Spice Up Your 2009 Resume Now ... Add This Little Gem

Written by Jimmy Sweeney

Author of the brand new, Amazing Resume Creator

From Times Square in New York City to Tiananmen Square in Bejing City, people will be ringing in the new year with a glass of cheer, a toast, a song, a display of fireworks. And the following day they'll dive into 2008 with new dreams, goals, resolutions, and commitments for the months ahead.

What will yours be? Perhaps among your goals is an exciting new job. To make that a reality, however, you'll need to brush up your resume or better yet, create a fresh one.

But don't just list your previous jobs and responsibilities, important as they are.

Add a bit of spice! Include a section that focuses on your good will, your volunteer work, and your acts of kindness in your previous work place, church, and community.

Such activities often say more about you than your professional profile. For example, consider how valuable you'd be to a company as a department manager or sales trainer if the hiring manager read in your resume that you managed a group of lay leaders who banded together to put up housing for the poor in Mexico. Imagine how well you'd be thought of for spending one day a month teaching homeless men a skill they can use in the workforce.

The virtue of kindness is sorely lacking in our society today, but it is one that is valued and appreciated when it is expressed.

How can you share this cup of kindness in a resume without sounding self-satisfied or arrogant? Here are some workable ideas that may spark some of your own.

1. Place a headline at the top of the section of your resume reserved for these activities.
   Example: Community Affairs Volunteer Work
2. State the name of the organization, your responsibilities, and the relevant dates.
   Example: Edgewater Young Adult Club, taught basic life skills, goal-setting, and personal hygiene to impoverished youth, monthly starting in January 2006 to the present.
3. Describe how your volunteer work relates to the job you are seeking.
   Example: My work with youth has prepared me to train, lead, and motivate salesmen and women to serve others, not merely sell. By building relationships with the young men and women of this club I learned the value of interpersonal relationships, networking, and common courtesy toward others—skills that can increase the bottom line of your company and improve employee-customer relations.

A well-worded statement such as this will show the hiring manager what kind of person you are, where your values lay, and the level of integrity you operate with when you engage with people on the job and in the community.

If your objective is to land a job interview, what could be more important than harnessing the reader's attention with your ability to do the work and exercise kindness toward others at the same time.

Spice up your resume with a cup of kindness--and see your new year's resolution come to pass--an interview with the hiring manager of the firm you want to join.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Jimmy Sweeney is the president of CareerJimmy and author of the brand new, "Amazing Resume Creator." Jimmy is also the author of several career related books and writes a monthly article titled, "Job Search Secrets."

Visit our friends at Amazing Resume Creator for your "instant" resume today. "In just 10 minutes flat you will have an amazing resume guaranteed to land you more hot job interviews next week.

• New York Temp Job Alerts - Best temp jobs in your inbox.
• Craigslist - recommended resource for finding temp jobs.
• Monster - Less temp jobs than Craigslist, but often higher level.
• Voxeu.org - Research on temp jobs and long term employment.