Key differences in my old and new resume
I have passed my seventh months as an American foreign postgraduate student, and I will in the time give some key insight about the big differences I have experienced so far studying abroad. And I will start off with the resume.
Many would believe, based on the current post, that employment rates are high, and that it is a challenge to get a job. That is a truth with certain modifications. The employment rates in the USA among college graduates is at impressive 2,1 percent. Still I go through a year-long process to prepare for the job application process, which is considerably more time consuming and demanding than the Norwegian. You can see the differences only in my resume, which is added at the end of this post to show you how big the difference is between my Norwegian and my American resume.
Janteloven
Because that is the truth, they are very different, but still has many similarities. The irony? Both are considered to be “good” CV’s by career advisors at that school. The American is just an expansion of the Norwegian where I write about my achievements, where numbers, and certain strong, positive words picked up by algorithms at AI recruiting systems are the most important. Why is my Norwegian so simplistic, compared to the American? In Norway we got something called Janteloven, which is a norm that says that you should not believe you are something great. You should never brag about your achievements.
The transition
That created a problem for me from the start, and I have gotten notes from my career advisor by the likes of: “Did you do anything at your job?”, “Did you have any responsibilities?”, “Please, you must have done something to show for", “For some people this is hard, but you got to start bragging about yourself", and a simple “Please”. Now that I have lived here for some time, and has gotten used to the “bragging” culture, I have realized the great things I have done so far in my life which I am proud of that I can show for at my resume.
To go from the Norwegian to the American resume-culture was hard and took some time, but even for a future in Norway it will be worth it. I look back at my old resume and realize how bad it actually was. I have seen the necessities of having a Resume with the right words, numbers and look.
This is my American resume, while my Norwegian is a bit more Low key, some might say:
https://1drv.ms/w/s!Ah4X8grUShNkk2JmpUDxipc7H2lF
(Old resume in link)
Fun Fact: When Saudi Aramco goes public, it is expected to be valued at 2 Trillion Dollars, around 950 billions more than Microsoft who comes in second at 1,050 Trillion Dollars.