Resume line regarding reading 'prowess'. Forum

[Sloth Hero]

My resume contains a small section at the end regarding current personal activities. I have a line about research I am doing for a philosophy of law professor, that I am completing my first novel (not seeking to publish), and that I am working for C-1/B-2 in French and German, respectively.

I have recently, with the completion of Infinite Jest (interestingly enough), completed my goal of reading 1,000 books (mostly nonfiction.)

Is there a formulation of these facts that would be appropriate for a law school resume?

1,000 is arbitrary and whatnot, but it sure sounds cool and what I have read is a significant part of who I am.

[TheSpanishMain]

I can't think of a way to term it that doesn't make you sound weird and aspie.

I'm not saying you ARE necessarily weird and aspie, just that including "has read 1,000 books!" in a resume will come off that way. As you pointed out, it just sounds kind of arbitrary and it's not really impressive. It doesn't say anything about the quality of the books, your ability to analyze text, or draw meaningful conclusions from things you read. It just proves you can slog through a reading list and keep weirdly exact records.

[hephaestus]

I can't think of a way to term it that doesn't make you sound weird and aspie.

I'm not saying you ARE necessarily weird and aspie, just that including "has read 1,000 books!" in a resume will come off that way. As you pointed out, it just sounds kind of arbitrary and it's not really impressive. It doesn't say anything about the quality of the books, your ability to analyze text, or draw meaningful conclusions from things you read. It just proves you can slog through a reading list and keep weirdly exact records.

+1. Don't do this. It will just come off as really odd.

[Sloth Hero]

I can't think of a way to term it that doesn't make you sound weird and aspie.

I'm not saying you ARE necessarily weird and aspie, just that including "has read 1,000 books!" in a resume will come off that way. As you pointed out, it just sounds kind of arbitrary and it's not really impressive. It doesn't say anything about the quality of the books, your ability to analyze text, or draw meaningful conclusions from things you read. It just proves you can slog through a reading list and keep weirdly exact records.

Goodreads.com has not been conducive to overcoming my compulsive tendencies.

And yeah, many people are certain that I fall somewhere on the spectrum, which is why I run questions like this by TLS.

[BruinRegents]

I just wanted to add that the avatars on this thread are quite eclectic.

[emkay625]

I would find the 1,000 books line a bit annoying. It doesn't seem that impressive. Say you're 30. That's like 20 years of reading actual books. That's just a book a week. Even if you started at 20, that's still just two books a week. I read one or two books a week now. I just don't bother to count it.

I think just leave it at "avid reader" in your interest section....and then see if you get asked about it. Then you could elaborate more.

Also the novel writing is cool. I would be down to hear about that on a resume.

[A. Nony Mouse]

See, I would not want to hear about novel writing unless you published it.

[IAFG]

Yeah I think it's weird you count the number of books you read. And 1,000 doesn't seem like that many.

[Cicero76]

I wouldn't do this. By the time I was in 10th grade, I owned 400 books and had read all of them. I haven't really kept track, but even if that 400 included 200 kid/adolescent books, I've surely way passed into the thousands in the years since. A thousand books just isn't all that many if you read a lot, and talking about numbers with regard to hobbies on a resume is kinda weird.

[20141023]

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[UnderrateOverachieve]

One of my interests is reading. I just update my resume with my last three read works. Preferably at least one that is universally popular. Had a great interview with a guy who was into A Song of Fire and Ice.

[rinkrat19]

Just for reference, I've got 500+ books on my Nook and have read most of them. Those are just the books that I've bought in electronic format in the past 2 years. My life list has got to be well into the thousands (no comment on the quality of those thousands of books). I don't think I'm particularly unusual for someone who reads consistently.

That said, you can certainly include a line about personal interests on your resume. Reading can be one of them, but I'd recommend being a little more specific (i.e. "reading historical fiction" "reading French classics" etc.). The point of the personal interests line is to show that you are an interesting, well-rounded person with interests outside work and school, as well as to give interviewers (during the job search) some convenient conversation starters.

Hobbies, sports, crafts, or collections are examples of things that are good. My resume says: "Interests include snowboarding, recreational ice hockey, camping, digital photography, cooking, and reading fiction." And I think that's fairly typical type of list.

-Writing a novel is ok to list, I think.
-Research for a professor should go in the resume proper somewhere, under education or work experience. It's not a personal interest. (Or if it is, you need a life!)
-I have no idea what C-1/B-2 is, but I assume it's some kind of language learning thing? Listing "learning languages" is an ok personal interest, but you can also just list the languages you are proficient in as a skill on the resume.

More examples of appropriate interests to list:
Knitting, Asian cooking, hiking, photography, restoring classic muscle cars, recreational soccer, opera, coin collecting, skiing, fly fishing, playing the piano, genealogical research, painting watercolors, baking, classic cinema, home brewing**, gardening, distance running...


**alcohol-related hobbies (whiskey/wine tasting, brewing, etc) are a little controversial. Some people say don't list them at all. I personally think they're ok in some situations. Applying to schools/jobs in Portland/Seattle/San Francisco/Denver, I would totally list it. (Hell, law firms take summer associates on wine tastings and brewery tours here.) More conservative places, probably not. Judgment call.