While re-doing my resume today, I got to the awards section and suddenly I remembered that I got the presidential award in 2001 for academic excellence signed by George W Bush.

So I was just wondering if getting an award signed by the president and considering my young age at the time when i received it would help boost my resume or if I should just leave it off because it's just way too old?

I mean if it was just another A-B Honor Roll I would've brushed it aside as nothing but I feel like this award holds some importance and thought I'd ask here first for some advice before adding it or not adding it.

Terranist

United States2496 Posts

December 20 2011 04:22 GMT

no point excluding it, but a potential employer will mainly be looking at your work history and educational background. the other stuff is filler.

0123456789

United States3216 Posts

December 20 2011 04:23 GMT

Bro I got that award in elementary, middle, and high school, and so have a lot of people I know. Not that special ^_^ They hand that shit out like candy

dongmydrum

United States139 Posts

December 20 2011 04:28 GMT

I'd leave it out since it was too long ago, especially if you got it for academic excellence. I am assuming you are a college student and the rule of thumb is never putting anything that happened before college.

jellyjello

Korea (South)664 Posts

December 20 2011 04:28 GMT

My advise is that only put it there if it relates to the job you are applying for. Two things I hate when going through resumes are 1) too long or too much information, and 2) resume that's full of unrelated information. Your resume should be tailored to the job description of the position that you are applying.

emperorchampion

Canada9496 Posts

December 20 2011 04:44 GMT

Not really sure what level of education you are at, but I assume High School. As a general rule of thumb, you probably shouldn't include anything not related to the school you are currently attending. If you have a decent list of awards (honours from the previous years) you may want to add it to show that you have been able to consistently perform well. How you present it in your resume is important as well. Never have a section with just one thing, so if you do include it have it as a point under your schooling (unless you have other awards).

On second thought, don't include it. You'll end up with too many awards, and they won't be relevant.

hkf

Australia354 Posts

December 20 2011 04:58 GMT

It is an award given to students who keep an A-average for their time in school (middle school level, high school level)

sounds like a "I got a gold star on my notebook once" kinda deal

LuckyFool

United States9015 Posts

December 20 2011 05:04 GMT

funny recent story related to resumes, my boss came up to me the other day;

"Rob this guy has "likes to play video games" at the bottom of his resume. Thought you might find that amusing..."

I told him to be sure which video games he likes, if he says starcraft hire immediately, if he says WoW or console games just get up and walk out.

MaRiNe23

United States747 Posts

December 20 2011 05:08 GMT

On December 20 2011 14:04 LuckyFool wrote:
funny recent story related to resumes, my boss came up to me the other day;

"Rob this guy has "likes to play video games" at the bottom of his resume. Thought you might find that amusing..."

I told him to be sure which video games he likes, if he says starcraft hire immediately, if he says WoW or console games just get up and walk out.

Hey haven't seen u on bw lately. Did u and CA alrdy play the grudgematch or u just bak to sc2 now?

zeks

Canada1068 Posts

December 20 2011 05:08 GMT

#10

resume should be about your recent 3 years at most 5

MaRiNe23

United States747 Posts

December 20 2011 05:10 GMT

#11

And I'm in college so I proabaly won't include it. Thanks guys.

Keyboard Warrior

United States1178 Posts

December 20 2011 05:15 GMT

#12

In your comprehensive resume may be.

But if is more than 5 years ago, you dont need to include it. Did you get it before college?

LuckyFool

United States9015 Posts

December 20 2011 05:49 GMT

#13

On December 20 2011 14:08 MaRiNe23 wrote:

Show nested quote +

Hey haven't seen u on bw lately. Did u and CA alrdy play the grudgematch or u just bak to sc2 now?

nope I'm full sc2 I dodged bw grudge match, bw too hard lol would take more than 1-2 weeks for me to get back to a competitive level.

ShadowDrgn

United States2497 Posts

December 20 2011 05:52 GMT

#14

On December 20 2011 13:28 dongmydrum wrote:
I'd leave it out since it was too long ago, especially if you got it for academic excellence. I am assuming you are a college student and the rule of thumb is never putting anything that happened before college.

I don't really like that rule. My rule of thumb is more like "would you be comfortable bragging about this award to a stranger?" I'd include things like winning an international science fair or global spelling bee in middle school over some meaningless award no one has ever heard of that you received in college.

dongmydrum

United States139 Posts

December 20 2011 06:18 GMT

#15

On December 20 2011 14:52 ShadowDrgn wrote:

Show nested quote +

If it was something really really awesome, then by all means put it in. However, generally if a college student has on his resume something he did back in high school, middle school, or god forbid elementary school, it makes it look like he hasn't been productive in college and has to go far back just to put fill up some space.

jimminy_kriket

Canada5533 Posts

December 20 2011 06:26 GMT

#16

Where are you applying?

DarthThienAn

United States2734 Posts

December 20 2011 06:44 GMT

#17

lol i should put that in my resumes ~

Empyrean

17068 Posts

December 20 2011 08:22 GMT

#18

On December 20 2011 13:58 hkf wrote:

Show nested quote +

sounds like a "I got a gold star on my notebook once" kinda deal

I never got this...I was an A/B student. Mostly Bs.

... my college GPA ended up being higher than my high school GPA >_>

hp.Shell

United States2527 Posts

December 20 2011 10:55 GMT

#19

I say leave it out. The only thing that old that I leave on my own resume is my Eagle Scout accomplishment. Anything high school and pre-hs should be left off. And if your college GPA isn't 3.0+ the employer won't care what it is, so you should leave it off if it's under.

Ciraxis

Australia400 Posts

December 20 2011 11:17 GMT

#20

Maybe if you said you got an academic award signed by "a President". Honestly, when I read what you had written it just reminded me how much I disliked Bush, and I'd think that any of your potential bosses might be distracted by hate for Bush drawing their attention away from your main point that you got an academic award. Even if you said you received it by "a President in 2001" would be better than saying you got it from Bush.

TheLOLas

United States646 Posts

December 20 2011 13:27 GMT

#21

No need to exclude it. Just throw in anything that makes you look good.

LuckyFool

United States9015 Posts

December 20 2011 13:32 GMT

#22

On December 20 2011 15:44 DarthThienAn wrote:

Show nested quote +

lol i should put that in my resumes ~

Do at your own risk. It's funny how a year ago I was brushing up my resume now I'm proof reading other ppls. From one side of it to the other in under a year. Soon I'll be interviewing people lol.

OpticalShot

Canada6330 Posts

December 20 2011 14:09 GMT

#23

I don't see the harm in putting it in as long as
1) it doesn't take away room for more relevant information
2) you're willing to explain about it, or at least tell a decent story, if asked in an interview

Hynda

Sweden2226 Posts

December 20 2011 14:17 GMT

#24

Can't hurt. I put the fact that I was the president of the sportsclub at my highschool and people love that shit for some reason. Shows initiative blah blah blah, all we did was eat cookies and get into as many tournaments as possible cause we would get to take that day of school to go much about playing sports. Only reason I was president was cause I lost the rock paper scissors, cause being president required filling out 1 form a month.

Normal

Please or register to reply.

Live Events Refresh