Black belt on your resume?

[Carol]

NAH!!!

I just put Grand Master, Evil Wizard of Xuefu and Lord high omnipotent ruler of all I survey


Under hobbies I put
World Domination

......and when can you start?

 

[Rich Parsons]

There was a similar thread a couple of years ago from a business point of view, but I was thinking about it from a different angle. I don't have a martial arts business but I was thinking it might be appropriate to put any/all black belt ranks/styles in the education portion of a resume alongside any college degrees or certifications. Many view a black belt as comparable to a undergrad degree, with higher ranks similar to masters or graduate degrees. Many styles require various readings and papers to be written as part of rank advancement as well, so including it under education doesn't seem like a huge stretch.

As competitive as the job market is today I'd think it might help one stand out from the crowd as well. It might help, it might hurt, overall I think it would be a positive though. Any thoughts?

All the current recommendations form Monster, The Ladder and other such sites state do not put extra things on your resume. It only gives them something to not put you into the interview list.

Do not put your grad point in unless it was extremely close to perfect and or you got a title or an award for it.

One can put in Patents and Defensive publications as this shows work you have done that gets IP (intellectual property) rights for the company you worked for.

Now, as you stated if it was to apply for a Martial Arts school then yes it should be there.

I would be willing to talk about it if asked about hobbies, or if a conflict of interest form is given to you to be signed. You do have a conflict of interest if you teach as it could take time away from the company. But if you disclose it then there is no conflict of interest as all parties were aware.

So, for a generic job application I would not put it on.


Now that being said, DFSS (* Design for Six Sigma *) issues ranks and calls them Green Belt and Red Belt and Black Belt for their certifcation. This could cause a miscommunication if you put in Black Belt and the expect an expert in this system. Now personally I think it is silly for them to have such a ranking for their certs, but I was not asked.

 

[Xue Sheng]

......and when can you start?

I already have :EG:

 

[Shifu Steve]

It totally depends on the job. Like others have said, if it's for law enforcement or security then it is relevant and perhaps looked upon as an asset. In my industry it would be looked upon as unprofessional and possibly laughed at. It is not, as others have said, anything like a bachelors or masters. There is no accreditation or standards for starters. The material would be considered extraneous to many jobs at best. I mean just becuase you invested your blood, sweat and tears into something doesn't necessarily make you good candidate for a particular job. I would use caution before doing it and consider the industry.

 

[tempus]

Then again, from what I have been told over the years, if you do not catch their eye on the first page, they never look any further. So it may not matter.

-Gary

 

[Carol]

Personally I never added my hobbies in hopes that someone would notice, I added them to give teeth to two pivotal questions that I expected in the interview.

 

[Haakon]

I'd say that it depends on that job and whether you have enough to fill your resume or not. Take a resume writing class if you haven't yet. The most powerful resumes are one page and are filled with hard hitting experience. To some, adding something like a black belt just says that you don't have enough OTHER important things to fill out the resume. If it is a teaching job or something where you think that it may come in handy or say something about your character, go for it. It is certainly a great space filler for any job, because it isn't bad no matter how you slice it, but you have to rack and stack ALL of the things that go on your resume and only include the very best.

Example, if I'm applying for a job, I wouldn't say that I worked for a company as a janitor between the ages of 14-18. But my black belts would rate higher than that. But that is because of the kind of job that I'd be applying for. I could fill enough of the resume with other important things, and to a professional engineering firm, my time as a janitor when I was a teenager means nothing.

Having enough to fill a resume isn't a problem, same field for 15 years, I can fill pages of a resume...but don't, I've gotten 6+ page resumes before, no one generally reads much past page 2.

Putting relevant job experience is a good one, many people put everything they've ever done on a resume. Education could, and often should, be viewed the same way, pretty much nothing I learned in college 25 years ago is relevant in the tech industry today.

In over 10 years of conducting interviews I don't remember a single time when someones education made a bit of difference or tipped the scales in favor of one candidate over another, everything always hinged on experience and how they did in the face to face interviews.

 

[Haakon]

NAH!!!

I just put Grand Master, Evil Wizard of Xuefu and Lord high omnipotent ruler of all I survey


Under hobbies I put
World Domination

Ah, but how many bullet points from The Evil Overlords Instruction Manual have you implemented?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Ah, but how many bullet points from The Evil Overlords Instruction Manual have you implemented?

MANUAL!!!!

No self respecting Evil Wizard/Overlord would follow a manual....that is just wrong by being right

 

[Kyosanim]

There was a similar thread a couple of years ago from a business point of view, but I was thinking about it from a different angle. I don't have a martial arts business but I was thinking it might be appropriate to put any/all black belt ranks/styles in the education portion of a resume alongside any college degrees or certifications. Many view a black belt as comparable to a undergrad degree, with higher ranks similar to masters or graduate degrees. Many styles require various readings and papers to be written as part of rank advancement as well, so including it under education doesn't seem like a huge stretch.

As competitive as the job market is today I'd think it might help one stand out from the crowd as well. It might help, it might hurt, overall I think it would be a positive though. Any thoughts?

This is one I tinker with myself. If your applying for security or a bouncer position then It's a plus, but some people might be intimidated by it.

On the other hand it does show that you consistently showed up on time for something which adds to your credibility if your trying to prove a reliable nature.

All in all I think it's better left off of paper and tossed in verbally if you believe it will improve your chances of getting a position.