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Performer skills for your resume and career

Q: What hard/technical skills are most important for Performers?

Actors that can't be heard and understood in a small rehearsal room cannot be heard in a large immersive environment. They need to make acting choices that support vocal energy and clear articulation. Scaling your volume and intensity is very tricky in our style of theatre, and people either have a knack for it, or they don't.

Q: What skills stand out on Performer resumes?

When I'm casting someone in a show or calling them in for an audition, I personally look for solid regional theatre and/or equity theatre credits. The "special skills" area of a resume is also instructive because it gives me a sense of who this person is when they are not acting.

Q: What soft skills should all Performers possess?

Showing up for your audition/interview on time, no excuses, no story of how crowded the subway was. Be there, relaxed, prepared, not showing me how stressed your life is. Also, reply quickly, clearly, and stay with the scheduling process so I can get you in and see your stuff.

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Cynthia Loewus,

Joe Brown

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical performer skills. We ranked the top skills for performers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 34.8% of performer resumes contained guest service as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a performer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 performer skills for your resume and career

1. Guest Service

Here's how performers use guest service:

Delivered exceptional guest service skills daily to ensure superior quality experiences as a performer.
Learned a great deal about their quality guest service, company integrity, and professional management.

2. Safety Procedures

Safety procedures are a set of standardized procedures, that ensures minimal to no risk to people, resources, and the work environment. A company follows the step-by-step safety procedures as it they not only keep the customers and the employees safe, but also help in avoiding legal claims.

Here's how performers use safety procedures:

Make sure to follow all safety procedures.
Use and mintain water park facilities and equipment while following all health and safety procedures.

3. Costumes

Here's how performers use costumes:

Provided technical support by creating props, building sets, sewing costumes, styling wigs, and assisting in set change-overs/strike.
Required to know makeup duties for several sections throughout parade route and there costumes.

4. Character Integrity

Here's how performers use character integrity:

Balanced the visitors experience with corporate vision by conversing as the character while maintaining character integrity.
Maintained character integrity during every interaction.

5. Public Speaking

Public Speaking or oration, as it is sometimes known, is the act of any one person speaking live in front of an audience. Although in the past the audience was only a physical one, nowadays oration might be done on an online video call, at a digital conference, at an online class, or elsewhere. The art of public speaking is very old, drawing its first established roots from Ancient Greece and likely from before, too. It is an important skill and asset in many industries.

Here's how performers use public speaking:

Demonstrated strong public speaking and interpersonal skills, as well as the ability to manage guests with efficiency and courtesy.
Receive training in improving public speaking and adapting quickly to changes.

6. Guest Interaction

Here's how performers use guest interaction:

Utilize time management skills in order to maximize efficiency within guest interactions.
Partnered with Food and Beverage, Park Operations, and the World Showcase Team to create special and efficient guest interactions.

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7. Non-Verbal Communication

Here's how performers use non-verbal communication:

Communicate through non-verbal communication to guests.
Create happiness and laughter for guests through animation and non-verbal communication.

8. Improv

Here's how performers use improv:

Performed in the show Ski End that was created and written based off of improv.
Perform in improv, sketch and stand-up comedy shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and The PIT.

9. Dance Routines

A dance routine is an art of regular composition of dances by arranging steps, patterns, and movements in order of sequence or habit that doesn't vary to form part of a longer performance.

Here's how performers use dance routines:

Performed in parades in various cities and states, trained the incoming cadet's on drilling techniques, and dance routines
Learned choreographed dance routines to be performed in costume in front of a large audience.

10. New Servers

Here's how performers use new servers:

Trained new servers on menu knowledge and steps of quality service.

11. Repeat Business

Repeat business refers to customers who repeatedly keep coming back to do business with one specific company. Some ways to receive repeat business involve offering personalised customer service, starting a loyalty program, giving out coupons, and offering freebies. These customers are considered loyal brand ambassadors who are responsible for creating good word of mouth for the business.

Here's how performers use repeat business:

Fostered repeat business and a clientele of regular bar patrons.

