5 Things You Can’t Put On a Résumé

To judge a college student by his or her résumé would be like judging a YouTube video from its freeze frame. You just can’t get the whole picture.

A résumé is critical for students during an internship or job search. All of the basics, like education, skills, and experience, are important. However, at all costs, avoid being solely defined by the words typed between the margins of a résumé.

What about all the other great ‘stuff’ that makes you who you are? Here are five very defining things you can’t put on a résumé.

  1. Your Personal Philosophy

Everyone has a motto. Whether that’s ‘Shake it off’ or ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,’ there’s a driving force behind what you do everyday and what makes you who you are.Quote

  1. Your Picture

Let people see you as more than a bunch of letters. Put a face to your name and make it fun. People like to see you being you, not you in an uncomfortable suit and tie.

  1. Where You’ve Been and Where You Want To Go

Location, location, location. The places you go (and want to go) shape who are you and who you want to be.Map

Find out what else doesn’t fit on a normal resume on campus.about.me.

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Zoë Björnson is a College Outreach Coordinator with about.me. She is a graduate of Tulane University. You can find her on Twitter @kzoeb.

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5 responses to 5 Things You Can’t Put On a Résumé

  3. Brendan Spaar

    It’s too bad you can’t put these things on a resume or cover letter. They tell more about who you are than a neat 1 page recital of the most boring facts about you. Finding a job today is especially hard when you have to fight your way past the high tech computer filtering “gatekeeper” that screens you first. Maybe one day we can do video applications that will show more of who we are. It works for online dating and you’re marketing yourself in both situations.

  5. Kennedy

    There’s a reason these things have not typically been part of a resume. Bias is a part of human nature. We have not reached the point in our history where we’ve leveled the playing field and put bias aside when hiring as our EEOC laws would have you think. That’s why the resume has typically been without a picture and other personal data. (BTW: This is U.S. resume etiquette–leave the U.S. and you’ll discover something different.)

    So, the companion article to this post would be “Weighing the Risk vs. Benefit.” How badly do you need a job? Are you willing to be filtered based on your personal data too–or is it challenge enough to be filtered based on your experience/job history? Is it advantageous for you to risk TMI before you even get to talk to a hiring manager? Do we accept human detachment associated with the “new cyber resume” to the point we submit to it as substitute for a first encounter? The answer to this varies greatly from person to person and from job to job, but millennials should consider it carefully because we are not “there” yet.

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