I’ve been around a while, and I’ve spent a lot of time around academics and Extremely Smart People. Along the way I’ve picked up the habit of using big words when small ones will do.
Today I have managed to read a few things that collectively make the case to simplify and energize one’s resume, cover letters, and online profiles. That shouldn’t be news, but as I look at what I’ve put out there, I realize that it comes nowhere near to conveying my excitement about what I do. In fact, it’s not entirely CLEAR what I do.
I have experience, yes, and I’ve been around a while, but my materials are as exciting as a dictionary! It’s time to stop droning on like a Boomer (I’m a late Boomer) and convey the passion and confidence that makes me an asset!
Two pieces you should check out too if you are in the job market- and especially if you are “mature” and entrenched in Boomer-Talk.
From the Employer’s Point of View: Get it Right in the Cover Letter
Guy Kawasaki on making over his LinkedInProfile
I’ve had a couple of great interviews lately BUT one must not wait for outcomes, one must keep searching and building and networking and all that good stuff. As I continue to contemplate the Subtle Mysteries of the Personal Brand OR How I Can Add Value to your Job/Life/Organization/Planet I wish I had the following resources:
Someone who will pay me to get back in Shape so that I can compete with Gen Y (America’s Biggest Loser?)
An image consultant (What Not to Wear?)
A marketing department (The Apprentice?)
Here I am! I am a reality show waiting to be discovered!
There’s a great old SNL skit with Gilda Radner and Dan Akyroyd arguing about a new product called Shimmer. The day is saved by Chevy Chase (see Spokesman below):
Wife: New Shimmer is a floor wax!
Husband: No, new Shimmer is a dessert topping!
Wife: It’s a floor wax!
Husband: It’s a dessert topping!
Wife: It’s a floor wax, I’m telling you!
Husband: It’s a dessert topping, you cow!
Spokesman: [ enters quickly ] Hey, hey, hey, calm down, you two. New Shimmer is both a floor wax and a dessert topping! Here, I’ll spray some on your mop.. [ sprays Shimmer onto mop ] ..and some on your butterscotch pudding. [ sprays Shimmer onto pudding ]
[ Husband eats while Wife mops ]
Husband: Mmmmm, tastes terrific!
Wife: And just look at that shine!
—————————-
I am a dessert topping and a floor wax. I have a boatload of skills that transfer to a variety of areas. But how do I convey that?
For the last few years marketing has been all about branding. I don’t know if it’s still a hot topic for marketers, but in the Brave New World of Job-Hunting one must, it has been said, have a brand. When hundreds of people apply for single openings in a company, one had better stand out.
Like many folks of my certain age (48) who have worked a long time, I struggle not only to figure out where I am going next but how to characterize who I am now. Yes, I have a boatload of skills that transfer to different arenas, but no one wants to hear that. A potential employer wants to hear what you can do for them. So, my question is this: if one has decided to jobhunt in different arenas, what happens to one’s brand? Am I to be in one arena a dessert topping, and in the other, a floor wax?
This week I had a very good job interview and am more hopeful than ever that my stint as a jobless person is coming to an end. I’m taking a moment to take stock of what I have done in these months- just in case I DON”T find employment soon, I need to feel that these have not been wasted months. And I’ll refer back to the words I’ve referred to as goalposts for this year.
CREATE
In these past few months I’ve begun to create a social media presence in three ways. I’ve bolstered my linkedin account, done a little blogging, and established myself on Twitter. I’ve created separate resumes and cover letters for each and every job to which I’ve applied, and there have been many. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I should be saying and doing on these forums.
MAXIMIZE
I’ve had a lot of time to give and I’ve used it with my immediate family, spending time with Husband in NYC, more time with my teenage daughter, and many sleepovers and dinners with my Mom. The last is particularly important to me. I’ll be working again soon, and there won’t be time for dinners and sleepovers any more. She now has lots of memories of evenings spent in front of dinners she has made, cooking once again for family, of “tubing it” and hanging around, of buying treats and toys for my dog, who always comes with me, and setting out snacks for my daughter. These things didn’t happen when I was working, and when I go back to work they won’t happen, but for these few months Mom has gotten some quality time. I feel good about that.
I am finally learning how to maximize social media and have started to make some very strong connections, related at present to networking and career stuff, but which will in the long run set the stage for a network of friends and resources to supplement what I already have.
MODEL
Here there is less to consider, it’s only recently that I’ve started to share what I know for about, e.g., twittering, with a few people to help get them started. I know I need to work on modeling healthy behavior for my daughter, and in these, the hopefully closing days of my unemployment, I will make progress.
IN the effort to find and/or create my right livelihood I’ve been using tools that are relatively new in the scheme of things, and some that are fairly well entrenched now. Facebook, linkedin, and twitter are fabulous ways to connect with like-minded people all over the place, and in the process, help one to define oneself and refine one’s (dare I say it) personal brand. I don’t have a personal brand yet but I do appreciate the concept as an anchor for all these tools, and for my blog, and indeed for my resume.
It’s hard to settle on a brand. For one thing, making that decision has the emotional feel of being cast in stone, and in times like these one desperately wants to be able to transfer marketable skills wherever they might be useful. But, in a country increasingly full of talented professional jobless folk, one has to transmit some kind of clear message or risk being seen as shiftless.
