I want all of you to visualize a story
something that you remember it could
either be a story you heard when you
were a kid a great book childhood memory
it could be a snapchat story that’s fine
it could also be a great novel but I
want you to keep that in the back of
your head as we go through this
presentation today I remember when I
went to college I was promised that you
are going to go to college and you’re
going to get a great degree and that
means that you’re going to get a job and
what we’ve learned in this postmodern
era is that unfortunately takes a lot
more than having a college degree it
takes having a fantastic piece of paper
that is supposed to say who you are what
your career strengths are going to be
and why you’d be a good employer or
employee it’s this little piece of paper
a resume it’s a daunting task and I know
some of you might be thinking what does
this 22 year old know about resumes well
in the course of my time at Stephenson
and the course of when I’ve been a
student employee or if the right
internships I’ve had a total of 10 jobs
in three years I have gotten the
privilege and the honor of sitting in on
job resumes of hearing about what
employers want and also working with my
friends and I remember when I sat down
to write my resume this is what I kept
thinking what is it right how’s the
layout supposed to look like everyone
has a different idea of a set of rules
should I put my address on it what’s
going to be actually on it can you
please explain it to me and I found that
throughout the time that I’ve been
working on my resume or helping other
people with theirs the only rule I can
really tell you that works and is what
you need to remember when you go home
today is to be authentic that’s a
daunting word authenticity or authentic
what does it actually mean because for
everyone here what’s so cool is that
it’s a different story for all of you
and the most important narrative you’re
probably going to leave from college
with is this little piece of paper your
resume and it’s a three step process
that we’re going to go through on how to
achieve authenticity in resumes its to
know
Oh your story right know who you are
know what you’re going to talk about
realizing that style unfortunately does
speak a little bit higher than maybe it
should and the third and the hardest
unfortunately is owning it making sure
that you know who you are and that
you’re capable of going out and being
okay with it so the first the easiest
one right knowing your story it seems
like it would be a simple answer but
what we know about the way that humans
remember facts and the way that we all
process information is that a story or a
narrative is more memorable than fact
meaning that the way that you pronounce
a fact or what you memorize things for
classes whether it’s that story I
mentioned earlier you remember it
because it was told to you in a
meaningful way it was told to you in a
way that made sense and what we know
about memorization these three words up
here if I were to ask you to please
memorize these three words when you
leave here today most of you might be
able to probably half the room right
Harry Potter horse and table but let’s
say that these are going on your resume
I know they wouldn’t but practical I
love Harry Potter I love horses and I
like to draw on tables so that’s why we
picked those words instead of just
listing them make them have context
that’s the most important thing you can
do it needs to have context or to tell a
story so instead of just trying to
remember Harry Potter Horse table make
it a story Harry Potter drew a horse on
the table is something that you’ll be
able to remember and take away from and
we think about a resume that’s essential
when I was 18 I took a writing class was
actually songwriting and it has stuck
with me ever since and it’s the idea
that instead of just being very broad
you should be specific mr. Bishop would
say this to me all the time and it’s the
more specific you are the more memorable
and relatable it actually is and I think
often unfortunately we think the
opposite we think broad terms and forms
of writing
are going to be more memorable broad
terms and form of speaking and thinking
about your hashtags and things that we
use they’re very broad term but when you
make it relatable and make it super
specific people actually remember more
and I always talk about the Beatles one
of my favorite and inspirational music
groups growing up their lyrics really
speak well so I don’t know how many of
you know a guy named Jude maybe you do
maybe you don’t but it’s still specific
it’s a very specific lyric in this song
but somehow someway all of us find a way
to relate ourselves into it not all of
us are in a band and all of us are
singing not all of us are performing but
those lyrics and why they’re memorable
or because they’re specific they paint a
picture they don’t just tell you they
show you so when we talk about resumes
specifically because that’s what I’m
here to talk about this is actually from
a student that I helped with a resume so
she went away to New Orleans and worked
on a home rebuilding project and she had
this up on her resume and it was a it
was very minimal but it’s still specific
but it’s still a little bit broad
because what’s this missing is context
so instead of saying managed a team of
students to rebuild homes you can say
coordinated 20 students to complete 15%
of a home rebuild project over the
course of one week a little bit more
powerful because you can visualize it
you see exactly what that context is and
that is what puts you way ahead of those
five second resume clips so not everyone
obviously has as much experience or is
gone a home rebuild project but that
