‘That’ll look good on your CV.’
One of my least favourite things to hear, this little saying sends shivers down my spine and a look of discomfort onto my face.It’s packed, I feel, with heaviness. The overarching double sheet of A4 paper, dominating your life and condensing it into x amount of words on the various experiences of your life. The highlights, the lowlights, written there starkly in a formal font, black and white begging for approval from someone who has no right to judge your life.
I realise that it’s a seemingly innocent statement - but what about when things don’t look good on the CV? What then? I’ve had numerous gaps in my employment history because of hospital admissions. I’ve left jobs after three weeks because they were wrong. My ‘career’ hasn’t really ever got going - the false starts still haunt me, because they were such an ill fit. As I grow older, I’m coming to the conclusion it’s all okay. Would I rather have a linear job, a solid 40 years of service in one environment or a life scattered around, dipping my toes into various worlds of work? I’m in no way saying there is anything wrong with sticking to a certain job or career - there’s a lot to be said for that element of stability in your life. Don’t quit your day job just yet! I would, however, like to not be thought of as less because I haven’t chosen that path. It’s okay to flit between jobs, experiencing different things and feel the quaky uncertainty of where your next pay is coming from.
It may be a generational thing, but the notion that you should do things because they’ll look good on paper is not a reason to do them! Do it for the thrill, the fun, the education! There isn’t enough time to pass on the experiences you may love for fear that it won’t fit into your curriculum vitae. It might be worth saying, I also think it’s a control mechanism to deter people from embarking on hedonistic adventures. It instills fear into us that one day we’ll be rejected from our dream job because of that summer spent in Thailand/America/destination of choice. The condensed version of your life shouldn’t fill you with impending doom (like it does me) - it isn’t a reflection of the true experiences you’ve had and the life you’ve lived, and that’s my trouble with it. We have to be able to fuck up, to chop and change, leave jobs that make us miserable without the fear it’s a stain on us.
So the next time someone tells you that your next adventure will look good on your CV, smile and know that there’s far more value to your life experiences than being able to pop them on your bloody CV when they’re complete.
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