r e s u m a k e r s !

Being not only a blogger, resume writer, and career commentator, I am also a full-time graduate student — and an eager, excited one at that. I study ethics — in particular, I study Christian ethics, and I choose to do it in a way that is relevant to the world that we live in. I (very righteously, it sounds like today) comment on women’s rights, I think about racism as it intersects with American religion, I care about the ethics of war, torture, end-of-life experiences, and I try to connect what this fellow named Jesus living and dying in the period of the Roman Empire might have to say about all of us who live and die in this period of the American Empire. I really care about this. I think it matters.

What I do not care about, however, is being bombarded with meaningless papers during finals week that prevent me from thinking, caring, and doing the important things that I love. Today, I’m writing two insignificant papers, and as I do it, I realize that I am just jumping through yet another hoop to get the degree I need to do what I want to do.

This, though is why I love resumes so much. Resumes, my friends, are certainly a hoop, but they are useful, empowering, strong documents that serve a real-world purpose. Resumes are the hoop that will get you somewhere, which teach you something about yourself, and enable you to say, Obama-like, “Yes, I can.” With a resume, you’re responding to something real, and putting yourself in a position of power: you decide who you are on your resume. You take your skills, your passions, your experiences, your work, your education, and arrange it in a way that optimizes YOU.

Ah, the passion and fear emerging from a graduate student at the end of the semester. Nevertheless — I am so thankful for the things in this world we can do out of integrity, self-representation, and excitement. I’m thankful for my education. And weirdly enough? I’m thankful for resumes.