My New Resume

Last year was rough. I was furloughed from my job in May and I was out of work for six months. I had been working since I was 15 and this was the first time I was out of work. I felt bad. I felt bad because I didn’t feel like I was contributing to society. I felt bad because I had just found out I was having my first kid and I wanted to be able to provide for my family. I felt bad taking money from the government and it took me a while to really figure out I was just taking my own money back that I had been giving to the government since I was 15.

Anyway, it was a rough time of the year. My wife and I found out in late February that we were having our first kid. After a few weeks, we decided that over the summer we would pack up our life in Colorado and move back to New England, as that’s where the whole village lived. I wasn’t ready to leave Colorado. I studied abroad in Italy in college and still felt like it was my home, even after being back in the states for a few years.. Denver and the state of Colorado made me feel home and I was so happy living there the past six years. Due to the pandemic, I wasn’t able to see many friends the last few months in Colorado, or go to the movies, concerts, or arcades. And these were the things I did to unwind, to feel at ease.

The last few days of packing was extremely difficult for many reasons. We rented the largest U-Haul hitch. One that was supposed to hold a two bedroom apartment, which is what we had. Apparently, we had a lot more in our apartment than most do and the hitch was filled up pretty quickly. My wife and one of our dogs flew back a few days before I left Denver. I drove back with a crammed U-Haul hitch and a car filled to the brim. So much so, that the front row of the car was me, my dog, my guinea pig, and my father-in-law who is as tall an NBA player. We also had to throw out way more of our stuff than I wanted to and that was tough.

Over the summer, as we packed our lives up and I still struggled to find a job, my doctor’s office closed and my therapist left the practice. I had just gotten on ADD medicine that actually helped and therapy was going well. Now, in one of the most stressful times of my life, I had no therapist to talk to and was now off of medicine again.

Oh, and I also quit smoking cigarettes in August. Cold turkey. I had been a smoker for about seven years and needed to quit before becoming a father. Smoking helps reduce stress and I had just taken away another vice in one of the most stressful times of my life.

My wife and I moved back east and lived with her parents for the remainder of the year. We moved into a new place on the 1st and our son, Reid, is doing great. Besides the pandemic which continues to weigh us all down, things are falling back into place. I started a new job in October and have been free of cigarettes for a third of a year now.

So, in one year, I:

• Lost my job
• Found out I was having a baby
• Moved across the country
• Came off of medicine (during one of the most stressful times in my life)
• Lost my therapist (during one of the most stressful times in my life)
• Quit smoking cigarettes (during one of the most stressful times in my life)

I posted about some of these things over the summer and had a lot of people telling me, “I’d be alright,” and “You’ve got this!” The thing is, my post wasn't meant to be all "woe is me." The post was supposed to be me saying, “We’re all having a rough year, but if I can overcome these struggles, anyone can overcome their own struggles.”

The meaning of this post is different, though. The meaning of this post is to talk about how the standard resume should change after this year. When I was networking with people this year, I would mention that none of my education, relevant work experience, certifications, or proficiency in programs should matter anymore. The only thing that should tell an employer why I would be a great asset to their company is the things that challenged me in 2020 and that I made it through to the other side. If you want to know how hard of a worker I am, how determined I am, how resilient I am, how dedicated I am, how resourceful I am, let me just tell you about my 2020.

We all have overcome so much and have that to talk about. Be strong, keep your head up, be proud of the things that you conquered this past year. This past year was nine innings of straight curve balls. It felt like 365 days of dark clouds. A cluster tornado of everything that could possibly happen, happening.

Next time you are in an interview and they ask about your strengths, talk about 2020. Show them how resilient, strong, and powerful you were last year.

You can find mind an image of my new resume below.

What would yours's look like?

*For anyone who is going to say, "This isn't how you should do a resume, ATS platforms won't recognize it, so on, so on," that's not the meaning of this post.*