For anyone who has recently looked for job, did you include Ironman finisher or other triathlon information?
Thanks
Unless you’re in the athletic industry, I hope you’re kidding.
Just ask yourself, "Does my prospective employer…
A. Even know what triathlon is???
B. Care about your athletic endeavors.
If yes, then put it in…but really, what are the odds of that happening.
Are you applying for a job where these skills would be utilized or is your resume just that thin that you need to fill out a page?
My advice–give only as much personal information as absolutely necessary. Keep it professional and job-related.
Unless I know for certain that my potential boss sees that as a good thing, I say no. That is not just for triathlon, I keep off any hobbies or interests unless I am asked. Think of all the hobbies out there and the negative image some of them had. For instance, if you put cyclist on your resume and the guy was almost late to work because of a couple of roadies riding two abreast, then you might be screwed because you included information on you resume that you did not have to.
My last couple employers included a guy with a NCAA National Championship Ring and a competitive weightlifter, so I did include it in those resumes. Those guys really did see it as a positive and when include my triathlon hobby when bragging me up to their peers.
While I am overlooking the jabs, I do agree. I had someone telling me that they would, but I thought it was kind of ridiculous. It’s not like someone is going to put a golf handicap, or mountains they’ve climbed, etc. for an office job. Probably only 1% or less of the people who first look at resumes would think it was a plus.
I guess I need to start paying better attention to who tries to give me advice 
Thanks
No.
I probably would not. And I could see it actually as a detriment (time off to train, possible a touch on the compulsive side, etc.) On the other hand, my sister who is an attorney, is convinced that she didn’t get a job with a small firm (when she was right out of law school) because she told the partners that she had no ambition to run a full marathon, but maybe a half-marathon was doable. She says in retrospect that she thinks it indicated that she would sell herself short. It should be said that it was a smaller firm and the partners (a husband/wife team) were avid marathoners. My sister was probably not a good fit for them anyways.
Bernie
I haven’t assembled a resume in several years, but if they still include a hobbies/activities section, I don’t see why not. I wouldn’t make a big fuss about it, but it could certainly be viewed as a positive in several ways. Goal setting and achievement, and health consciousness are probably still considered positive attributes in job candidates. It certainly beats “meeting girls online” or “tequila aficionado” as noted areas of interest.
Absolutely. If you have a “personal interests and accomplishments” section on your resume, put it there. Dammit. Similarly, if you’re a graduate of Outward Bound or NOLS, if you’re an Eagle Scout, etc., put it. You never know if the HR person or manager who looks at your resume may have one of these interests in common and wants to add your dedication to the roster.
Yes.
I put it in a footnote, and I have a MS in Electrical Engineering. On my current job, the head of all engineering happened to know what ironman was (in fact he used to do them 10 years ago - and would run 3:03 off the bike). We spent 45 minutes of my 60 minute interview talking about racing. Needless to say, I got the job.
Do it, but don’t talk about it unless asked. If they don’t know what it is, make sure you talk about how you were able to accomplish it, while balancing all of your other life goals, etc… shows you can manage time and that you are motivated. Play down that you spend all of you free time, when you are not working, training - and that sometimes, you will leave early to get in a longer ride…
Yes, here’s why. It allows a venue for people to connect to you during the interview process. I always list a line or two of my personal interests. I may be interviewed by some uptight suit, but I find out that he’s also training for triathlons and he lets his guard down and then we have a conversation about triathlons. All of a sudden, I’m a great guy who is very personable instead of candidate #562. Now, this may not happen because I list triathlons on my resume. It may be because I listed ultimate frisbee or home theater or home improvement or a bunch of other things that I have listed on it. Point is, a lot of jobs will be gotten through conversations about non-work related stuff than work related stuff. My entire team is involved with hiring decisions and it’s pretty clear that if we have no personal connection with someone, they aren’t going to get hired.
