WSJ Your Money Briefing - More Some People Are Putting Their Fitness Achievements on Their Resumes

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

Runners are humble bragging about their athletic achievements on their resume to stand out among piles of applications. What do recruiters say about it? Wall Street Journal contributor Caitlin Carlson joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss what job-seekers need to know before jumping on this trend. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This is not a recommendation or offer to buy, sell, or retain any specific investment or service. Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, December 18th. I'm JR Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. A challenge many job seekers face is how to make their resumes stand out among scores of others sitting on hiring managers' desks. Some are including athletic achievements, specifically their performance in marathons. There's this idea of how you do one thing is how you do all things.

That was a theme that came through from the recruiters I spoke to and also the people who are putting this type of thing on their resume. They believe a marathon, it's hard work, training for it and the actual race itself. So those values that a marathon requires translate to the workplace. We'll talk to Wall Street Journal contributor,

Kaitlyn Carlson, after the break. series from exchanges, the Goldman Sachs podcast, informed perspectives on the ever evolving business of sports and the expanding investment ecosystem with leaders at the forefront of the industry for the sharpest analysis on franchise ownership, media rights, the growing women's sports market and more investing in sports from Goldman Sachs exchanges. Listen now. More people are including how they did on marathons on their resume. Is that a good idea? Wall Street Journal contributor, Kaitlyn Carlson joins me. Kaitlyn, is this new?

A few people I spoke with said that they've had it on their resume for a while now, but others were recently inspired to add it after seeing a post about the topic on social media. So I don't think it's new so much as growing in popularity. And Caitlin, I have to ask, are you a marathoner? And if so, is it on your resume? I am a marathoner. I do have it on my resume. That was not what inspired this

story though, however. I've had it on my resume for quite a while and I never really thought much about it or been a journalist for over a decade. And it's been interesting to me that this topic has been really interesting to people. And I wish I would have thought to talk about it sooner. CB How much detail do people typically include? The best practice, according to the recruiters that I spoke with, is to keep it simple. So just list that you're a six-time marathoner, for example, or maybe list the location of the marathon, especially if it's a unique location and could perhaps be a conversation starter. The recruiters agreed that it might be a little much to add your best marathon time or really any much detail beyond that.

CB What did the recruiters you spoke with say about marathon performances place on a resume? What kind of message should it convey? BT One coach I spoke to suggested that ideally you build your marathon finishes into a career narrative. Maybe it helps explain a gap in your work history if you competed at a high level, or it simply shows that you're a self-starter if you add the context that you put yourself through college as a scratch golfer, for example, because it doesn't just have to be about marathons. People are really putting all kinds of fitness achievements on their resume.

What types of jobs are people applying for where they're including that information? All kinds. That's what was really interesting to me. While some people I spoke with were applying for squarely fitness related jobs, one person works for a golf related company. Others work in public relations though, and some of these people work in tech and sales and really all kinds of jobs. You wrote about a 29 year old man from Tennessee who runs marathons and who posted on Instagram about the benefits of doing it. What value does he see in it? In his original video, he was filming himself running and talking on this subject.

You look at marathon runner, the employer immediately knows this dude's an idiot, but he's a determined idiot and I want him on my team. Caitlin, he just called himself an idiot. What's the message there? In our interview, he told me that he believes it shows determination and work ethic. And a big thing that he liked about it is he believes it shows that you're committed to your wellbeing, which he pointed out is a good thing, whether you're in the fitness space or otherwise. The idea of showing a company that you're

health conscious seems to compliment many companies' efforts to promote fitness among their employees in the sense that a lot of times companies will reimburse employees for gym memberships, for example. So it seems like there might be some relevance here. Absolutely. There's this idea of how you do one thing is how you do all things. That was a theme that came through from the recruiters I spoke to and also the people who are putting this type of thing on their resume. They believe a marathon, it's hard work, training for it and the actual race itself. So those values that a marathon requires translate to the workplace. So does it work? Have you heard from anyone about whether it helped them stand out?

It does. One recruiter gave me two or three examples of resumes he saw with fitness accomplishments listed. And even if the person didn't ultimately get the job, it at least helped them get the interview. Another person told me that he believes the fact that he added his marathons to his resume helped him get his most recent job. One big theme that came up was this idea of a conversation starter. These interviews sometimes can be a little awkward

getting started and sometimes having, whether it's a fitness accomplishment or some other hobby listed, it gives the recruiter or the hiring manager somewhere to start to say, oh, hey, you ran a marathon in London. What was that like? Or maybe they're like-minded and they share the hobby that you list. And that's something that the two of you can talk about.

Put us in the chair of the hiring manager and the mountain of resumes that come in. What's that like when they see something out of place like Marathon Runner on a resume? It's getting more and more competitive to get certain types of jobs. So having something that makes you stand out a little bit or gives the hiring manager something interesting to maybe talk to you about perhaps that could help make you stand out from the pack when you're just sitting in a pile of resumes. That's WSJ's Caitlin Carlson and that's it for your money briefing. This episode was produced by Ariana Asparu with supervising producer Melanie Roy. I'm JR Whalen for the Wall Street Journal.

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