Fear and Loathing in Your Personal Resume Education

???????How can I write a full post on just this one item??Many people have a very difficult time with this one- or two-line section.?Most of the trouble is they believe something that may not be true.?They think the reader is going to judge them on the following:

????????????1.???Where they went to school

????????????2.???The year they went to school

????????????3.???High School or GED equivalent education only

????????????4.???How long it was from school to job #1

????????????5.???Grade point average

????????????6.???Other nonsense . . .?

?????????????Let me address this entire set of worries with one bold statement:?On your resume, write down the degree you attained (GED, High school, Bachelor’s, Graduate or PhD), the place you attained it, and the year you actually graduated.?Period.?Stop worrying about items 1 through 6 that I outlined above!?Why??

?????????????If you read the first 11 posts on “Fear and Loathing in Your Personal Resume,” and you actually paid attention, you could have constructed a very good document to this point – even without professional help.?You gained the employer’s attention with your skill sets.?You got him or her?to realize “how” you might work in their shop.?And, you wrote a summary, in “his or her” view, which made the employer want to talk to you.?So, why would you fret, lie, and/or avoid something anyone with a computer could easily find out?

?????????????I have heard potential employers say “Wow!” when they find, at the end of page 2, that the stellar candidate they just read about only has a high school diploma.?“They must really be good!”?Some of my best employees never went to college.?Sorry folks, a degree does not guarantee you are any value to anyone.

?????????????I know, by personal experience, that anyone who has a degree, earned more than 5 years ago AND has been somewhat successful in his or her?career, is someone with whom I want to talk.?I’d rather hire a person with?“experience” than just a show of schoolwork.?A good friend of mine once told me, when asked about his experience at an entrepreneurial college program, “Tom, it was easier getting A’s than getting dollars!”?Think about this.

?????????????So you took a year off to discover the world.?Did you travel alone the cheap way??Get “life” experience??Your future boss may have done the same thing.?No one says you must go to work right after school.?Many of us had to.?If you did not, then you might just be more valuable.?You might know more about how things really work and be able to integrate into any work environment more easily.?That is value.

?????????????And drop the grade point averages, valedictorian, and any other “awards” you achieved.?Save these, patents, special achievements, etc. for the next section I’ll address in post #12.?These things are about you, not the employer.?Omit these from your educational line.?You’ll just irritate him/her being so boastful!

?????????????Last, be proud of all your achievements regardless of size.?Just put them in the right resume section.?I had to work with a Harvard grad (high GPA) who was as useful as a two-legged stool.?He knew nothing about the real business world.?I had to rewrite a business plan from a Yale junior who wrote it as a marketing piece.?Remember Dave Thomas of Wendy’s Hamburgers??He did not have a college degree.?He did OK.?

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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?