12. Corporate Events

A corporate event is a social or hospitality activity organized or funded by a business entity. The focus audience for corporate events can include but not be limited to employees, board members, stakeholders, customers/clients, and potential clients. The motivation for businesses to organize events may be to reward, motivate, celebrate, educate, manage organizational change, mark milestones, or encourage collaboration.

Here's how performers use corporate events:

Performed weekly in designated restaurants in Austin as well as numerous weddings, corporate events, and private parties.
Played movie characters for park guests at Universal Studios Florida, as well as for corporate events.

13. Live Audiences

Here's how performers use live audiences:

Performed before live audiences presenting materials and activities in an entertaining and effective manner.
Learn, memorize, and perform assigned roles on a main stage for live audiences.

14. Chorus

Here's how performers use chorus:

Summer Musicals Chorus Member: punctuality and loyalty demanded for this high energy paid position

15. Hip Hop

Here's how performers use hip hop:

Handled group and personal lessons on tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, or modern technique.
Performed conscious hip hop music to promote the fight against sexual assault.

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What skills help Performers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on performer resumes?

Cynthia Loewus

Clinical Assistant Professor of Musical Theater, Fairleigh Dickinson University

Resumes for graduating theater makers should show solid training, project completion for technical and writing students, for actors: a clear understanding of their branding and strengths as an artist. Your headshot and resume is your introduction. Make sure it's the best it can be. Also keep social media and website posts up to date.
Credits in virtual work are a must now.

What soft skills should all performers possess?

Joe Brown

Professor of Theatre Arts and Assistant Dean of Freshmen, Texas Wesleyan University

Performers are not often trained as public speakers, so the ability to understand the needs of a public speaker and how to organize and present a speech. The ability to have a high level of Emotional Intelligence in terms of dealing with people and communication and stress.

What hard/technical skills are most important for performers?

Joe Brown

Professor of Theatre Arts and Assistant Dean of Freshmen, Texas Wesleyan University

The ability to have some skills in Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, and Power Point. We encourage all our performance majors to have technical theatre skills in the areas of lighting, or design areas, or social media/marketing and graphics. We want them to have a skill set that could help employ them while they are becoming working artists/actors.

What performer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Tim Threlfall

Head of MDT, Professor, Brigham Young University

Right now, I am guessing that television/film work will return faster and stronger than live theatre. Just go to Netflix or Amazon Prime and see the myriad television shows that are being produced. You can hardly even count them! Every network needs content, and the demand for actors is going to be strong, especially as they make up for lost time during the pandemic when not a lot of shows were in production.
For TV/film work, look to New York as much as LA. Look to Atlanta and Chicago and Vancouver BC. The film and television industry is everywhere right now. Many of our alum have agents in three to five different areas of the country.

What type of skills will young performers need?

Jamie Cheatham

Head of Acting, Marquette University

The skillset of theatre artists entering the workforce shortly will not change too much. A solid foundation in the craft of theatre, whether in performance, design, or tech, remains rooted in our art form. While theatre does evolve, good theatre education comes with it. Since this spring, the real difference will be that much of the current work that is continuing in theatre has shifted to online formats. Auditions have often involved video submissions. These will likely become much more of an industry-standard, along with video callbacks and interviews. As classes continue to move online, so too do these online skills. So, the Covid-19 shut-down result has led, quite naturally, to the new set of skills that graduates will need. In particular, performers will have to pay a bit more attention to their home video production values, including adequate lighting, composition, and adjusting the scale of their work to the medium.

Do you want to know more?

List of performer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a performer resume and required skills for a performer to have include:

Guest Service
Safety Procedures
Costumes
Character Integrity
Public Speaking
Guest Interaction
Non-Verbal Communication

Improv
Dance Routines
New Servers
Repeat Business
Corporate Events
Live Audiences
Chorus

Hip Hop
Specialty Drinks
Stilts
Disneyland
Magical Moments

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Performer skills FAQs

What hard/technical skills are most important for Performers?

What skills stand out on Performer resumes?

What soft skills should all Performers possess?

Have more questions? See all answers to common arts, entertainment, sports, and media questions.

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Updated January 8, 2025

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