I have interviewed a hiker who put it on his resume (different long trail) and it is a great
ice breaker. Employers are interested in people that have outside lives and hobbies.
I'm typing this to make my 30th post so I can start selling stuff!
BTW, Skippy was the winner. I simply explained on the resume my extreme level of awesomeness and now my phone is ringing off the hook. It's good to be awesome.
Put it on the Resume
I have worked in HR for almost a decade. I highly recommend that you put it on the resume. One of the things that potential employers look for is breaks in employment history. A lot of breaks or a rapid turn over of jobs can suggest that the potential employee does not have staying power.
When you discuss your hike, make certain to point out how few people actually finish the trail versus how many start. This will point out your determination to finish a goal.
a little late to this thread, but i had teh same apprehensions when i finished the Trail and started applying for jobs. i have my thru-hike at the bottom of my resume under General Accomplishments, because it's obviously something i'm proud of. the time gap in the resume you can explain in the cover letter, although gaps of employment is pretty common these days with people being laid off for long stretches of time. employers often ask about that gap, and you've got a great response.
I received both reactions from that employment gap when i first started job-hunting. i was at one interview where the boss was very concerned that i was only applying to save up money to go on another adventure again (i'd quit my last job to hike). even if you explain as best as you can that you're not going to up and leave again, it's tough to shake that perception from people with that traditional 'school-work-die' mindset.
at the same time, i landed some interviews because of the hike that i otherwise wouldn't have landed, from hiring managers who had that adventure bug. for one interview, that's all the guy wanted to talk about.
in the end, i'd definitely display it as a point of pride on the resume. it shows you as a goal-oriented person who is willing to work hard. for the gap, don't worry much about it and if they're concerned they'll ask.
all the best with the job hunt.
I have always put my hike on my resume and worked it into the conversation during interviews. I really believe I got my current job in part because the boss was fascinated by the idea of the hike...the guy is a health and fitness nut so telling him I hiked 850 miles really impressed him.
What you're telling them is that you accomplished something that would be impossible for them to do. As a candidate for a job, you are somebody who can do the impossible.
Post hike job search -- The way I do it
Ha, that cracked me up laughing Jester.Originally Posted by Jester2000
Pony -- I always put the AT and the PCT on my resume. It's been immensely helpful in getting a job. Of course, afterward and I take the job, I'm always known as "the hiker guy" but that's okay.
When I'm not on a long-distance hike, I spend at least five percent of my gross yearly income on personal education and training (this is highly directed training, not basket weaving or naval gazing topics) -- above and beyond whatever my current employer spends. After a hike I'm usually at the top of the list of candidates to be interviewed, strictly from a credentials standpoint. Having the AT and the PCT on my resume opens doors for me and differentiates me from other candidates.
Here are the facts about my job offers beginning with my thru-hike of the AT in Year 2000:
After thru-hiking the AT I had these job offers:
Fort Wayne, IN *
Indianapolis, IN
Cincinnati, OH
Newport News, VA
After traveling to the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Hawaii and Scotland for several months and long-distance hikes I had these job offers (to be honest, this was a half-hearted job search):
Salt Lake City, UT
Reno/Sparks, NV *
In 2007 after getting snowed out before finishing the PCT I had these job offers:
Lexington, KY
Portland, OR *
San Antonio, TX
St. Louis, MO
Phoenix, AZ
Columbus, OH
* denotes the jobs I took.
When I say "job offers" these are the ones I received in writing.
I'm not sure long-distance hiking has as much to do with you getting or not getting a job as you would think. It's more about these five things (in order of importance):
1) What skills you have versus what the market wants
2) What education you have versus what the market requires
3) Your personality during a telephone interview or an in-person interview
4) If you're willing to relocate
5) If you're willing to travel
Generally as a goal after a long-distance hike I shoot for a ratio of resumes sent out / responses back from prospective employers / job offers as a 100 / 20 /5 ratio. In 2007 the ratio was 100 /25 / 6 which was a fantastic ratio. The ratio has been as low as 100 / 10 / 2 in leaner years after a long-distance hike.
