No One Ever Told Us That: Money and Life Lessons for Young Adults

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

RESUMES REDUX

I've written about resume preparation in the past. But always for people new to the process after college and grad school. This subject needs tweaking for you new adults as well.

Most of you have changed jobs in your careers, some of you several times. How do you stay fresh on paper and present yourselves in new ways that never seem desperate to interviewers? They can sense body language and certain anxieties. When they do sense these things, you're not going to get the job.

I have a college classmate who is a professor at Harvard Business School. He's a dramatically engaging speaker, able to transmit his passions to any audience lucky enough to hear him speak. His specialty is technology. In my last book, I talked about wanting to see on every resume something out of the ordinary, something that jumps off the page at the interviewer or the reader. One of the areas includes sports or interests that are not necessarily in the mainstream, such as rowing, rugby, women's ice hockey, or water polo. “My son was going for a new job interview,” my professor classmate said to me. “I read your book and called my son. ‘Read this book,’ I told him. ‘You rowed. Put it on your resume.”’ He did and the young man got the job.

You have to look at the world these days in different, more creative, ways to make an impact in a society with a limited attention span. You have to make an impression.

One young woman was referred to me from a client recently. She was looking ...