Interview Resource - Keller ISD Schools

INTERVIEW RESOURCE | 6
can tell when something is mass-produced or not thought-out. They’re staring at these resumes
as you walk in hoping to find something interesting to ask you about. Give them something.
Thread of coherency—without being repetitive, the résumé to the right threads the theme of art
through many activities and interests. The decathlete can link being a cartoonist to a career in
landscape painting—Claude Monet, she might note, began as a caricaturist and became the
Father of Impressionism. Thus, the Artist’s Guild provides her with a forum in which to share
and advance her art, and Wikipedia allows her to absorb new knowledge to inspire her. This is a
great tactic. Try to pick out one or two major traits or activities and have several things relate
back to them. On my own résumé, I said I wanted to major in literature and teach English.
Then I added that I answered fan mail for a novelist and that I had been published in my
school’s literary magazine. The judges could not escape the fact that I love literature and writing.
Brevity—both these résumés are about the right length. Much longer than this, and judges will
no longer be able to separate the specific from the soporific. Remember, judges don’t get to scan
your résumés for more than a few seconds. If it’s too long, they may not even get to the end.
Things need to jump out at them. It will also help you know what questions to expect. Note that
to save space, the résumé on the right omits Academic Decathlon as an activity, since it goes
without saying that the student is involved in Decathlon.
Test your résumé on panels of practice judges, just to make sure that things are clear and interesting.
You’ll quickly learn which activities lead in a good direction. Refine your resume accordingly.
Don’t neglect the order of placement of activities on the sheet. Believe it or not, things listed near that
top and the bottom are more likely to generate questions than those in the middle. It’s just the way
minds process information, especially under time pressure: from the edges in.
One decathlete we know listed only two items on his résumé, gambling his answers about them would
be so exciting the judges wouldn’t count the thin résumé against him. For him, the gamble paid off—he
was the scholastic gold medalist in California—but, in general, we recommend listing more than he did.
List enough to make yourself interesting, and little enough to have a sense of what you’ll be asked.
Generally, a good length for a résumé is about three-quarters of a page.
Religion on the Résumé
Your interests and activities might include or even center on your religious affiliation—often in the form
of involvement in church youth groups. These are admirable parts of a portfolio, especially in a country
where faith-based initiatives have widespread support. Don’t hide them. However, do be careful to come
across as open-minded and well-rounded, with a broad array of interests, possibly even in learning more
about other faiths. One good tactic is to tie any religious activity to something beyond your faith: yes,
you work at your church’s thrift store, but it’s really taught you about the realities of working life, and
you’ve encountered people of all backgrounds as clients.
Pare Down the Paragraphs
Avoid paragraphs of text on your resume—judges’ eyes will glaze over them. Stick with bullet points.
Your resume should be a Cram Kit, not a Resource.