doesn’t mean that you can’t have context
now the second little piece of this
process of authenticity
the first was know your story and now
second we’re going to talk about style
and I’m talking about style in terms of
in terms of layout but also in terms of
your personal style
so another theater I was a theater nerd
growing up loved theater and my
professor at the time
when I was 18 had each of our theater
students walk into the room and sit down
silently on a chair and the idea was we
were supposed to gather what who that
person was just based on how they walked
into the room I will never forget that
because it was the most memorable
experience of how who you are when the
second you walk into a room is not just
more valuable but it’s what people
remember most and the same goes with
your resume because yes you might have
great content but if it doesn’t look
good doesn’t sound good then people are
not going to forget it so what does it
say about who you are as far as terms of
layout I’m a really big proponent I
don’t agree with the rule that a good
resume has to be super colorful and
energetic because if you’re not
energetic colorful person then why is
your resume looking like that
it shouldn’t if your analytical that’s
okay it doesn’t have to be full of color
in order to be meaningful if you’re
someone who does not like to have it
that way don’t put it on there it’s okay
think about in terms of style when
you’re online through various streams of
content that come out as all the time
the people that you probably most relate
to on if it’s snapchat and Instagram is
that layout the way that it looks from a
second that you go on to that page
that’s what’s most member like memorable
to you and meaningful so this is an
example of a resume that is a little bit
different which is why I picked it as an
example so the number one thing that I
always tend to talk about is that these
rules break a lot of things that are
told about resumes it’s not supposed to
be flipped right it’s always supposed to
be straightforward this kind of makes
the employer have to kind of tilt their
head if they were going through a bunch
of them which is a great thing because
it makes them take a second look at your
resume but also the way that she has her
name played out makes our experience
more valuable than her education because
that’s where your eye goes first and
what’s so valuable about that is that
every one of us has a different way of
how organization should be based on your
experience your education your skills
and what’s more meaningful to you and
that’s what’s most important there’s
always been the saying in that education
should be the first thing on your resume
I don’t agree with that because if you
have more experience or more valuable
experience than you think not to say
that education is not valuable because
it is thank you Stevenson but what’s
most valuable it could be your
experience or it could be your skills
and when we look at my resume I haven’t
laid out in a very specific meeting like
meaningful way to me I do use color I
use purple because I want it to say that
I am a confident person I use lowercase
letters on purpose because I wanted to
have a different look to it it’s very
very valuable meaningful choices for
everything I’m doing the reason that the
Y goes into skills is because I want you
to notice that first and then make your
way down and just to show a little bit
closer of an example we talked about
experience not everyone is going to have
a whole row of experience and that’s
completely okay
I’ve been lucky enough to have that but
if you don’t have that put your
education first or find ways to make
your experience have context so now
thirdly probably the hardest and that is
let’s say you’ve done that you’ve gone
through your resume you have your layout
and you have the thing that speaks to
you most you have your story but now you
have the hard task of taking that and
putting it out there to employers and
hearing no often or or hearing yes
hopefully but still you still have to
take it and make it yourself and make it
who you are and be okay with it if it is
you on a page then it’s authentic if
it’s you at a meeting and you feel
confident in who you are then it’s
authentic the hardest lesson I think I
ever had was when I was 19 I was an IT
consultant and I had an employer yell at
me first time it ever happened and he
told me that I was incompetent at my job
and that I had no business being
consultant at this company I cried I
mean I really cried and what was
shocking to me most though is that
everyone at that company that I went to
whether was HR whether it was to my
co-workers to my managers is that the
reaction was kind of like get over it it
happens people are going to Yeley and
while I disagree with that
somewhat because I don’t think it’s ever
reasonable for a vice president to yell
at you owning it means yes they yelled
at me but I know I did my the right
thing that it’s my job that I handled it
correctly so when I think about my
resume and I’ve been told multiple times
it the way I have it laid out is wrong
with the way that I speak about it is
incorrect but it’s worked for me it’s
gotten me the job it’s got me the
interview and that’s what’s most
important so when you leave here today I
want all of you to think about your
story whether you’ve worked five jobs
whether you are graduating from college
whether you’re just starting out as a
freshman the idea is to be fearless with
it because who you are is what’s most
important on a page that’s what’s going
to stand you out from everyone else in
the competition so what I want to leave
you with is be fearless Leo thent ‘ok
thank you
[Applause]
