I’m new to writing resumes and am currently writing one for an internship application. I don’t know if trying to optimize for uniqueness or quirkiness comes at significant social costs, or if there are many benefits. If anyone is good at this sort of thing (listing / bragging skills), general tips would be very welcome.
It probably depends on the type of job you’re looking for.
In school I was taught to make my resume fit on a single page. As far as I can tell, this is nonsense. In my professional life have never seen a resume that was less than two pages. Mine is several pages.
The point of a resume is (a) to give the company a broad first-pass sense of whether you’re qualified and (b) to provide a scaffolding of prior knowledge about you around which to conduct an interview. Constructing your resume with the point in mind may simplify things.
I would personally avoid going out of my way to broadcast uniqueness or quirkiness. But I suppose it depends on what exactly you mean. If you hold the world record for pogo stick jumps, that would be something interesting to put on there, partly because that’s the kind of thing that connotes ambition and dedication. If you are an ardent fan of some obscure fantasy series, that’s not something that’s going to conceivably help you get a job.
Thanks for the information. I saw the one-page-sheet recommendation in a lot of places, but this didn’t match up with actual CVs I’ve seen on people’s pages. Clearing that up is helpful.
The general point to keep in mind is also helpful.
I saw the one-page-sheet recommendation in a lot of places, but this didn’t match up with actual CVs I’ve seen on people’s pages.
Expanding on this, acceptable & typical lengths for CVs seem to vary between sectors. My feeling is that 1-page CVs are a bit uncommon in business (though some people do make it work!), with CVs more often 2-4 pages long. But academic CVs are often a lot longer, and can be pretty much arbitrarily long. (I suspect highly eminent academics’ CVs tend shorter. Presumably they have less to prove.)
In general, don’t optimize for uniqueness or quirkiness; you have limited space and your potential workplace is probably using the resume to screen for “does this person meet enough of the basic desired qualities that we should find out more about them with an interview”. You can add a few small things if they really set you apart, but don’t go out of your way to do it. A better opportunity to do this is in your cover letter.
The best reference for workplace norms and job-hunting advice that I know is Ask A Manager; you may want to browse her archives.
I would look strongly into the company culture before making a decision. I would default towards being more professional, but there are certain companies (e.g. Pixar from what I heard at a talk they gave at my school) who value individuality more than others. I would generally say that cover letters are a better place to emphasize personality rather than a resume. Resumes should mostly be to demonstrate qualification.
All of the responses so far seem reasonable to me. A bit of theory as to why: How much quirkiness to show a potential employer is a great example of countersignaling.
If you’re trying to distinguish yourself among a group that the observer ALREADY classifies as high-achieving, then showing that you can afford not to be serious can indicate you’re at the top of that group. If you haven’t established that you belong in that category, you should focus first on doing so, or your quirkiness will be taken as further evidence that you are not that good in the first place.
Oh, you might also show some quirkiness as a reverse-filter, and an honest sharing of a matching trait—if you want to only consider employers who’ll tolerate (or appreciate) your quirks, this is one way to accomplish that. Usually, I’d save that for later rounds of discussion.
I’m new to writing resumes and am currently writing one for an internship application. I don’t know if trying to optimize for uniqueness or quirkiness comes at significant social costs, or if there are many benefits. If anyone is good at this sort of thing (listing / bragging skills), general tips would be very welcome.
It probably depends on the type of job you’re looking for.
In school I was taught to make my resume fit on a single page. As far as I can tell, this is nonsense. In my professional life have never seen a resume that was less than two pages. Mine is several pages.
The point of a resume is (a) to give the company a broad first-pass sense of whether you’re qualified and (b) to provide a scaffolding of prior knowledge about you around which to conduct an interview. Constructing your resume with the point in mind may simplify things.
I would personally avoid going out of my way to broadcast uniqueness or quirkiness. But I suppose it depends on what exactly you mean. If you hold the world record for pogo stick jumps, that would be something interesting to put on there, partly because that’s the kind of thing that connotes ambition and dedication. If you are an ardent fan of some obscure fantasy series, that’s not something that’s going to conceivably help you get a job.
Thanks for the information. I saw the one-page-sheet recommendation in a lot of places, but this didn’t match up with actual CVs I’ve seen on people’s pages. Clearing that up is helpful.
The general point to keep in mind is also helpful.
Expanding on this, acceptable & typical lengths for CVs seem to vary between sectors. My feeling is that 1-page CVs are a bit uncommon in business (though some people do make it work!), with CVs more often 2-4 pages long. But academic CVs are often a lot longer, and can be pretty much arbitrarily long. (I suspect highly eminent academics’ CVs tend shorter. Presumably they have less to prove.)
In general, don’t optimize for uniqueness or quirkiness; you have limited space and your potential workplace is probably using the resume to screen for “does this person meet enough of the basic desired qualities that we should find out more about them with an interview”. You can add a few small things if they really set you apart, but don’t go out of your way to do it. A better opportunity to do this is in your cover letter.
The best reference for workplace norms and job-hunting advice that I know is Ask A Manager; you may want to browse her archives.
I would look strongly into the company culture before making a decision. I would default towards being more professional, but there are certain companies (e.g. Pixar from what I heard at a talk they gave at my school) who value individuality more than others. I would generally say that cover letters are a better place to emphasize personality rather than a resume. Resumes should mostly be to demonstrate qualification.
All of the responses so far seem reasonable to me. A bit of theory as to why: How much quirkiness to show a potential employer is a great example of countersignaling.
If you’re trying to distinguish yourself among a group that the observer ALREADY classifies as high-achieving, then showing that you can afford not to be serious can indicate you’re at the top of that group. If you haven’t established that you belong in that category, you should focus first on doing so, or your quirkiness will be taken as further evidence that you are not that good in the first place.
Oh, you might also show some quirkiness as a reverse-filter, and an honest sharing of a matching trait—if you want to only consider employers who’ll tolerate (or appreciate) your quirks, this is one way to accomplish that. Usually, I’d save that for later rounds of discussion.
Thanks for expanding on this. I think it makes more sense (given where I’m at) to be more conservative for right now.