Listing books you have read in your resume?

People usually list their college education under the ‘education’ section of their resume. I am currently in college, but I do a lot of reading on my own time, and I feel I learn/have learned a lot more from reading books on my own time then from the college courses. Plus the books I read on my own time are a lot more advanced and go into more detail then my college text books…

However this doesn’t really benefit me on paper, like a college degree does.

Does anyone have thoughts on how to make this benefit you on paper?

Thanks!!

You may have learned a lot from reading the books, but there is no “hard proof” of how much or well you’ve learned. But I think if you listed reading as a hobby/pastime and listed the titles there it would be OK.

Books you’ve read on a resume?

Ummm, not to be harsh but if I saw that as a hiring manager I would scoff to say the least.

Apply the items you’ve learned in the books, go beyond what people with your experience normally do by creating sites and a portfolio that matches your skills. Put that on your resume.

Definitely agree with tke here. Listing books you’ve read is about as useful on a resume as telling me you talked to people about whatever it is you do last week and it just doesn’t fit the resume format or concept.

That said having the names of a few books in your head is a great thing for the interview process. It’s very common for an interviewer to ask you how you are keeping up on trends or learning concepts in which case talking about a couple of projects as well as the shows you’ve been to and blogs or books you’ve read is perfectly acceptable.

One of the things I’ve been thinking about is adding a “book review” to my site. I’ve gone through so many, most good, some bad. I think you can tell allot about a person by what they read. Not something I would put on a resume though.

Thanks guys, I figured as much, why I said it doesn’t do anything for me on paper.

I just sometimes feel like, a lot of people get their basic set of knowledge and go stagnet after that, where as I devote a lot of my personal time to learning and furthering my skills. And I wanted a way to use that to make myself stand out.

you gave a good point on when to bring it up Ted.

I just can’t care about “C/C++/Perl/ASP” in the same way. So, maybe you won’t be qualified for the job, but it’s just a lot harder for me to dismiss you out of hand.

Don’t list the books… it will make you seem unqualified. Just fudge the truth on your resume to show that you have those skills :slight_smile: I had a friend that literally lied on every resume he sent out… and now he is a top level executive at a major car company…no joke.

Is that why the motor industry is in such trouble? :stuck_out_tongue:

If you want to include items on your CV about books, simply add a sentence saying that you enjoy reading related books (under interests) so that employers will see that you are maintaining your knowledge rather than keeping it stale, no need to add specific titles (unless they ask). But it at least shows you have initiative.

you should not mention the books you have studied in the resume, tell only when asked.

I would definately not list books you have read in your resume, employers want experience and results.

I review thousands of candidates CVs every week. If the books are related specifically to the job you are aiming for, then mention them in your hobbies and interests section. Too many candidates fail to state that they are actually interested in the job sector they are applying for.

For example, I recruit for jewellery and I like to see candidates putting something like jewellery making or reading about jewellery in their interests section. It shows that they have a genuine interest in that subject area. If they are applying for a jewellery design position for African jewellery, then I would be encouraged to see that they have read a few books on this area. Not so much though if they were applying for a Jewellery finance managers position!

I would not list the books in any other section, and don’t create too much of a focus on this, as BrianGarvin says, employers want definite experience and results, not possibilities. If you do add them, only put one or two and keep it brief i.e one sentence MAX. Employers DO NOT want to see irrelevant info on candidates CVs. Trust me, that’s one of the worst mistakes candidates make!

Someone can read three books on a particular skill/topic and be more skilled at it than someone who has read ten books on the same topic. It really depends on how much you have applied the knowledge you’ve gotten from reading the books. For that reason I find listing books irrelevant.

The point isn’t that you’ve read the books. Or it shouldn’t be. The point is that in the process of reading/studying the books you’ve gained skills.

List the skills you have. They can ask how you got them and you can say self study. You can make up your own headings in a resume. Make one called Skills, or Relevant Skills, or Programming Languages, or Self-Directed Studies.

Craft the resume to fit you, your experience and knowledge, and the job you are trying to get. I’ve heard of people putting advanced degrees under “hobbies” rather than “education” when the degree was irrelevant to the job.

Put reviews on your website, or better yet.-- Blog about the ideas you LEARNED and turn them INTO your own. Related to your current stragies to what you read, and provide answers.–

Hmm, a list of books won’t add value to a CV imo. List your skills instead

No doubt, you have developed good habit. Why not mention the names of the books you read in your resume? There is no necessity to give details of the books but just mention them.At least few of them will do.