In the
last five years as a career services professional, I have
found that approximately 90% of my clients are hell-bent
on having their name appear on their resumes as follows:
"George
M. Smith" or "Susan W. Dingle"
It ends
up on the resume only about 5% of the time. I will, naturally,
put any truthful bit of data on the resume as my clients
dictate (after all, they are paying me). But first they
get my professional opinion, so we go through the following
discussion on names.
"So,
why do you want your middle initial on the resume?" asks
the tough-love career cheerleader.
"Because
it's how I sign my checks." "That's the way everyone lists
their names on resumes." "Isn't that more formal / professional
/ impressive?" are the usual responses.
Keep
it casual and memorable. First off, a resume is a marketing
piece, not a legal document. It should not be confused with
any legal document, like a check, job application, last-will-and-testament,
to which one would normally sign one's name.
Besides,
being formal or doing what everyone else does isn't necessarily
the best way to market one's self as a unique individual.
The idea here is to get some name recognition going. Adding
a middle initial just adds another bit of data to obscure
your name. Let's put it another way... would your boss or
co-workers know you by your middle initial? They usually
call you by an informal first name and your surname, right?
The people reviewing your resume should be looking at a
name that sounds approachable and similar to other names
of co-workers. "Bob Greene" is much just easier to recall
and more approachable than "Robert F. Greene."
Is your
given name just a bit too common? The John Smiths of the
world, all 897,324 of them, might want to add the entire
second name to the header for a little pizzazz. Better to
add the second name, though, than just the initial, in my
opinion. Or go back to first and second initials.
Skip
the "Junior" and the "III", "IV", and "V", though. Most
recruiters are too overworked to be interested in whether
there were two, three, or fifty Vincent Aaron Van Aardvarks
in the family tree before you.
Beating
sex discrimination in the first cut: If you're a female
heading into a male-dominated arena, you might consider
using the initials of your first and middle names. That
way, a Sally Jo Brown can become S.J. Brown, who might get
called before the other similarly qualified Sallies. Other
times, you may want to alleviate the discomfort that a potential
recruiter may feel when contacting one with a sexually ambiguous
name like Pat, Chris, or even Tracy, by using the full given
name.
Unfortunately,
racial discrimination is still a common phenomenon among
hiring professionals. Our names can sometimes reveal or
imply revelation of our nationalities. It's perfectly okay
to shorten a foreign-sounding name to initials, or even
to add a nickname in quotes. However, one's name IS, after,
all, one's name. If you are proud of your name and heritage,
by all means use it. Perhaps that way you'll find your place
in equality-oriented companies with people who tolerate
or even embrace diversity.
Age
discrimination may also play a role. If you have an old-fashioned
sounding name, or present your full formal name, you may
be perceived as being older than the "ideal" candidate in
some companies, whether you are or not. If you think it
is an issue, use initials, informal variants, or nicknames.
You
see, those of us who make a profession in career marketing
can go on and on over the most minute of details. More harangues
on said small stuff to come, stay tuned!
