The Career Collective is a group of top career professionals who blog on selected topics for job seekers. Today’s topic has a Halloween theme: Scary Resume Mistakes & Costumes. Our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.
Does Your Career Costume Fit You?
Some research tells us that up to 75% of people are to some degree unhappy in their jobs. 75%. Given that we spend more time at work than anywhere else, this statistic is very very "scary" to me.
How could this happen?
Most of the time it's that people haven't taken the time to really investigate what sort of career "fits" who they are and their lifestyle of choice. They don't know the "style" and "size" of the role that is aligned with what is important to them, their motivated skills and strengths.
They have likely chosen a role or an organization that does not support the life that they want for themselves. This built in tension between work and life can lead to unhappiness in one's personal and professional life.
If we think of our career "costume" as how you present yourself to your professional community and the world at large, then we could consider part that costume your CV or resume. This "costume" not only sends a message about what you offer, but attracts or appeals to certain types of organizations or opportunities.
If your CV or resume does not "fit" - does not reflect who you really are and what you have to offer - you will naturally attract and appeal to organizations and opportunities that are not right for you. This not only results in you taking a position which is not going to play to your strengths and optimize your performance or satisfaction, but also means that an organization has made an hiring or purchasing decision based on false advertising.
When this happens and you are hired based on a "ill fitting costume", the results are not pretty. You can become drained from trying to be something that your not, your performance and fulfillment suffers, and the organization becomes disenchanted with its hiring decision and may begin to look elsewhere for a replacement.
The bottom line is no one wins.
How can you insure your CV or resume your "fits" you?
- Understand what's important to you, what drives you, your strengths and skills that motivate you as well as your lifestyle preferences.
- Understand who you are not, what is not important to you, your weaknesses and what activities and environments drain you.
- Understand what is unique and different about you - in other words your personal brand.
- Craft language to explain your unique value proposition in words that feel right for you.
- Write stories that illustrate how you deliver that unique value in organizations and in the world. (Show - don't just tell.)
- Use this language, these stories and information from your past professional experience to create a CV or resume.
- Do write a short bio at the top of the document that clearly articulates your value in a way that not only showcases your top skills, strengths, qualities and results but creates excitement and generates that "chemistry" necessary to connect and engage your prospective employer.
- Don't use language that is not reflective or of skills, qualities or experience you offer. (Don't lie or embellish because you feel it will make you more attractive to an employer.)
- Do use results-oriented language which clearly articulates to an employer what you can offer in a way they can relate to their own challenges or organizational objectives.
What else can you think of to insure your career costume really fits? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
Here are the other Career Collective members' posts on great resources for job seekers:
- Where Are the Wild Things, Anyway?, @WorkWithIllness
- Is Your Job Search Making You Feel Like a Smashed Pumpkin?, @DebraWheatman
- Hiding in Plain Sight, @WalterAkana
- Don't make these frightful resume mistakes, @LaurieBerenson
- How Not to Be a Spooky Job Seeker, @heathermundell
- A Tombstone Resume:Eulogizing Your Experience, @GayleHoward
- The Top Ten Scary Things Job Seekers Do, @barbarasafani
- Oh, Job Search Isn't Like Trick or Treating?, @careersherpa
- A Most Unfortunate Resume Mistake No One Will Tell You, @chandlee
- Oh no. Not the phone!, @DawnBugni
- Halloween Caution: Job Seeker Horror, @resumeservice
- Boo! Are you scaring away opportunities or the competition? @MartinBuckland @EliteResumes
- Your Career Brand: A Scary Trick or an Appealing Treat?, @KCCareerCoach
- How to avoid mistakes on your resume, @Keppie_Careers
- Sc-sc-scary Resume Mistakes, @erinkennedycprw
- A Flawed Resume is a Scary Prospect, @KatCareerGal
- Job Search Angst: Like Clouds Mounting Before a Storm, @ValueIntoWords
Thank you for this great post!
Posted by: Mary in Marrakesh | October 2010 at 07:22