something that you remember it could
either be a story you heard when you
were a kid a great book childhood memory
it could be a snapchat story that’s fine
it could also be a great novel but I
want you to keep that in the back of
your head as we go through this
presentation today I remember when I
went to college I was promised that you
are going to go to college and you’re
going to get a great degree and that
means that you’re going to get a job and
what we’ve learned in this postmodern
era is that unfortunately takes a lot
more than having a college degree it
takes having a fantastic piece of paper
that is supposed to say who you are what
your career strengths are going to be
and why you’d be a good employer or
employee it’s this little piece of paper
a resume it’s a daunting task and I know
some of you might be thinking what does
this 22 year old know about resumes well
in the course of my time at Stephenson
and the course of when I’ve been a
student employee or if the right
internships I’ve had a total of 10 jobs
in three years I have gotten the
privilege and the honor of sitting in on
job resumes of hearing about what
employers want and also working with my
friends and I remember when I sat down
to write my resume this is what I kept
thinking what is it right how’s the
layout supposed to look like everyone
has a different idea of a set of rules
should I put my address on it what’s
going to be actually on it can you
please explain it to me and I found that
throughout the time that I’ve been
working on my resume or helping other
people with theirs the only rule I can
really tell you that works and is what
you need to remember when you go home
today is to be authentic that’s a
daunting word authenticity or authentic
what does it actually mean because for
everyone here what’s so cool is that
it’s a different story for all of you
and the most important narrative you’re
probably going to leave from college
with is this little piece of paper your
resume and it’s a three step process
that we’re going to go through on how to
achieve authenticity in resumes its to
know
Oh your story right know who you are
know what you’re going to talk about
realizing that style unfortunately does
speak a little bit higher than maybe it
should and the third and the hardest
unfortunately is owning it making sure
that you know who you are and that
you’re capable of going out and being
okay with it so the first the easiest
one right knowing your story it seems
like it would be a simple answer but
what we know about the way that humans
remember facts and the way that we all
process information is that a story or a
narrative is more memorable than fact
meaning that the way that you pronounce
a fact or what you memorize things for
classes whether it’s that story I
mentioned earlier you remember it
because it was told to you in a
meaningful way it was told to you in a
way that made sense and what we know
about memorization these three words up
here if I were to ask you to please
memorize these three words when you
leave here today most of you might be
able to probably half the room right
Harry Potter horse and table but let’s
say that these are going on your resume
I know they wouldn’t but practical I
love Harry Potter I love horses and I
like to draw on tables so that’s why we
picked those words instead of just
listing them make them have context
that’s the most important thing you can
do it needs to have context or to tell a
story so instead of just trying to
remember Harry Potter Horse table make
it a story Harry Potter drew a horse on
the table is something that you’ll be
able to remember and take away from and
we think about a resume that’s essential
when I was 18 I took a writing class was
actually songwriting and it has stuck
with me ever since and it’s the idea
that instead of just being very broad
you should be specific mr. Bishop would
say this to me all the time and it’s the
more specific you are the more memorable
and relatable it actually is and I think
often unfortunately we think the
opposite we think broad terms and forms
of writing
are going to be more memorable broad
terms and form of speaking and thinking
about your hashtags and things that we
use they’re very broad term but when you
make it relatable and make it super
specific people actually remember more
and I always talk about the Beatles one
of my favorite and inspirational music
groups growing up their lyrics really
speak well so I don’t know how many of
you know a guy named Jude maybe you do
maybe you don’t but it’s still specific
it’s a very specific lyric in this song
but somehow someway all of us find a way
to relate ourselves into it not all of
us are in a band and all of us are
singing not all of us are performing but
those lyrics and why they’re memorable
or because they’re specific they paint a
picture they don’t just tell you they
show you so when we talk about resumes
specifically because that’s what I’m
here to talk about this is actually from
a student that I helped with a resume so
she went away to New Orleans and worked
on a home rebuilding project and she had
this up on her resume and it was a it
was very minimal but it’s still specific
but it’s still a little bit broad
because what’s this missing is context
so instead of saying managed a team of
students to rebuild homes you can say
coordinated 20 students to complete 15%
of a home rebuild project over the
course of one week a little bit more
powerful because you can visualize it
you see exactly what that context is and
that is what puts you way ahead of those
five second resume clips so not everyone
obviously has as much experience or is
gone a home rebuild project but that
doesn’t mean that you can’t have context
