How to Write the Reverse Resume
Let’s assume there are two kinds of people in this world, the overachievers and the underachievers.
Someone who is an overachiever by other’s standards, is usually an underachiever in their mind and the inverse is often true for the underachievers — they are usually overachievers in their own eyes.
Which one are you?
If you say overachiever, you definitely have some slack to pick up.
If you picked underachiever, I need you to relax. Take a breath and loosen up.
If you are not sure, look at your resume. Is it long, full of detail, something you are proud of and have invested hours into? You are an overachiever.
Is there a lot of white space, lack of information and responsibilities? Probably underachiever.
No judgement against which one you are. The world probably needs both. The question is which one do you want to be?
Let’s try an exercise I like to call the ‘Reverse Resume’.
It will help you calm down, know you are enough, and appreciate all you have done if you are an overachiever and provide a moment of honest self reflection if you are an underachiever.
A resume is a document that touts everything you have done well in your life, all of the titles you have accumulated, awards you have won, brands you have been stamped with, etc. It is one big exclamation of ‘Look at me! I’m so great and here’s why’.
The Reverse Resume is an exercise in the inverse.
The Reverse Resume is a compilation of all the things you didn’t do, never won, failed at, and messed up. It’s a list of jobs you never got, schools that you didn’t get into, and accomplishments that no one else would be proud of — like the time you organized the senior prank and got suspended for hanging underwear in the school yard tree.
By listing out all that you are not proud of, regret, are disappointed in, and will never be acknowledged for, you are either:
- Contrast it to all the many great things you have done and notice that you are good enough.
- You have had fun, made a wonderful amount of mistakes, and it’s time to take some of that juicy wisdom and apply it to your next move — You deserve to meet your goals!
How to Write a Reverse Resume:
- Make a digital copy of your current resume
- Comb through line by line and describe the inverse of each entry on your resume
Ex. If you were on the Dean’s List freshman year of college only, change it to ‘Did not make Dean’s List Sophomore, Junior, and Senior year’.
Ex. If you got a 480 on your GMAT and thus never put it on your resume, put it on there: GMAT: 480
Ex. If you applied to Harvard and did not get in, create an entry under Education as if you went to Harvard. It could look like this:
Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA
Accounting, 2015–2019
- Was rejected twice
- Flunked the interview
- Never got in…. toured the campus though!
Note: Do not send out the Reverse Resume to future employers. Be honest and accurate, but maybe not this up front. Or… try it. I’m curious what happens.
Once you have completed your Reverse Resume, hopefully this helps you savor all that you have done, appreciate any lessons learned from what wasn’t achieved, and find some levity in your silly new resume.
Need guidance in this process?
Take a look at the Reverse Resume Template:
