I became a US citizen in 2020. I don't need to remind you how crazy 2020 was for all of us, but one of the most enjoyable things I did that year was travel as an American citizen (yes, I did travel during the pandemic). I was still me, and my US passport still said that I was born in Syria, a country I barely know anything about. But, when you travel with an American passport or another powerful nation's passport, you are treated with dignity. This was unlike anything I experienced when I traveled with my Syrian passport. You might be ready to stop reading this and move on with your day, but WAIT! How is this related to your resume?

As someone who has lived in multiple countries, compiling a compelling resume was challenging, to say the least. I've done a lot of different things. My job path wasn't linear. There are life experiences that I would have loved to tell my employer about but, it seemed that I was not allowed to. In hindsight, I wish I had done it anyway.

One of these experiences was having applied for a green card and then for US citizenship. I would argue that this information should be included in resumes. I know this might sound odd, but think about it. The application process for the Green Card requires information from every country one has lived in. That was four countries for me at the time, two of which have been in a civil war for years. Three of the countries didn't use English as an official language. Within the application process, I was also tasked with managing countless translations, following four different sets of official policies and procedures, doing corrections, dealing with racism...etc. To succeed and be approved, you need to hustle, be a quick learner, an excellent communicator, and have endless perseverance.

Navigating life in five different countries.

One of the things that I also think should be included on resumes is how many countries one has lived in. I grew up as a Syrian refugee in Yemen (and that was way before the 2011 events). I left Yemen in the beginnings of the protests that led to the civil war, and I eventually had to leave Lebanon because of the unrelenting racism against Syrians. I ended up moving to Malaysia before I finally received my green card. When I landed in Malaysia, I had to figure out how to find a job, how to find a place to stay, how to get paperwork done, and so on. This might sound exciting to some of you, but I didn't do it for fun. Though I genuinely enjoyed the experience, I didn't do it to enrich my life or discover myself, I did it to survive.

When I landed in the US, I found it nearly impossible to describe my skills. The person that helped me with my resume struggled to understand what I could do. Even though I had a business degree from the Lebanese International University, most employers had no idea where that was. They only saw that I have a muslim name and that I am from the Middle East.

My name is a problem.

Add all of this to the fact that my name is Islam. I'm still not sure what to do about that. I can't ignore the research by Bertrand, Marianne, and Sendhil Mullainathan (2004), and many other recent studies about the employability of a name. If you think names that sound African-America are less likely to get a call back, how about someone with the name Islam?

Stop expecting everyone to have the same linear journey.

We should stop expecting applicants to have a linear past (high school, then college, then an entry level job, and so on) especially when we have candidates who have lived in other countries or who, like me, were at some point refugees. Unfortunately, we have an estimated 89.3 million displaced people around the world. Including the 5.6 million refugees who have fled Ukraine. As refugees seek employment world wide, we need to rethink our resume model.

Perhaps we should add a section called "significant life experiences" to our standard resume. Or, as you interview a non native candidate, ask them about their significant life events. Make sure they don't feel pressured to say something, but let them know that they are welcome to talk about any experiences they think are relevant. If their name is the elephant in the room, you can simply ask "what does your name mean?". Most people enjoy sharing stories about their names.

If you have read this entire article, please give me your feedback. Did I misunderstand something? Do you have a relevant experience you would like to share? You can also share this article with someone you know. Whether it is a hiring manager or an immigrant, it might help!