For me, the most bountiful effort is the five percent of gross income I spend every year on training and education. Because I know I'll be frequently going on a long-distance hike, every Monday when I'm not hiking (since 2006) I record the raw job openings from the national job boards that include certain terms that have to do with my profession and afterward, chart those in an Excel spreadsheet. That tells me what's hot in my field and what's not. If one of those hot topics is interesting to me (not all are -- some are quite boring from my view) I'll spend some or all of my five percent per year budget on that topic, paying to gain advanced training and knowledge about that subject.
Well that's my plan anyhow.
By the way, if you don't have a college education, that should be the very first thing on your to-do list. A Bachelors degree is the new high school diploma.
Datto
By all means you list this as on your resume. "Its not bragging if you've done it"! I have not thru hiked the AT but did complete the Boston Marathon in a very respectable and qualifing time. I listed this on my resume under major accomplishments and during every interview the committee asked me very positive and thought provoking questions about it ---which brought out opportunities to talk about self discipline, goal setting, motivation, deseverance etc.
One of my past positions before I retired was Personnel/Human Resource Director for a large corporation so trust me on this one you want to list it somewhere on your resume to catch their attention and when they bring it up be prepared to hit the ball out of the park with your follow-up answer when you tell them the skills it took to complete this dream and how it translates into the type of employee they can expect to get should you be hired.
Best of luck on your job search.
Tawa
Ooopps meant to type perseverance! lol
If you don't yet have a clue about what to get involved with as far as a career that will let you go off and hike a long-distance hike and still have opportunities when you get back, here's a place to start:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/money.../2010/sectors/
Datto
You just proved that they do not.
Jester may have been jesting, however I think this is better than revealing a thru. Corporations want drones, people who adapt to prison life inside the corporate world.
I do have a college degree, but so far that has yet to open a lot of doors for me. I think part of the problem is that, growing up I was led to believe that if I have a degree, any degree, that I would have no problem finding a good job. So foolishly I pursued a major that interested me, but doesn't seem to be that practical.
I also feel that my employment history could be somewhat problematic from an employer perspective. The only employment gaps are from hiking, and amount to about seven months, but perhaps the type of work may raise some eyebrows. For the past eight years I've worked as a bartender/server. I am often asked, primarily by my management who is often less educated than me, why I am still working in restaurants if I have a degree. Well the simple answer is money. I could get any number of jobs making 8-12 dollars per hour but can't justify doing that when I typically can make 15-20/hr bartending. Is it likely that prospective employers see this and immediately move on to the next resume? If this is the case, then how do I break the cycle, short of completely fabricating my work history?
I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I don't feel that interviews are the problem, but there is absolutely no opportunity to impress if I can't even land an interview.
p.s. Here's part of the letter I recieved just a few days ago. Keep in mind this is for a job that not only would be a pay cut, but the only qualification is a high school diploma.
"It was a pleasure to review your application. Although your credentials are notable, I regret to notify you that other candidates have been selected for interviews whose qualifications and experience are more compatible with our objectives for this position." Huh???
BTW, I did not mention the AT on my resume, only in the section of the application that asked why I left my last job.
Just the usual brush off for (pick one): They don't like you, they don't think you'll fit into their culture, they don't think your experience is relevant, they don't think you'll stay long, etc.
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
My experience has been that if an employer or a recruiter looks down upon or denigrates something as monumental as a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, then that employer will not be a good fit for me. It would be a tipoff the employer is just looking to fill a roster or a chair -- as someone else here said, looking for a drone.
