Career expert James Miller from SimplicityResume.com was startled to see just how many people leave sporting achievements off their resume. Perhaps the vision of the drunken jock in movies, or the stereotypical dumb football player on TV has caused people to omit their sporting achievements. Yet, your sporting achievements say quite a lot about you and your character, as you will learn from this article. 

How You Work as a Team

Every resume should probably say, “Works well in a team.” It is almost a throw-away line at this point, and yet sporting achievements help prove you are a team player. Even solo sports require a fair amount of teamwork in order to function, train, and win. If you have sporting achievements, then you can prove that you work well in a team, which is very important these days.

You Are Dedicated

In order to win, or even place, your dedication needs to be very strong, which suggests you do it all, from eating right to stretching. It takes a fair amount of dedication to compete in sporting events, and especially to win in sporting competitions. 

Plus, by simply adding your achievements to your resume, you are making it clear that you are a dedicated person. It is not like people need to see a video montage of your working out and training in order to understand how much dedication it takes to win and compete in sporting events. 

How You Take Orders

Even the stereotypes we see on the internet do not muddy the waters when it comes to sports persons taking orders. Be it the angry Russian barking orders at a gymnast, or the furrow-browed basketball coach screaming at players, we all know that sports people take orders very well. 

Having sports on your resume suggests that you will take orders well. It suggests you will not break down in tears the first time your boss gets angry, and it suggests you are quick to act, and are highly responsive to comments and instructions. 

Demonstrate That You Are a Fully-Rounded Person

We have all heard the horror stories of the savant who is supposed to be a guru in one area or another, and yet is impossible to work for. In most cases, it is due to arrogance, and many times this is caused by the person being almost incomplete. The person has dedicated so much time to whatever he or she is a guru at, that the person has a poor personality, is poorly adjusted, is tiresome, overly boastful, and just plain annoying. 

Showing that you had extra-curricular activities, especially social ones, shows that you are a more rounded person. It shows you didn’t have to sit at home every single night studying just to pass your exams. It also shows there is more to your personality than what your grades say. 

Show That You Are Healthy

Managers are especially irritated by the types of employees who take frequent sick days. Your sporting record is no guarantee that you will turn up to work, but it is fair to say that sporty people are healthier, and so will have fewer legitimate reasons to take time off of work. 

Conclusion

Perhaps your swimming certificates are not going to help you win the chief insurance sales adviser position, or help you become the world’s best neurosurgeon. However, your sports achievements say a lot about you as a person. It is things like this that offer insights into your character and into your work ethic. It is probably why Ivy League colleges are so insistent that students have extra-curricular interests if they wish to attend their colleges. Do not be so quick to leave out your sporting achievements when you create your resume.