathway is a bachelor degree in history, humanities or information studies followed by a postgraduate qualification such as a Graduate Diploma or Master's in Information Management, Archives and Records Management, often with membership of the Australian Society of Archivists.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- Archives Act
- State Records Act
- National Archives of Australia
- retention and disposal schedule
- finding aids
- ArchivesSpace
- Dublin Core
- Archivematica
- born-digital records
- GLAM sector
- Australian Society of Archivists
- provenance
- freedom of information
- recordkeeping metadata standard
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.