Meet Cindy Kaplan & Angela Silak: Co-Founders, Hollywood Resumes

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cindy Kaplan & Angela Silak and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cindy and Angela, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We’d always been interested in entrepreneurship and building our own business, and we decided to start Hollywood Resumes when it became clear to us that there was a void in the marketplace that we could fill. A lot of the conventional resume advice out there doesn’t apply to the entertainment industry, but as hiring managers ourselves, we learned what makes a resume work for this field and what doesn’t. Over the years, we’d both been approached by friends, friends of friends, and even third-degree connections to help write resumes, and we realized we could help more people and fulfill that long-standing dream of starting a business by founding Hollywood Resumes. We didn’t launch overnight, though. We spent several months studying the marketplace, creating a business plan, and planning a strategic launch. Devoting that extra time up front has been vital to our success, and we’re proud to say that we recently celebrated our fifth anniversary!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
There are a few things that make Hollywood Resumes unique in comparison to other resume writing services, even those targeted at Hollywood job seekers. First, we both currently work full-time in the entertainment industry — Angela in children’s TV development and Cindy in entertainment marketing and as a freelance writer/producer. We’ve worked and hired in various aspects of the industry, so we understand the different roles our clients have had and are seeking, as well as what the hiring managers are looking for. Secondly, we bring our skills as storytellers to our career services work: We get to know our clients, listen to their backgrounds, and help them articulate where they want to go in the future. We don’t use one single format to plug and play but create each resume with the individual client in mind, and we craft resumes to tell a very specific story. But perhaps our largest differentiator is that we both work with each client. Though one of us will take the lead on the first draft of the resume, we go back and forth with each other as we review every single one, dialoguing, debating, and checking for bias to make sure the final document has been thoroughly vetted. Our clients get two experts working with them. We’re not in the business of churning out as many resumes as we can, but rather we’re intent on helping our clients during the vulnerable experience of searching for a new job by delivering the highest quality work. In addition to writing resumes and other application materials, we provide career services that range from one-on-one coaching programs to workshops with partner organizations and online courses. For many job seekers, having a great resume is just the first step — creating a job search strategy, figuring out what career path will be most satisfying, and gaining tools to build confidence are all important elements to landing a dream job, and we love being able to share our expertise in a variety of ways to help the most people.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
LA Zoo, Stoneview Nature Center, Huntington Library & Gardens, Torrance/South Bay, brewery tours Golden Road Brewery

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our shoutout is dedicated to Sam Wilson at Any Possibility (www.anypossibility.com) who has been a great partner over the years!

Website: www.hollywood-resumes.com

Instagram: @hollywoodresumes

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hollywoodresumes

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hollywood-resumes-los-angeles

Image Credits
Victor Amezquita (headshot)