Original Photo by Andrew Plath

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will remember the loss of Teddy,our German Shepherd, in late January. Teddy was our first ever dog, brought home by my oldest son, Tim, without any prior warning in June 2004. Teddy was 8 weeks old then, when he died, he was 6 years, 9 months.

We were not prepared for a dog when Teddy arrived, everything was new to us. Raising any dog, training a puppy, having a dog in the house — all new to us. Teddy became my friend early on, a companion, a part of our family and a part of my business. When I started blogging and participating in social media, he was part of that too.

He not only touched us but he touched my family and Bill’s family too. My mom loved him so much that she carried a photo of him in her wallet and announced to everyone that he was her GrandDog. She broke all the rules of good dog raising as did we (Teddy got people food) and she baked him cookies. When she baked Chocolate Chip cookies, she baked Teddy a batch without the chips.

I think losing Teddy was harder on my Mom than the rest of us and it was very hard on us. She seemed to struggle more after he was gone and it was less than six months later that she was gone too. It was Teddy’s last day that made me prepared for my mom’s fall, hospitalization, and death. I was able to say good bye to her because I knew that letting her go was the best thing for her just as it was for Teddy. Mom had always chosen quality of life over quantity and as hard as good byes are, I was able to honor that when I gave instructions to the physicians and staff.

My husband didn’t want to have a dog ever and yet Teddy won him over too within days after he joined our family. The day Teddy died was so hard on Bill. He’s a man who rarely cries. In 31 years of marriage, I have seen him cry only a very few times but he cried so hard when Teddy died and vowed he never wanted that pain again.

Despite Bill’s reluctance to ever have a new dog, I was praying about the right time. Tim was anxious to bring a new dog into the house, knowing that it would be our dog again not his dog that would leave when he moves out.

Friends all knew how much Teddy meant to us so it wasn’t totally surprising when Shelly, a friend and our church choir director sent a message on Facebook to let me know her mom’s German Shepherd, Shadow, had puppies and the one that they call Garfield needed a home. She said that Garfield’s nature is so friendly and warm that she thought of us. Her mom lives in New York but Shelly took it one step further and offered to go get Garfield and bring him home to us. She is in route now and I am praying for safe travel. This will give her the chance to see her family and yet help us have a new addition to the family.

Bill did reluctantly say yes and I believe that it will take just a short time for “Garfield” to win him over. We will take one step at a time, including figuring out his new name.

This new puppy will be formally introduced in social media and on this blog when we have him here. Right now, I thought this was a good time to let my readers and friends know of this adventure but I also wanted to talk about how this relates to job search.

When we lose something through death or through losing a job or the joy of working in our job, we struggle with all sorts of emotions. Sometimes we give up, kind of like my Mom did, losing our zest for life. Sometimes, like Bill, we are so afraid of being hurt that we aren’t willing to put forth the effort to find a new position. Sometimes we know we need some space to process but after than can handle the changes.

If you are struggling with a change in your life, a loss, and don’t know how to move forward, take heart. Many of my clients were in the same position not long ago. The process of job loss, job search, and starting over takes time but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

As an experiment, I started doing a weekly ad with City Pages, just in the billboard section on the back page. With the challenges of running both Design Resumes and Wausau Whitewater, I had a tough time monitoring referrals, but I did see City Pages mentioned often in the client agreements. When Malibu called recently to discuss if I wanted to take a break, I suggested we to try this ad and see if people would think the investment into people’s careers at Christmas time was a good present. There is a second ad coming out later this week with a different focus. Unfortunately, I had this idea a little late and my positioning for this ad was less visible than my backpage location in the billboard. But I love the ad that their graphic artist, Cathy Hackel created with my verbiage.

I enabled PayPal, which I found, has a Gift Certificate generating button on the Design Resumes home page. I will leave it there after Christmas because really, the gift of expert help in your career search is something everyone can use all year round.

