Additional Headings
Athletics
In our sports-saturated world, employers like the trait of competition, especially athletic competition. If you've competed in varsity athletics in high school or college or excelled in military sports programs, you probably should include an Athletics heading. Or if you are genuinely active in athletic activities not connected with high school, college, or the military, you probably should include the Athletics heading as well. For example, if you've competed in some marathons but are not on the military base track team, you might decide to include an Athletics heading. If your only athletic activity is participation in college intramural sports, you probably should not include a separate Athletics heading. Instead, include your intramural experiences under the Activities heading.
Travel
If you've never been beyond the next county, forget this heading. If, however, you spent tours of duty in foreign countries, then you might decide to include a ‘Travel’ or ‘Foreign Travel’ heading. A single entry should suffice, describing your travel experiences and listing the countries or states you've visited. For those interested in careers in international relations or international business, a prominently displayed Foreign Travel heading can alert your prospective employer to your ability to adjust to foreign cultures. Be sure to include the amount of time you've spent abroad (if that amount is impressive). Also, if you've made several trips abroad, include the circumstances and the number of trips.
Many military careerists have significant foreign travel experiences. You should resist the urge to describe your foreign experiences in too much detail, droning on for half a page or more. Instead, simply write, "Experience abroad includes more than six years in West Germany and four years in South Vietnam." Keep your audience and your objective in mind. If you are applying for an executive position with a company trying to penetrate new opportunities in Eastern Europe and you have spent significant time in West Germany or any other NATO location, then you should expand your Foreign Travel heading to show your familiarity with the culture, the terrain, the language, the politics, and the people of that place.
Languages
If you're seeking a job that values foreign language ability and you have impressive ability in one or more languages, then definitely include this heading. The entry should list the languages and reveal your degree of proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking. Be very careful with the word fluent, however. Nothing could be worse than to say you're fluent in French, get an interview, and look dumbfounded your interviewer is.
Keep in mind that fluency in a foreign language can be an asset even if you're not applying for a foreign post. Certainly a fluency in Spanish would open the eyes of a prospective employer in Miami or any other area of the country with a large Hispanic population.
Do not include computer programming languages such as COBOL, FORTRAN, BASIC, and Pascal under Languages. At least modify the heading to Computer Languages. Also, in listing your computer languages, be sure to use all caps for those that are acronyms, like BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, and upper- and lowercase for those that are not, like Pascal.
Publications
If you've written an article, poem, or anything else that has been published, you should include this heading. Remember that employers seek communications skills! In the entry, list the titles of the publications and follow your discipline's citation form.
Interests
Opinion differs on the effectiveness of this heading. Some experts say to leave it out altogether. Others say definitely to include it. Our advice falls somewhere in between. You should be creative when you write the Interests heading, if you have some genuinely interesting interests. If you just list "Jogging, Music, and Reading," the employer will yawn. Everybody these days jogs, listens to music (while jogging), and reads. If that's all you're really interested in, then leave the heading out. Or, make your routine interests sound interesting with an entry like, "Jogging five miles per day, reading spy novels, and listening to country music."
Several years ago we helped an extremely talented young woman write her first resume. She had omitted the Interests heading. We asked whether she had any unique outside interests. She replied, "Hot-air ballooning." Naturally, she revised her resume to include this short statement: The hot-air balloonist, now the head paralegal at a large insurance company, reports that her Interests heading has always sparked some lively conversation in interviews.
