Been quiet here for a bit as I’ve been running at maximum BBotE production capacity, non-stop, since March 21st and still have quite a way left to go yet. But I want to take a moment to have you meditate upon a thought I had several years back that came back up again today: The Black Resume.
The Black Resume is a term I came up with (perhaps unwittingly borrowed) when lamenting to a friend about the vast amount of things I know how to do, KSAs (knowledge, skills, abilities) that definitely contribute to my being a useful worker as weird stuff comes up and provide keen insights into the human condition, that I would never, ever list on my resume/CV when applying for a job in my chosen field. Things that would, in all likelihood, prevent me from ever being hired when they scare someone in HR. Things that invariably come up later when explaining how I knew about, or how to do, something.
For example, a far from exhaustive and non-incriminating list: bartending, amateur rocketry, nitroglycerin/explosives manufacture, amateur demolition, odd pharmacology, encyclopedic knowledge of “unpleasant history”.
I have to admit, when written down the Black Resume pleases me more than my real one. These are things that make me a more whole, interesting, and happy person which makes me a better worker in my genuine trade…but these are things HR would have trouble quantifying/evaluating. In fact, might make it likely I’d never get hired in the first place.
How about you? What’s yours look like?