Fear and Loathing in Your Personal Resume Associations, et. al.

???????Ok folks, now it’s time for you to finally tell someone about your trophy case!?This section is the last section (well, sort of, so see next post about this further) of the resume and you are now allowed to talk about yourself!?Here is the place you can put all the wonderful, non-work accomplishments you achieved.?Let’s see what goes here.

?????????????As the title suggests, the first thing that comes to mind are industry and/or community associations (Chambers of Commerce, manufacturing groups, etc.).?This can prove or expand on the fact that you may be a leader, get involved in business outside of formal work, or have a special interest that adds some panache to your resume.?Keep in mind this is not a section to be boastful (President, CEO, 11-time elected member, etc.) where you over-market yourself.?This exhibit should be tactfully displayed as an expansion of your skill sets.

?????????????Other items that can appear here are as follows:?management of sports and non-sports teams, scout groups, specialty interest groups (music, dance, language, speaking, literary, etc.) and the one-off item that can add a dimension to you that might make a difference.?Did you finish a marathon??Did you finish first in a National dance competition??Was the team you led chosen as the best in class for building that robot for your State’s National entry???

?????????????These types of things can be tricky.?The first thing you must do before you plaster these onto your near-perfect resume is this:?Will the reader see any value in what you did??Managing teams can expand your value if you are at a lower range of management and want to move up.?It also may mean you are willing to share your skills if you are the CEO-type.?If you are a tech guy, this may not add anything except that someone will find you to be a good mother or father role model.?Choose wisely.

?????????????Other items to add for you tech folks are as follows:?patents, awards in technical events and achievements in an arts category (dance, music, acting, poetry, speaking, etc.).?This proves you are technical and potentially creative.?Be careful not to list too many things like educational classes and the like.?Special classes should be placed in your education section.?Listing classes, especially the required corporate ones, will harm you as you will be marketing, not positioning, yourself.?For you IT people, put all your language skills on an addendum so the right person reads it.?These achievements often get in the way (annoy!) with management people who, most likely, will read your resume first.

?????????????Please put all everything you want to include in chronological order just like your job listings.?This helps the reader see what you did over time and allows him/her to integrate those outside activities while you were on the job.?If you choose to utilize this section, take the time to read what you wrote and ask:?“Do these items add value to what I did?”?Often, as I have had to share with many clients, they do not.?Sad as it may be, these things can backfire on you, especially if you are heading into a company that may not value the time you spend working on such interests (think start-ups, fast growing companies, travel-heavy jobs, etc.).?It’s not fair, I know, but it’s the perception you want to manage.?Sometimes what they don’t know won’t hurt them!

?????????????On the flip side, this section can help you open a door to another industry!?The fact you can do a lot of things that were never part of any job you held can bridge that gap.?This could be technical know-how or management and leadership experience.?When you find an opportunity that needs these skills, but you lack some of the experience, the non-job experience can be a big factor.?This is why I advocate building a resume on, and searching on, skill sets.?You never know who is looking for just what you have.

Thomas Fleury is a small business advisor, a resume re-positioner and a facilitator of peer to peer groups for Small Business USA.?He can be reached at [email protected].?Details on LinkedIn at ThomasRFleury?