Every day is a journey and I will have much to report, not only on job seeking help, resume writing, and assorted other topics but also how running Design Resumes as a business without additional contracts with non-profits as well as finally starting a marketing plan will change my business. This week’s journey has also been to launch the FaceBook Page for Design Resumes. Learning how to incorporate new strategies and tools into letting people know that I am here is part of the journey. I love to learn about your journeys too!

I welcome you to work with me. But in any case, I also always welcome your feedback… Talk to me, I talk back!

Photo by lhourahane

Barbara Sanfani’s blog, Break All the Rules in Resume Writing to Land the Interview gave an interesting example about rotary phones and discussed the misconceptions that people have about resumes.

This made me reflect on the way that most people think about resumes. Many seem to think that there is a right way and a wrong way and that if you deviate from the “rules” the resume won’t work. But the reality is that there really is no right or wrong way to craft a resume. The key is to create a document that quickly proves your value and impact to the hiring authority.

I commented:

Fear makes us follow the wrong experts, don’t you think?

I do think. I have been in the career industry for a long time. Throughout my career, I have heard the same things from people, like this:

Resumes need to be one page long.

No, they don’t. A resume needs to highlight your unique talents, gifts, and accomplishments and be filled with keywords that fit the position you are targeting. If you can do that in one page, great. If you need two pages, use two pages.Don’t put much detail in resumes, just the bare facts will do.

No, it won’t. You need accomplishments that attest to your ability to do the job.

Example: Spearhead sponsorship development, recruitment, and retention for a total budget of $412,078 which represents a 45% increase over the budget prior to March 2005.

You don’t need a professional profile or branding statement, just start with the employment information. That’s just filler. No, it isn’t. The professional profile should be written so that it is filled with keywords, measurable results and accomplishments.

Example: DEDICATED GRAZING SPECIALIST, with over five years of experience educating farmers in ways to improve their profitability and overall land use while maintaining high standards of environmental conservation and sustainability. Productive team member, with the ability to plan and conceptualize effective solutions. Resourceful professional with a track record of success writing both grants and grazing plans. Confident individual, with the ability to deliver thought-provoking presentations to large groups.

Or even: “Stick to my old format, I had a professional do it, it worked 10 years ago and it has always gotten me a job.”

No, it might not. Wow! One of those come in a few weeks ago, because he told me it was done a by a professional, I was prepared to make only small changes. No, the whole layout was old and stale and lacking in any of the components of today’s resume. As he looked at my samples, he decided to let me re-craft the resume for him.
He called a week later to say he was headed to the interview! And to be fair, I had a client of my own come in last week, who told me when she scheduled the appointment, “I keep coming back, your resumes always get me the job!” I took one look at the last resume I wrote for her in 1999 and said, we have to revise and refocus this resume. And we did. She has some challenges to overcome and called for additional coaching in how to respond in interviews.

When you go to the wrong experts, your brother-in-law who hired some people, the teacher who hasn’t written a new resume in 15 years, the next door neighbor, or your golfing buddy because you are afraid or because those people say they know it all, you miss opportunities.

You miss listening to the professionals in the career industry who continuously research, read, and learn new strategies from each other and the professional organizations like Career Directors International, Career Management Alliance, and Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. Ultimately, letting the fear drive your job search may also make you miss getting the job of your dreams.

Career Industry professionals are much more visible than ever before because many of us are using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Many of us have blogs like this one, packed with free information and resources. Don’t let fear drive your job search or drive you to the wrong experts.

Thoughts? Your comments are always welcome and I love to talk with you.

Wausau Whitewater has been my passion.

It’s the whitewater course in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin that has hosted regional, national, and international slalom and freestyle whitewater competitions and provided fun and training to thousands of people.

I have been part of two World Cups and numerous US Junior and Senior Team Trials. I have watched the organization move into a bigger focus of something for everyone with the refocus on running our own recreational releases in 2009 (people play for $10 plus ACA fees per day) and adding Basic Whitewater Training to those releases.

