So if you were fired should you include that job on your resume? If you dropped out of college and became ski bum for two years should that be included? If you started a business and failed should that go on your resume?
Consider this TRUE resume:
- Lost job
- Defeated in run for public office
- Started business and failed
- Spent time off work due to nervous breakdown
- Defeated in run for public office again
- Defeated in run for public office again
- Lost job
- Defeated in run for public office again
- Defeated in run for public office again
- Defeated in run for public office again
Who’s resume is this?
The next entry on this resume is “Elected President of the United States.”
This is the resume of President Abraham Lincoln.
The point is this: Your mistakes, losses, and failures do not keep you from being qualified for the job you seek. In fact the experiences might make you stronger and more qualified. However, employers are looking for a successful track record on your resume.
Face facts: The only sure way to never fail is to avoid trying anything. If mistakes and failures make losers, every one of us is a loser. The fact is that trying new things and overcoming obstacles is what has made the human race advance.
If you were fired from a job you might not want to include that on your resume. You could include the job and hope the employer doesn’t check. You could also include the job and be prepared to answer any questions the employer has. If you were fired for low performance for example, this could be an opportunity! How? You could explain how this incident turned your life around; that you were a lackluster employee who did not understand the profit aspect of your job and how you affected the company’s bottom line. Since then you have read several business books and are eager to now make a serious working contribution to a company’s profit. Showing how you learn from experience and this type of attitude could eliminate a similar qualified candidate and land you the job.
If you have a gap in your employment history or college education because you chose to take time off, you could fill in the blanks with a sentence or two of what you did learn or accomplish during that time.
If you started a business that failed you could list the business and the accomplishments that have given you skills beneficial to the employer. Some of the largest businesses in the world fail, and yet usually the people employed by them do not spend the rest of their lives blaming themselves in misery.
We are not the situations we experience in our lives. We become who we are by how we have allowed those situations to mold us.
Abraham Lincoln was obviously persistent and allowed his defeats to help him develop resiliency. Imagine how different our lives would be today if he had given up after any one of his many defeats.
Just remember that if we are all losers, we are also all winners. Any situation in your life does not label who you are. You label who you are. You know yourself better than anyone. You have the most power in the world to label yourself. So label yourself a winner on your resume. Then be prepared to act as the winner you are in your interview.