Resumes That I Can't Forget

Earlier this month, something startling happened when I visited Lubbock, Texas, to talk about career strategies and the future of work. My hosts at Texas Tech had brought me to campus as an outside expert. It didn't take long, though, for all of us to rediscover the old saying: "The more your audience gets to talk, the more everyone learns."

Meeting with about 50 MBA students at the Rawls College of Business, I tossed out the idea that "jagged resumes" can be a strength -- not a weakness. That's a mainstay of "The Rare Find," a book in which I argue that zigzag starts to people's careers can provide surprising payoffs later in life. Was anyone buying in? In the back of the classroom, I could see that a senior faculty member, associate dean Bill Pasewark, was starting to smile.

Dean Pasewark had a story to share. Back in the early 1980s, he drove trucks for a bit, saving up the money needed for higher education. That helped pay his way through Texas A&M, where he earned both an MBA and a Ph.D in accounting. When it came time to hunt for a serious managerial job, Pasewark put that truck-driving job on his resume.

You can't do that, his career counselor told him. Such blue-collar beginnings will make employers think less of you. He held his ground. And when companies such as Exxon started inviting him for job interviews, the hiring managers couldn't stop talking about how much they liked this accounting wizard's willingness to get his hands dirty, years ago, while driving trucks.

The numbers guys at big energy companies may wear suits and ties to work, Pasewark explained. But out in the field, they need to gather information -- and share their findings -- with people who wear overalls and steel-toed boots. It's a lot easier to gain people's trust if the man from the big office knows a bit about what it's really like to be working out in the field.

There's no way to know for sure what part of your life experiences will connect with a recruiter or a hiring manager. But over the years, I've found that offbeat side jobs, hobbies or volunteer initiatives -- if brought up as a small part of your overall package -- can be surprisingly helpful in getting employers to think of you as more than just another "maybe."

You don't need to be as outlandish as that Montana trucker in the photo, carrying a parrot next to his rig. (And by the way, that's not the real Bill Pasewark. His LinkedIn profile is here.) But my point in writing this piece was to stretch traditional thinking about what belongs in a resume or job application. The parrot photo had so much allegorical appeal that I couldn't resist.

The serious point is this: Unforgettable resumes are written with the courage to break away from the pack. Instead of being utterly neutral templates that the career center can hand out to everyone, they include at least a momentary glimpse of the candidate's unique energy and drive. Examples that I've seen over the years are endless: managing a jazz club, being a Jeopardy contestant or being a Ritz-Carlton concierge.

Uncommon backgrounds don't need to stay hidden. Bring them up in the right context -- and formula-breaking personal details can help reveal a candidate's humanity. The resulting resumes are exciting to read. And they work.

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For more ideas about how unconventional candidates can win recognition, try my e-book, Becoming a Rare Find: How Jagged Resumes Lead to Great Jobs,