Is it possible to interject "personality" onto a resume?

Question

If so, please explain how.

Answer 1

With few exceptions, a resume should be a one-page advertising flyer for generating interviews. It's hard to show much personality except through work experience. If you were involved in country music you might play a few things up about that. Or you might say something about service to the customer, loyalty, or whatever. They really don't care what your hobby is. One thing to avoid is packing it with information like it's a legal document. Show some white on the page. It's a flyer.

Answer 2

It's a bad idea.

First of all, resumes don't get you hired, they get you an interview.

Second, the idea of a resume is not to get you to the top of the heap, it's to not have it thrown away. You don't want to put things into a resume that might be a reason to screen you out. Things like bad spelling, or being too cavalier (don't put your resume in poem format), or sometimes too much honesty... I don't care if you really were abducted by aliens, that's not a good thing to put in your resume as to why you didn't work in 2005.

Answer 3

It totally depends on the position you're applying for. If you want to teach preschool or answer a help line, then a "warm, caring personality" would be an asset. But if you're applying for a business position, better to let them discover that in the interview. If you have to put that, it usually indicates that you don't have anything better to put on a -one page- resume.

Answer 4

It is-but it can backfire. Keep it to the facts. You might want to include a personality section if you've taken the Myers Briggs or something like that, but simply using adjectives warm, outgoing, go-getter....is not a good idea.

Answer 5

Stick to the facts. Let your personality shine through in the interview.

Answer 6

Cover letters work!