PLEASE INCLUDE A COPY OF YOUR RÉSUMÉ (I)

OBJECTIVE: Nothing triggers an identity crisis like writing your résumé. While the objective of a résumé itself is to give a simple summary of your experiences, it’s hard to ignore two contradictory thoughts that pop up together. First, that a résumé assumes you have something to summarize and second, that a résumé as a list of accomplishments is devoid of any personality – a one page “you” that completely misses who you are. Because it feels as if your résumé has become your sole entry into the Book of Life, writing one, whether for a summer job, a school application, or a career employment opportunity, becomes an examination of your value and whether or not you can convince an omniscient reader that you’re somebody who matters. 

If you were Alice and your résumé was the caterpillar, it would go something like this:

Caterpillar Résumé: Whoooo arrrrre youuuu?

You (Alice): I – I hardly know just at present – at least I knew this morning, but I must have changed my mind several times since then.

Caterpillar Résumé:  What do you mean by that?  Explain yourself!

You:  I can’t explain myself, because I’m not really sure who I am, you see?

Caterpillar Résumé: I don’t see (literally).

You: Well, I can’t put it more clearly because I don’t get it either. Yes, I can make something of myself, but why I have to prove to someone that I can seems absurd.

Caterpillar Résumé: Keep your temper! And for a little advice: on the one side consider the necessity of a résumé and how it can lift you up and on the other side, remember to keep it in perspective by shrinking it down. 

Well, there you have it. Although Caterpillar Résumé can’t smoke the hookah because he may catch on fire, he can still get to the crux of the matter: at the same time that you want to be recognized, you’re unsure of what you want to do and less sure about who you are.

EDUCATION: However, the need to make a name for yourself – the desire for individual recognition – is a relatively new development in man’s historical philosophies. Stephen Schloesser, S.J., a history professor at Boston College, emphasizes that throughout history “there was not this sense that we now have: that we start from scratch, a clean slate.” In the past, and still in traditional societies, a person’s role, and therefore identity, was easily determined. Blood, or less anatomically put, lineage, served as your instant résumé. Just add birth. For instance, in the Middle Ages, a daughter of a butcher would marry a son of a butcher in the same guild, who would, as expected, become a butcher. Identity-grappling free, your parents handed you your credentials, oftentimes nicely exhibited by a last name, like Smith, or Miller.          

Yet, over time, a shift towards an ideology based on merit took place. During the Enlightenment, the consensus that we should be able to reinvent ourselves developed because as individuals we possessed the power to define who we were, independent of proscribed factors. Inspiring? Absolutely. Although it was not the whole picture. 

Schloesser goes on, “While the belief that we can cut the past completely free has a certain appeal, we don’t think about the downside… that in a meritocracy, it comes down to what you have, or what you haven’t, done.” In essence, you are now completely responsible for establishing yourself. You get to pick what you want to do and who you want to be. An accountant or a pianist? Humble or rebellious? Or all? Choosing among the approximately 75 ice cream flavors at Ben & Jerry’s on a certain day triggers enough of an interruption in the fluidity of your life, without mentioning second guessing. Scale the number of options up to, well, infinity for the person you can become and now a choice so open-ended comes across as stifling rather than liberating.

The fact that your education is the first credential listed below contact information can be stifling or liberating as well. Indicated by its position of importance, education (how much, where, degree(s), and GPA) appears to be the initial deciding factor for a potential employer to continue reading or to cut the consideration short. Regardless of whether you sang your alma mater proudly, felt trapped by an institution in which you didn’t seem to belong, did not get a college degree, or sat somewhere in between, the education section is a way of categorizing you from the beginning. You start feeling the panic edging in. But, as always, the internet is there for you.