Mar 20 2009
Adding Just A Touch of Spice To Your Resume
I can’t take the credit for this one. It was sent to me by a friend that is on the Ask Liz Ryan discussion list, and is from Liz Ryan. Giving credit where credit is due, as you will see shortly.
I’ve mentioned that there are a ton of non-essential things people put on their resumes, and the “references provided upon request” sentence is one of them. Liz had an interesting suggestion: put a short *audience* appropriate quotation in that place (bottom of the page, last page). Make *sure* you give proper credit to the source you are quoting so as not to violate copyright laws. Some good sites for quotations are:
http://www.bartleby.com/quotations/
http://www.gaia.com/quotes
http://www.reellifewisdom.com/
Any lyrics database, but be careful of spam and pop-ups. This works if you know the song or at least the group you are looking for, not in a general sense. If you have part of the lyrics floating around, try a Google search. For example: “breakfast at Tiffany’s” AND lyrics. This should pull it right up if you use this format.
I read a lot and find inspiration from many of my favorite authors and music, and I keep a list of favorite quotes that I use occasionally. Gotta say, for my own resume though, this is probably my favorite:
“They were there looking for people who had the talent to think outside the box. It never occurred to them that, if everyone had to think outside the box, maybe it was the box that needed fixing.” -Malcolm Gladwell
It may be a bit long. Maybe just the end part. I’ve used it as an autosig when recruiting :)
But some of my other all time favorites:
“I believe in karma, what you give is what you get returned”. -Affirmation lyrics
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” -Arthur C. Clarke
This works if you have space at the bottom of your resume. Don’t try and cram it in if you are already tight on space. Try it out, you never know. It may just give you that edge.
