How to include your personality in your resume, says a Deloitte exec: It will give you ‘the edge’
All resumes should include the following: Language mirroring the job description you're applying to as relevant to your own experience. Numerical proof of your accomplishments, such as a 30% increase in revenue. And zero grammatical and spelling errors.
But if you ask consulting firm Deloitte's chief innovation officer, Deborah Golden, besides all of the above, what she really wants to see in that document is who you are. "I think when the resume can exude some personality is the most eye catching to me," she says.
Here's how to get your personality in your resume.
'I've traveled around the world 17 times'
There are all sorts of ways to give a sense of who you are.
Listing the multiple languages you speak or including that you've "traveled around the world 17 times," says Golden, are examples of what can round you out on your resume. You could include athletic or artistic accomplishments as well. And volunteer work is effective because "you're there because you love it," she says. "You're not there because you were told to do it and I think that actually says a lot, too, about your personality."
You could also "think about what makes you happy and what you want from that job and put it in a sentence," she says. She gives the example of her own job and the kind of thing she could say to describe her passion for it. Why does she want to be in innovation?
"I really want to solve really hard problems," she says. "I'm really good at solving really hard problems."
'Put the good nugget at the top of the resume'
Where do these pieces of your personality then go on your resume?
One place to showcase them is at the very bottom of the resume under an interests section. That could include just one line with up to three interests that give a sense of what you're passionate about and have done or created outside of work.
But Golden would advocate for putting those pieces even higher up. "Put the good nugget at the top of the resume," she says. You could include a line about your passions in a professional summary, for example.
Don't forget keywords relevant to that job and proof of your professional accomplishments. But if it looks like you have what it takes to do the role and you include a taste of who you are as person right away, "that's the edge," she says.
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