In reality, since I started doing long-distance hikes more than 10 years ago, I've had several instances where I believe my AT and my PCT hikes have made the difference in me receiving a job offer. Heck, when I was working at a consulting firm, I was chosen by the client to be the person they wanted to interview about handling their work from the consultant company (they'd picked me blindly from a list of people/resumes presented by the consulting company -- I'd never met any of them before). When I went to the interview with the client to see if I could land the account (it was the largest contract the consulting company had ever pursued), all the client reps wanted to do was ask questions about the Appalachian Trail. I told the prospective client that it was a fantastic adventure, that I'd met some of the best people in my life on the AT and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and the experience. I'd answered all their questions about the AT (Ha, the usual 20 questions and then some) and at the end of the interview one of the client reps said mentioned that they supposed they should take the last few minutes of the interview to ask questions about my skills.
I've only really had one or two instances (out of, I'm guessing, a few hundred openings that had interested me) where a recruiter (not an employer) thought that I'd taken a vacation when I thru-hiked the AT. When laughed and then gently corrected the recruiter and let him know that I'd taken on a great challenge that was both fulfilling to me as well as rewarding, his response then was, "So...you took a vacation?". I promptly told the guy that he wouldn't have any openings that would interest me and then said goodbye nicely. He called back in a day or two and wondered if he'd said something that might have been negative and I told him that there wouldn't be any employer that would hire him as a recruiter that would have an opening where I would be interested. One of the things about recruiters -- there's not point in dancing around issues -- they're not in the business to make a relationship with you. If it's not going to be a good fit with the recruiter, then it will not likely be a fit with their employer clients.
Also -- regarding pursuing a job opening -- there is a definitive minuet that occurs when pursuing a job / hiring people and that minuet is global across every single company I've encountered, small or large, where I'd pursued an opening. Knowing the minuet gives you a wealth of information, particularly about timeframe. If you know the minuet, you know with a great deal of precision where you are in the process. That tells you your chance for successfully landing the job.
By the way, that client who had asked me all the questions about the Appalachian Trail? Yeah, they hired the consulting company where I was working even though the consulting company was more than 20% higher in costs than the next highest competitor. The client specifically had my name written into the consulting contract as the project manager so the consulting company didn't try to pull a fast one and schlep someone else into handling the project. And it turned out to be a terrific experience for me and a most rewarding experience for the consulting company. When the contract was coming to a close and I would be heading off to New Zealand for several months, the client wanted to hire me directly. To be honest, the people on my team from the consulting company were highly skilled and I was basking in the afterglow of their superior efforts (that, ha, they make look so easy -- wow were those people on my team a great match for what they had chosen for a career).
I would not take rejection from a prospect as being that much of an afront to you -- job hunting/career launching is more about playing the percentages in the beginning of a job search/career launch than it is about much else. You may need to just blast out more resumes or make more telephone calls or browse more job boards/newspapers and see what turns up. Sending a resume doesn't mean you have to take a job -- it just gives you something to consider if there's a response back from a prospect. What you're probably after is a significant increse in the number of responses back.
Then the minuet starts.
Datto
Datto is spot on.
Never work for someone who looks down on a thru-hike.
Never work for someone who obsesses about a gap in your resume.
Consider working for yourself and perhaps being the person doing the hiring. Seem impossible? So does Khatadin, for those who never tried.
Work is a contract between you and the employer. Any employer who tries to control you otherwise is not worth a damn (and any worker who thinks he is owed a job isn't worth a damn either)
If you take a job then do it well. Provide value. If you cannot, then remove yourself and pursue something where you can.
If you take a job and do it well, and provide value, but are not compensated, remove yourself and pursue that compensation elsewhere.
Life isn't about an un-broken record of 40 years of Mondays thru Fridays. For a glimpse of that, rent the movie, About Schmidt.
Nicely said!
i wouldnt put it on a resume, but yeah when the gap comes up id simply explain what an accomplishment it was. a thru hike is a far cry from getting drunk in an RV, thats for sure
revamping the resume.
Well, I am currently working, but it is just a short term solution until I can find something else. So here's my question.
If applying for a job that requires skills I have used in jobs from my past (8-12 years ago), is it alright to highlight this job experience even though it was quite some time ago? Should I tone down recent work experience which doesn't apply to this job, and rely more heavily on my past experience?
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