I just got through the job search process, and everyone I know says “no” to that question. There will be ample places to bring that up during the interview if you think it will help sell “you” to the interviewer. For example, if someone wants to know how well you set goals and meet them, I would probably use a business goal first, but might follow up with the Ironman bit. But I would leave it off the resume.
Spot
** Yes, here’s why. It allows a venue for people to connect to you during the interview process. I always list a line or two of my personal interests. I may be interviewed by some uptight suit, but I find out that he’s also training for triathlons and he lets his guard down and then we have a conversation about triathlons. All of a sudden, I’m a great guy who is very personable instead of candidate #562.**
Agreed. I don’t think it will hurt, and it may benefit as you suggest. In a 2000 interview (for the current job), rather a series of interviews, I met 8 people over 4 hours in 30-minute intervals. 2 were mildly interested and asked about it, 2 said “oh, that’s interesting” and moved on, 3 didn’t mention it and the 8th person is an avid road biker with a picture of his riding group on the wall at somewhere like Moab, who also rode in to work 25 miles each way 2-3x/per week. It was all we talked about for 30 min. Granted, it wasn’t a first job, so the resume also gave info on what I know how to do and what I have done with work, so any reader didn’t need to ask all that much about my background.
Some interviewers look at the paper credentials and treat the interview as a way to check your personality and to see if you’re a fit for the company and can be conversational enough to be a face-person for the company some day. the interests help start those conversations.
Here’s an odd one, a guy I know has “Finalist on ‘Win Ben Stein’s Money’” on his resume. That’s pushing it a little, but he has a good job and it was on the resume when he interviewed for it.
For anyone who has recently looked for job, did you include Ironman finisher or other triathlon information?
As one who does hire, if I saw it on the resume and I was in an unrelated career field, I would wonder “why the heck did they put THIS on here?” … But, whether you got called for an interview would depend on the experience/qualifications in the related field.
My/Our success doesn’t hiinge on the quality/success of our hobbies. Also, I don’t think that “hobbies” is a section on many serious resumes.
My neighbor, a very sucessful attornery, has that on his profile on the company website. He hasn’t raced in 10 years but he is still milking it.
We spent 45 minutes of my 60 minute interview talking about racing. Needless to say, I got the job.
Either you qualifications were outstanding that the job was yours provided you didn’t have horrible social skills, or that is rather disappointing.
I’m not saying it never helped me that perhaps the employer was a baseball fan and I played baseball (it was on the resume as an Organization -NCAA- Member), but if I spent 75% of the time talking about baseball strategy, history, practice methods, etc … I’d wonder if the place was really serious about what they do.
This is just chit-chat, I’m not seriously reading THAT much into it. I can imagine that there are enough interviews of highly qualified people that take place just to make sure the person isn’t a whako (although the term Ironman and whako could be susbstituted depending on context grin).
If I was hiring a new secretary it would catch my attention and make her resume stand out.
So…it really depends on the employer and/or what the job is. It can be a negative or a positive depending upon who will be reading the resume.
It pays to know as much information about your employer as possible?
I think if one noticed, by perhaps viewing an employer’s website, what personal/hobby information is published regarding the owner and/or HR persons.
Now, the interesting situation … The owner/hirer has published their IM time is 11:21, and they ask “What time do you say you finished in if/when they ask?” grin
Okay so it’s not interesting. I’ll stop clogging up this thread.
What if you go to the interview, and the interviewee has a framed photo of their triathlon finish, which features their 4 kids, aunt Tessie, Grandma Loraine, Uncle Bob, and marge (carrying her arm-dog) … do you say anything? =)
Always have, at the very bottom with family & outside interests (M+2, travel, motorcycles, ld trail races and IM). Recently got a job as an exec at one of the top companies in the US. Talked about outside interests and being a spec ops officer for about 10mins of each of the 4 rounds of interviews that I went through.
Anticipate the question - “oh, the one in Hawaii?” If you haven’t done “the Ironman” I’d list it as triathlon to avoid coming off as a poser in the eyes of the interviewer.
Problem is now I don’t have time to pursue my outside interests.