Resume Help: When applying for a photographer position should I list all of my work experience even from restaurant and retail?

Your resume should be short and simple. Your portfolio is where you can expound a bit. I had a folder with 20 or 30 captures I used to hand prospective employers before I gave up and went to work for myself.

Not unless the non-photography positions gave you skills that are transferable to the job that you’re about to take on. So, probably no.

If your resume contains numerous unrelated jobs, it isn’t necessary to list all of them in your resume. In case you would like to add unrelated jobs in your resume you can use the phrase “additional experience includes positions with so and so company etc. ” This would help you mention the experience quickly without wasting your resume space.

No. Jobs unrelated to the position you’re applying for will be distracting and counterproductive. Customize your resume to emphasize only the experience and skills that contribute to making you a strong candidate. And as @DWW25921 says, keep it short and simple.

I would just go back a few years. If you’re really inexperienced, try to spin some experience as related to the position somehow. Was the retail media-related? Did you need an eye for decor or design at the restaurant?

I’ve never tried to apply for such a job, or hire anyone for such a position, either, so my advice may be totally irrelevant to you, but I’ve tried to think “What would I look for if I were hiring a photographer for ‘product photography’?” and approach from that angle.

In that case, I wouldn’t care a great deal about your various aspects of “work experience” outside of these two factors:
1. Can the person take the shots that are required? That is, “Is the person technically competent and perhaps even brilliant?” The proof of that will be in the portfolio: What do the photographs say?

2. Assuming you’ll be working with a Set Decorator and an Art Director, as well as the various advertising “creative” types and Account Executives and the client himself, perhaps, then the question uppermost in my mind is “Is this person able to work with conflicting personalities and requirements; able – and willing! – to read, understand and follow directions; capable of going above and beyond to “get the shot”, and maybe even breaking the rules to get a shot that no one even anticipated; able to sell his own work and self-promote to an acceptable amount – but not one step further?” In other words: What do your references say about you with respect to these aspects of your chosen career? Why did you leave past employment, and would you be welcome back there again?

In these senses, I think that titles, “descriptions of responsibilities” at past positions and the like are essentially meaningless. All I need to know is “Can you take the shot? And will you be there to take it when we need it?” and “Will you be able to work with our crew of people prior to that point and afterward?”