Horoscope CV, or the Barnum Effect

Do you know who Phineas Taylor Barnum was? I love this question – my listeners usually don’t (apart from a certain American, obviously he had a handicap), and suddenly silence fills the room… I did not know either, before I accidentally read about him a few years ago – and was amazed with the present-day relevance of his theories. 

Coming back to my question, P.T. Barnum was a 19th century American entrepreneur. He ran a circus – the 19th century kind, with a bearded woman, horses, a strongman, and the rest of the sideshow freaks typical for those times (check American Horror Story, Season 4: Freak Show), as well as fortune-tellers. Apart from being a successful and thus a rich businessman, Barnum was also a very inquisitive individual. He was very intrigued by the fact there were so many people more than willing to pay money to be told their fortunes, despite the fact they were all being told the same thing over and over (and he knew that because he was listening from behind the scenes). And every customer was satisfied, because they were convinced the fortune was theirs and theirs alone, personal and perfect.

Using the contemporary modern day vocabulary, Barnum was a camera maggot. Obviously television did not exist back then, so… he was printing his own biography in vast amounts. That is how his observations survived, and today are even a basis to regular academic studies. And that is how The Barnum Effect, or a horoscope effect, was born. It entails that people tend to rate descriptions of their personalities that supposedly are tailored specifically for them as highly accurate, but which are, in fact, vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of individuals. This is the playground for fortune-tellers, astrologers, horoscope writers, tarot-readers, and solitaire players. “You are a deeply compassionate and good-natured person, although people don’t always read your intentions” – well, isn’t it about me? But it is exactly about me! all of us can say.

Moving on to the subject matter, what does it have to do with our CVs (or LinkedIn profiles)? Unfortunately, a lot – a whole lot of. Let’s start with the commonly applied beginning –Experience Summary – which is meant for the reader’s benefit to encapsulate our professional track record. How many of us say (these are all quotes!): I am a creative, flexible, hard-working, committed, enthusiastic, highly energetic, dynamic, inspiring, independent, team-working, stress-resistant, pragmatic and creative, focused and target driven decision maker (the more tough decision, the better)… Let’s also add a bit of: a charismatic leader, whose vision and strategic thinking were instrumental to success in numerous key projects (what kind of projects, and how many – remains unknown); I aim to build strong, long-term relationships based on trust and respect, I am experienced in change / P&L / team / project management, etc. Oh, I almost forgot: I am able to work under time pressure. Are all those generic statements relevant and do they actually convey valuable information? No, they don’t. They are about all of us – I have never seen anyone say I am not creative and hard-working, I don’t have leadership skills, and I crack under pressure. And if they are about all of us, then in fact they are about no one in particular. That is how we waste valuable page sections, which can be used in much better ways. After all, “You are a deeply compassionate and good-natured person, although people don’t always read your intentions” – well, isn’t it about me? But it is exactly about me…

But what exactly happens later in the CV, where we describe our experience in hard facts? It can be an equally interesting read. A simple example: a company X, Sales Director position – and our exclusive job description: sales team management / coaching (a popular, but overused word), full P&L responsibility, commercial strategy implementation, planning, supervision and execution of sales plans, Key Account management, creating a pricing policy, trade negotiations leading, etc. So... “you are a deeply compassionate and good-natured person, although people don’t always read your intentions” – exactly about me! All of the above is the natural element of the very position by its name and definition. People who read CVs have a general idea of Sales Director responsibilities, and they look for things that make us different from all the others (numbers, tangible achievements, case studies). The job description we have listed above fits all Sales Directors in the world. It’s like telling that a bus driver is responsible for driving a bus, so he drives a bus (or the movie Superman is about Superman). If we swap our own name and surname in the document with another and the CV still looks the same, it means it is generic and we do have a problem. Horoscopes are short-lived. They usually expire right after reading. And so do horoscope CVs. Out of mercy, I am not going to discuss the Motivation Letters, although Barnum would love that… 

Let’s not forget what’s most important – CV or LinkedIn profile are the simplest examples – but the Barnum Effect also affects our entire writing activity, starting with… composing understandable emails.

Barnum is credited with coining the phrase "There's a sucker born every minute"… Let’s think about it and decide whether we want our CV to be about an individual, or a horoscope about everyone (if not to say, “about a sucker”…).

OK, now you know how NOT to write CV; time to go to part 2 "How to write your CV (and much more), or anti-Barnum".