Reading resumes as cultural economic history

Have you ever considered what’s driving lexical evolution? That is, have you ever wondered how forces of culture and language interact, and may influence each other? Although it can be difficult to trace effect to cause, determining how the introduction of certain words into the public lexicon may begin to impact or shape our cultural horizons and vice versa, woven into our everyday language is a complex web of understanding. While stating that language is a gateway to understanding may be a bit mundane—after all, without language we would presumably lack the requisite tools to properly formulate the ideas which form the foundation for all understanding—perhaps more exceptional is the remark that, in using language, we sometimes subconsciously communicate information about our social, cultural, and/or historical context. That, unbeknownst to us, our use of certain words instead of others may covertly convey important details about the socio-cultural milieu of which we are part. So what does this have to do with resume writing? More than you might think.

Instead of simply reporting on LinkedIn’s list of “overused” buzzwords for 2011, Vault blogger Cathy Vandewater, building on a report filed with The Wall Street Journal magazine SmartMoney, asked if “maybe ambitious adjectives [like ‘dynamic’ or ‘innovative’, number ten and seven on LinkedIn’s list respectively] are a sign that the market is improving.” In addition to offering an array of tips, many of which have been addressed in past blog posts what I find most interesting is the idea that LinkedIn’s lists, year over year, seem to in some way track developments in the global and domestic economy, as well as changes in the psyche of the American worker. Why not? Like any other artifact, a resume is a window, its contents enabling us to peer back in time and begin to understand a specific historical context—in this case, providing clues about the intersection between culture and economics in the latter part of the first decade of the 21^st century. What do you think? Am I overstating my claim? Or will the historians of the future, re-constructing the events of the Great Recession, and its effects on American culture, find hidden in resumes important pieces of a very complex historical puzzle?