now the second little piece of this
process of authenticity
the first was know your story and now
second we’re going to talk about style
and I’m talking about style in terms of
in terms of layout but also in terms of
your personal style
so another theater I was a theater nerd
growing up loved theater and my
professor at the time
when I was 18 had each of our theater
students walk into the room and sit down
silently on a chair and the idea was we
were supposed to gather what who that
person was just based on how they walked
into the room I will never forget that
because it was the most memorable
experience of how who you are when the
second you walk into a room is not just
more valuable but it’s what people
remember most and the same goes with
your resume because yes you might have
great content but if it doesn’t look
good doesn’t sound good then people are
not going to forget it so what does it
say about who you are as far as terms of
layout I’m a really big proponent I
don’t agree with the rule that a good
resume has to be super colorful and
energetic because if you’re not
energetic colorful person then why is
your resume looking like that
it shouldn’t if your analytical that’s
okay it doesn’t have to be full of color
in order to be meaningful if you’re
someone who does not like to have it
that way don’t put it on there it’s okay
think about in terms of style when
you’re online through various streams of
content that come out as all the time
the people that you probably most relate
to on if it’s snapchat and Instagram is
that layout the way that it looks from a
second that you go on to that page
that’s what’s most member like memorable
to you and meaningful so this is an
example of a resume that is a little bit
different which is why I picked it as an
example so the number one thing that I
always tend to talk about is that these
rules break a lot of things that are
told about resumes it’s not supposed to
be flipped right it’s always supposed to
be straightforward this kind of makes
the employer have to kind of tilt their
head if they were going through a bunch
of them which is a great thing because
it makes them take a second look at your
resume but also the way that she has her
name played out makes our experience
more valuable than her education because
that’s where your eye goes first and
what’s so valuable about that is that
every one of us has a different way of
how organization should be based on your
experience your education your skills
and what’s more meaningful to you and
that’s what’s most important there’s
always been the saying in that education
should be the first thing on your resume
I don’t agree with that because if you
have more experience or more valuable
experience than you think not to say
that education is not valuable because
it is thank you Stevenson but what’s
most valuable it could be your
experience or it could be your skills
and when we look at my resume I haven’t
laid out in a very specific meeting like
meaningful way to me I do use color I
use purple because I want it to say that
I am a confident person I use lowercase
letters on purpose because I wanted to
have a different look to it it’s very
very valuable meaningful choices for
everything I’m doing the reason that the
Y goes into skills is because I want you
to notice that first and then make your
way down and just to show a little bit
closer of an example we talked about
experience not everyone is going to have
a whole row of experience and that’s
completely okay
I’ve been lucky enough to have that but
if you don’t have that put your
education first or find ways to make
your experience have context so now
thirdly probably the hardest and that is
let’s say you’ve done that you’ve gone
through your resume you have your layout
and you have the thing that speaks to
you most you have your story but now you
have the hard task of taking that and
putting it out there to employers and
hearing no often or or hearing yes
hopefully but still you still have to
take it and make it yourself and make it
who you are and be okay with it if it is
you on a page then it’s authentic if
it’s you at a meeting and you feel
confident in who you are then it’s
authentic the hardest lesson I think I
ever had was when I was 19 I was an IT
consultant and I had an employer yell at
me first time it ever happened and he
told me that I was incompetent at my job
and that I had no business being
consultant at this company I cried I
mean I really cried and what was
shocking to me most though is that
everyone at that company that I went to
whether was HR whether it was to my
co-workers to my managers is that the
reaction was kind of like get over it it
happens people are going to Yeley and
while I disagree with that
somewhat because I don’t think it’s ever
reasonable for a vice president to yell
at you owning it means yes they yelled
at me but I know I did my the right
thing that it’s my job that I handled it
correctly so when I think about my
resume and I’ve been told multiple times
it the way I have it laid out is wrong
with the way that I speak about it is
incorrect but it’s worked for me it’s
gotten me the job it’s got me the
interview and that’s what’s most
important so when you leave here today I
want all of you to think about your
story whether you’ve worked five jobs
whether you are graduating from college
whether you’re just starting out as a
freshman the idea is to be fearless with
it because who you are is what’s most
important on a page that’s what’s going
to stand you out from everyone else in
the competition so what I want to leave
you with is be fearless Leo thent ‘ok
thank you
[Applause]
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