No You’re Not Bragging and Other Tips for Creating Your Resume

To be completely honest — I do not enjoy creating my resume. The first time in particular was such a struggle. I had to figure out what to put on my resume because I did not have any “real” experience and I felt that nothing I’d done was relevant to the jobs I wanted.

Writing personal essays and talking about myself was definitely not my forte (though I guess that is what I am doing right now haha). To me, it just felt unnatural and sort of like bragging. I did not grow up in a culture where we used a lot of ‘I’ statements. Every accomplishment was that of the group and could not be done without the advice or help of someone else. Explicitly giving myself credit for something just felt wrong.

To this day, I still find it uncomfortable to talk about myself or my accomplishments. I still find it strange to tell someone that I am ‘good’ at something. However, I have come to learn that there is nothing wrong with giving yourself credit for the things you have done. There is great value in identifying your abilities and worth. There is power in advocating for yourself. And if you don’t define yourself, someone else will do it for you. So no, you’re not bragging, you are simply proving your worth. If you were like me, and find it incredibly uncomfortable to talk about yourself, creating a resume is a great first step to defining who you are.

Identifying my worth and advocating for myself is something I’m still working on. Over the years I have come a long way…