The Resume Help

Most people know what key things matter in job applications: your experiences, your education, your skills, your honors and awards, and so on.

But there’s an important one that gets overlooked: common ground. If you can find common ground with the boss, then you’ve got an immediate leg up. Bosses like to hire applicants who remind them of themselves. And everyone wants to hire themselves.

Common ground with the boss could come from having attended the same obscure college, loving the same sport, having the same hobby, being in the same club, or something else. Have you heard of The Sing-a-Long Sound of Music? Most people haven’t. It’s the Sound of Music, played in a theater with subtitles and props for every audience member to sing along and be silly. Plastic edelweiss anyone? Anyway, I believe I once got a job offer because I mentioned having enjoyed the Sing-a-Long Sound of Music. The boss turned out to be a huge fan. I think she saw herself in me. And bosses like to hire themselves.

What’s this have to do with your resume? It’s worth using one or two lines of your precious resume real estate to mention a few non-work activities that might strike a chord with the boss. Mention your favorite sports team, your favorite food, your bowling league, your passion for rollerblading, or whatever makes you tick. At the very least, listing something less formal makes you more human. It’s worth the space.

However! A few words of warning… doing this right requires some thought. Things to consider:

1) Choose carefully. No one will get mad at you for liking basketball. But some other topics could bring up negative feelings. For instance, mentioning controversial movies, political work, or even fraternities/sororities is risky. Maybe your future boss wanted to be in your sorority but wasn’t invited to join. You might still choose to mention these things, but know that it’s riskier to bring up experiences that could cause offense.

2) No stalking. Nobody likes being followed. Don’t say, “I read everything about you on Google and I know you like boating, and so do I!” That’s just creepy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.