photo by walknboston

We’re in transition here. My youngest son is finally making the move to his house. The remodeling process has gone much slower than any of us thought. I thought by April of 2010, both my sons would have moved to the house and I would have to adjust to that empty nest.

The house took much longer with potable water issues and other unforeseen construction problems. My son moved his bed over so he could continue working on the remodeling but he has to come here to shower until that phase is complete.

My older son won’t move until September so the nest won’t be completely empty until then.

For me, I can feel some levels of sadness as the transition starts. Seeing my son’s emptying room, with the bed gone now and the rest to move over soon, invokes emotions I didn’t totally expect.

Design Resumes has always been operated from a home-based office. Since I work with clients both locally and virtually, I continuously interact with people. When not working with clients, I treasure my alone time for creative projects like this blog so I don’t think the empty nest syndrome affects me like those who thrive on being with people.

What does the future hold?

I find myself analyzing my feelings more and wondering what the future holds. You know, that point in your life that you look more introspectively. For me, this is has been a process that started with changing my business operations by dropping contracts with non-profits to eliminate the conflict from trying to be too many people at once. I used to say I didn’t know how I could keep all the plates spinning without dropping some of them.

My resume writing and career marketing clients range from new grads to high level executives. I seem to hear my clients who are 40+ being more analytical. As they progress in their career and their family status changes, they wonder what is next. A common phrase from my clients is: “I don’t know what I will do when I grow up!”

Career Change and Management

It is healthy to take a look at your career and life periodically to make adjustments to reach your goals. For some of my clients, they think they should make a career change sooner rather than later because they want to make sure they reach their goals before they get older.

Do you find yourself doing a career or life analysis to give yourself a road map to the future?

photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video

The key to successful resumes is to capture your accomplishments. But many people get lost in thinking that they have no accomplishments.

“I just did my job!”

In fact, the word accomplishment strikes terror in the heart of many job seekers. “I just did my job!” No, you didn’t just do your job if you really cared about your work!

Most employees at any level if they weren’t just goofing off and watching the clock will have accomplishments. Amazingly, though there are times I hear this even from top-level executives and management. “There’s nothing special about me…”

You need to stop thinking of the resume as a list of duties. When you do that, you rob the resume of its power.

So what then?

Here’s the tip I give many of my clients. You now have one strategy professional resume writers often use:

Use the CAR formula

What’s a CAR formula? CAR stands for Challenge, Action, Result.

1. What is the challenge you faced?
2. What action did you take?
3. What were the results?

Start asking yourself this and write down the answers. Do it for several scenarios. When you write your resume, you can actually leave the formula in or you can omit it and just think it through and write the answers. Either way, your resume will be more powerful.

Example: Construction Project Manager Resume

• Blackstone Hospital Vertical Addition, Charlotte, NC – Project Manager. $23 million 3-story vertical addition to existing hospital with 52,820 square feet of new space for 52 patient rooms, including an infusion build-out as well as addition to central energy plant. 

Challenge: Build 3-floor concrete structure expansion on top of working hospital.

Action: Extensively coordinated project to protect roof of existing hospital being renovated to become a patient floor with an initial budget based on existing structure and 2 structural drawings. Extended 5 existing elevators to provide access to the new floors and completed and certified 2 new elevators prior to removal of existing elevators.

Result: Hospital remained fully operational throughout construction without any disruption and turned over to owner in three phases, 1^st floor 33 weeks, 2^nd floor 35 weeks, and 3^rd floor 37 weeks. Finished 10 days ahead of schedule with a planned $100,000 owner rebate due to effective cost containment and negotiations with suppliers and subcontractors.

You can do this for any field at any level of your career. If you use it, your resume will be that much more powerful!

Photo by david_shankbone

It’s easy to think that more of anything will give you results. More volume will get you heard. But in job search, that isn’t true. More resumes doesn’t mean you will get more results. My most successful clients pick a target that matches their talents, find the back door, and make the connections that get them the job.

If you are panicking because your job may end or because you have already lost your job, slow down! Sending 70 or 80 or 200 resumes will not get you results!

I am assuming that you have already worked with a professional resume writer or you have done all the research to create a targeted, focused resume, chock full of accomplishments and solutions to the employer’s pain.

You did your homework on the resume, now do your homework on the job search. Hone in on the targets that match your value-driven resume. Research connections on LinkedIn and use your network to lead you to insiders in the industry who can help you find the hidden job market.

Leave the panic behind and Use the telephone.

Don’t just think that because you e-mailed your resume 95 people in your network they see the urgency in helping you find your next gig. You have just become the product. Very few sales are made by sending out mass e-mails and waiting for the phone to ring.

Turn down the volume

Quietly, confidently, choose your targets, use your inside voice, and make the calls to create the connections that will lead you to success in your search.

Photo by juhansonin

If we are being honest, most of us would answer that question with “No.” Legendary is a tough word. Here’s the Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary definition:

Meaning:  2 [more leg*end*ary; most leg*end*ary] : very famous or well-known ▪ He is the most legendary football player of his time. ▪ legendary musicians

We don’t usually see ourselves that way. As I thought about legendary, the opposite end of the spectrum came to me with this quote from Henry David Thoreau:

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

I don’t know about you, but that isn’t the life I want to lead either. In fact, that is one of the reasons I was drawn to the resume writing field. I know there are far too many people that struggle to see the accomplishments and gifts they do have.

One of the assignments I give my clients is to think, “Accomplishment, Accomplishment, Accomplishment.” If Realtors can say, “Location, Location, Location” is what makes a property the most valuable and leads people to buy it, then a successful resume must say accomplishments and illustrate them well so you can be chosen as the most valuable person to hire.

Here’s a selection of random accomplishments from recent clients:

• Selected to develop Certified Ambulance Accreditation Service (CAAS) program for department to evaluate quality of service, such as JCAHO for hospitals.
• Goal-driven and motivated with the unique ability to coach and motivate others; successfully coached an Olympic hopeful swimmer to complete in Summer Games.
• Promoted to XYZ Captain. Selected for leadership role to maintain team unity, manage morale and disciplinary issues for 10+ member team when playing during domestic and international tours.
• Implemented method of system to trend action level on high end and lowering action level, resulting in cost savings of $500,000+ due to increased run time, chemical savings, sheet profile quality, and reduced labor costs.

For me personally, I have been working hard to not go to the grave with the song still in me. In my family, I have seen four people die of Alzheimer’s disease. Three were blood-related. The disease is devastating as their ability to remember and in the end the ability to function slips away.

I can see the signs growing in my mother. We’re having the same conversation over and over again. She can’t bake cookies like she did for the last 20 years or more for my children because the process of baking is now too hard for her. Mom gave up other dreams long ago. She stopped singing in the choir and performing as solos at weddings and funerals when I was 6 so she would be able to be with me more. She never did write the book she wanted to write.

Of course, Mom did many other things throughout her life that made a difference. She wrote encouraging letters for years to friends and others. Mom once was a familiar sight at the library known for her binder organized with books she had read and more that she still wanted to read. She won prizes years ago for the gladiolas she grew.

I don’t think it matters if you are legendary, few of us will reach that level. But when you look back on your life, I hope that you will not die with the music still in you.