Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Pros: Slightly less likely to steal from honor snack bar

That's the one positive I can see from the candidate who put this on his resume:

"Accomplishments: One of my greatest personal accomplishments in life was losing weight I was able to lose over ninety lbs. in about eight months through exercise and diet."

Cons: ABSOLUTELY IRRELEVANT TO ANY JOB OUTSIDE A FITNESS CENTER AND/OR JENNY CRAIG-TYPE PLACE. (For which I am not recruiting.) (And yes, quite frankly, I DID mean to shout, Reader.)

I know I know, there's that one employer who already is firing people for the unhealthy lifestyle choice of smoking, but we're not there yet.

And I mean, kudos, Candidate, it's great you did that for your health and all and I'm feeling a little Grinchy complaining about it...but still. This is a resume, NOT your autobiography.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I disagree. Disciplined. Motivated. Goal-oriented. Probably organized. Achiever. Willing and able to take on formidable foes and win. Self-esteem. Enthusiasm. And you said it was listed as a "personal" achievement, not a professional one. So what?

tbd said...

A valid point...as the representative for a business, however, I am most interested in someone demonstrating how those traits have helped them as an employee. That's fantastic that they accomplished that, but DOES it actually tell me how they will perform on the job? Just last week someone who I know is always very disciplined about working out daily had to be let go because she couldn't also be bothered to actually do her work.

A resume is a limited amount of real estate, and if you are discipline, motivated and goal-oriented, I'd rather you use that space to show how you have been a valuable direct asset to your employer.

This isn't just about me wanting candidates to fit into some kind of mold. I also don't want my employer knowing or caring what I do at home. I want the personal and the professional to be separate. Period.

It's just my thing, but then again, it's just my blog. ;)