The Hidden Facts About Resumes - Part III

In the previous two posts we talked about some of the hidden elements in resumes, including: 1) most principals don't read an entire resume, 2) a resume is not a summary of your life, 3) your resume may be your most important document in any application, and 4) resumes must always engender a positive first impression.  This week's article focuses on one of the least known, yet most critical, facts of resume writing - your ability to tell a story.  Let's take a look.

Good Resumes Tell Stories

From the earliest of times, humans have always enjoyed good stories (remember, these were the times before Facebook and Twitter).  In many civilizations and cultures professional storytellers were revered and praised and it was quite the social event to have one of these professionals wander into a village and share his tales of imaginary animals, great battles, or fantastical kingdoms.  These stories were both compelling and memorable.

Most people make the unfortunate mistake of assuming that a resume is merely a listing of the things one has done in all her or his previous jobs.  Not so!  A good resume is one that tells a story.  After all, would you rather have someone read you a list of all the different pairs of shoes a popular singer has or would you rather hear a story about a day in the life of a popular singer?  So it is with resumes - you can capture (and keep) the attention of a busy school administrator much better with a series of stories than you can with a listing of accomplishments.

In most cases, a typical resume is a bland recitation of standardized phrases and common descriptions - nothing that grabs (and holds) the attention of a reader.  These documents are simple and straightforward listings - there is no representation of the vibrant, exciting, or energetic human being who wrote about those events.  On the other hand, a resume of stories sets you apart from the crowd - it adds personality to your document and makes you memorable.

            Fact:  “Was responsible for teaching social studies lessons and assessing students.”
            Story:  “Designed and taught an inquiry-based/ hands-on social studies unit focused on ‘Time and Timekeeping’ which has now been incorporated into the overall sixth grade curriculum.  End-of-year assessments indicated a 17% improvement over the previous year’s scores in social studies.”

Stories also have the advantage of creating images in the minds of readers or listeners.  It is those images that make a story memorable.  Think about some of your courses.  The ones you enjoyed most were those that offered up stories, anecdotes, or vignettes about various topics.  The courses you liked the least were those that focused, almost entirely, on the memorization of facts, data, and (apparently useless) bits of information.

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