My first resume was a piece of shit.
I apologize for the language, but it’s true. I knew the basics of what a resume should be like when I created it, and I understood the idea was to sell myself as best as possible—highlight my strengths and positive attributes, note my qualifications and experience, etcetera etcetera ad nauseum. But I didn’t know how to write it.
I used a billion and one grandiose, sensational sounding adjectives like I was writing the next great American novel. It just wasn’t very professional. That combined with the redundancy and rephrasing of a lot of what I was saying about myself, and I likely did more damage to my credibility than good.
Another issue I had—and I realize that now after reading the two pieces about resume building—is that I didn’t create my resume with a goal in mind. I just kind of had something that made me sound like a golden human being, thrown together with no real rhyme or reason. Any skill I could think of I had and stretch out, I just slapped it down. It made things really incoherent and inconsistent.
Now the most unfortunate thing about all of this is that it’s the only resume I have. I haven’t gone back and changed it or updated it or improved it. As naïve as it sounds, I haven’t felt the need to yet. So this week in class when everyone else comes in with their resumes, I won’t have mine. I’d rather start over from complete scratch, armed with a much stronger understanding of how I should put it together.
Now the funny thing is, I think I interview well. I am confident, cool under pressure, and I speak very well (when I have to, that is). I rather enjoy it actually. Now granted, I’ve only had a handful of interviews, and none of which have been for anything so impactful as, say, my first post graduate job (for which I will have a thorough resume, by the way). Maybe when that day comes I’ll be really nervous, but I think in the end I’ll still be a strong presence.
I apologize for the language, but it’s true. I knew the basics of what a resume should be like when I created it, and I understood the idea was to sell myself as best as possible—highlight my strengths and positive attributes, note my qualifications and experience, etcetera etcetera ad nauseum. But I didn’t know how to write it.
I used a billion and one grandiose, sensational sounding adjectives like I was writing the next great American novel. It just wasn’t very professional. That combined with the redundancy and rephrasing of a lot of what I was saying about myself, and I likely did more damage to my credibility than good.
Another issue I had—and I realize that now after reading the two pieces about resume building—is that I didn’t create my resume with a goal in mind. I just kind of had something that made me sound like a golden human being, thrown together with no real rhyme or reason. Any skill I could think of I had and stretch out, I just slapped it down. It made things really incoherent and inconsistent.
Now the most unfortunate thing about all of this is that it’s the only resume I have. I haven’t gone back and changed it or updated it or improved it. As naïve as it sounds, I haven’t felt the need to yet. So this week in class when everyone else comes in with their resumes, I won’t have mine. I’d rather start over from complete scratch, armed with a much stronger understanding of how I should put it together.
Now the funny thing is, I think I interview well. I am confident, cool under pressure, and I speak very well (when I have to, that is). I rather enjoy it actually. Now granted, I’ve only had a handful of interviews, and none of which have been for anything so impactful as, say, my first post graduate job (for which I will have a thorough resume, by the way). Maybe when that day comes I’ll be really nervous, but I think in the end I’ll still be a strong presence.