The short answer is no.

I've known lots of Christian job seekers. Most of them share a few characteristics:

• They believe there's something special about "Christian job search"
• They think advertising their skills and achievements is wrongful boasting
• They have remarkably few skills and achievements to advertise
• They worry a great deal, but profess not to

I can't cover all of those here. Let's deal with just the first one.

I've helped a healthy number of Christian professionals craft job-winning resumes. You know what's remarkable about each resume?

Not one of them mentioned Christianity.

Being a Christian is a fine thing, but it doesn't belong blatantly on your resume.

Your resume is NOT about your faith, or your opinions, or your clothes. Your resume IS entirely about your job performance and what the You, Inc. brand offers to somebody who wants to buy your product. It's about achievements and the value they can add.

If you use your resume as a pulpit, or as a commercial for your faith, you run the risk of alienating others unnecessarily. Don't compromise your principles, but don't assault folks with them either.

Might it not make more sense to show your character in a job interview? That's where it really counts. There and on the job.

I knew a fellow once who called himself a Christian. His resume talked a bunch about vision, and faith, and character, and lots of other great things. His life didn't show any of them.

What difference did his faith make? Virtually none in his day-to-day behavior. He spoke no differently and behaved no differently. That's using your faith to your advantage when you think it's convenient. Does that reflect well on the person the resume's about? How about the one he says he believes in?

There is no "Christian job search." There's only job searching that Christians happen to do.

If you're a Christian, act like one on your job and in your search. That's the only real difference I see.

The good news if you're a Christian is that you could have an advantage if you could see it. What's the advantage? Simply that you should be, if you take their faith seriously, far less inclined to lie on a resume.

That single fact could set you apart from a large majority of job seekers in the world. Walk into your job interviews with supreme confidence of a person telling the truth. That could make your job search different from the ones you've heard about.

Copyright (c) by Roy Miller