CV of failures: Princeton professor publishes résumé of his career lows

Johannes Haushofer is assistant professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton, but his CV of failures proves his career path has been less than smooth. Photograph: Alamy

A professor at Princeton University has published a CV listing his career failures on Twitter, in an attempt to “balance the record” and encourage others to keep trying in the face of disappointment.

Johannes Haushofer, who is an assistant professor of psychology and public affairs at the university in New Jersey, posted his unusual CV on Twitter last week. The document contains sections titled Degree programs I did not get into, Research funding I did not get and Paper rejections from academic journals.

New "publication": My CV of Failures! https://t.co/d8ot5vvynY

— Johannes Haushofer (@jhaushofer) April 23, 2016

It also includes Academic positions and fellowships I did not get and Awards and scholarships I did not get.

Haushofer wrote that he created the document to “give some perspective”.

“Most of what I try fails, but these failures are often invisible, while the successes are visible,” he wrote.

“I have noticed that this sometimes gives others the impression that most things work out for me.

“As a result, they are more likely to attribute their own failures to themselves, rather than the fact that the world is stochastic, applications are crapshoots, and selection committees and referees have bad days.”

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Haushofer said the idea came from an article by Melanie Stefan, an academic at Edinburgh University.

The CV of failures was, of course, embraced on Twitter as “inspiring”, “brilliant” and “beautiful”.

One of the most strangely inspirational things I have ever read is this CV of failures. @jhaushofer is my new hero https://t.co/evYgGbd8QV

— Steve Song (@stevesong) April 27, 2016

This is a beautiful thing, a CV of failures: https://t.co/6dUsWrZ5Fs ht @hjghassell

— Kathleen Searles (@kesearles) April 26, 2016

Thank you thank you thank you to the Princeton psychology professor who posted a resume of failures online https://t.co/NeWve73W8X

— Annemarie Dooling (@TravelingAnna) April 29, 2016

The flurry of interest led Haushofer to his crowning “meta-failure”.

“This darn CV of Failures has received way more attention that my entire body of academic work.”