Resume advice: interesting facts about yourself?

I was watching a segment the other day with a recruiter. He said one way to differentiate yourself to prospective employers is to include some interesting facts about yourself, or unusual hobbies, at the end of your resume. He said he just had to interview one guy who said he "enjoyed spicy food" on his resume. I have something which I think may be good for a banking resume: I've lost more than 80 pounds over the course of five years and kept it off through proper diet and exercise. Good to include or unnecessary?

7 Comments
 

Honestly, I have never heard of that getting anyone an interview in banking. The resume format for banking is rather standardized. In my experience with career counselors and editing my resume with finance professionals, I don't think any of them would ever endorse putting "I enjoy spicy food" on an investment banking resume. I could be wrong, but that's my opinion. Congratulations on losing the 80 pounds though... very impressive.

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Ive been tempted to put "watched every Seinfeld episode, 4 times at least" at the bottom of my resume, but still unsure.

 

Would it be wise to say something like losing 80 lbs as an accomplishment if asked during an interview...or is it better to say something less personal?

 

Um, not a good idea, esp. for finance resumes.

If you must add something extra to the resume, choose some favorite hobbies that won't lead to an awkward conversation, or you could just mentioned your favorite books.

You could probably get away with something neutral, like, "Favorite place in the world: XYZ" if you have a favorite travel destination that maybe you'd like to make small talk about.

 

I'm actually a big fan of leaving 1 line on the bottom of your resume dedicated to differentiating yourself from others - ie: something interesting about yourself. But I would definitely not put something like "lost 80 pounds over 5 years." It's amazing though. Great job and I hope you keep it up. It's just not something like...indirectly applicable to a position, you know? Like unless you say that your weight loss dedication shows that you can work hard to achieve something, but even that is a stretch.

 

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