The only staff member

For this entire time from 1997 to 2009, I have been the only staff member, working under Wausau Kayak /Canoe Corporation’s non-profit Board of Directors to execute all of our programs. My role has been marketing, customer service, registration, event management, public relations, web content development, vendor negotiations, program development, sponsor development, advertising sales, and all around gopher.

I wrote, created, and distributed marketing information, such as the annual program, which we figured out how to create in an electronic format this year. In 2009, I merged my two worlds when I asked Dawn Bugni, a fellow career professional to help proof my sponsorship copy and then hired her to copywrite and edit the articles for the book.

Met people from all over the world

In this role, I met people from all over the world, including Olympians like Joe Jacobi and Eric Jackson (EJ). Joe was back in person to coach our training camp this summer and we visited over dinner at Michael’s Supper Club which we had planned on Twitter. Joe is currently the Interim Director of USA Canoe & Kayak, leading the national organization. EJ is well-known for his amazing world freestyle champion moves and was also a frequent visitor to Wausau with his family during the pro rodeo days. Now EJ runs Jackson Kayak, the fastest growing boat design manufacturer in the world.

I’ve also added to my friend base.

Our current President, Michael Schroeder, a contemporary Christian musician when not leading Wausau Whitewater, has been my friend since we met on the river about 10 years ago. This past year, despite the worst possible economy, Wausau Whitewater thrived because we used creative strategies that Mike suggested to keep us going. The whole paddling community has enriched my life and I know my Facebook community has a large group of paddlers that I have come to know and love.

In 2010, Wausau Whitewater hosts the USACK Junior and Senior Team Trials, setting the stage for PreWorlds in 2011 and the 2012 ICF Slalom Canoe Junior World Championships as well as the normal line-up of two to three other events, four or five training clinics, and 10 to 13 recreational releases.

So why am I resigning?

I founded Design Resumes in 1983 as a side business when I was a Property Manager. I went fulltime in 1987 when a transfer to Illinois in property management didn’t work out and we came back to Wausau.

In 1991, my father-in-law suggested I interview for a contracted administrative coordinator position with the Kiwanis Club of Wausau and in 1997, he again suggested I interview for what became my current Operations Manager contract with Wausau Whitewater. Along the way, I also supported two other non-profits with QuickBooks financial recording and reporting. My own business was growing but being stifled at the same time. I thought if I dropped some things, it might help. So in 2003, I dropped the 2 QuickBooks contracts. In 2008, I resigned from Kiwanis. But the energy I put into those other things, quickly transferred not to Design Resumes, but to Wausau Whitewater.

the Design Resumes website

Mike did encourage me to launch the Design Resumes website in January 2009 and that made a dramatic change in my business. For the first time, I can market to and work with clients from all over the United States as well as those in Central Wisconsin. I’ve been learning and growing in social media since fall of 2007 and it has definitely changed who I reach and communicate with on a daily basis using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and this blog.

Last year I spent well over 30 days on water.

That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Well, make that on the river bank, under a tent, running registration, operations, and event management. I have never been in a boat. I do get a great farmer tan but that’s about it.

What do I want?

Throughout my journey in the career industry, I have felt a deep sense of joy and satisfaction as I see my clients achieve their goals. I have many goals unachieved. I want to see what it is like to focus on only Design Resumes. I want to explore how all the initiatives that I have made with social media come together to promote my own business.

I want to explore more partnerships like the one I have with Jason Alba. I want to use marketing tools, like e-mail newsletters to my client base and build a follow-up system that I know how to do, but never find time for. I want to continue to grow, learn, dream, and enjoy the world around me.

I want to do fun things, like ride horses, maybe learn to paddle, travel, finish my house remodel, work in my garden, play with Teddy, read, and enjoy my friends and family. I want to have a little free time. I want to go to career industry conferences and get to know my wonderful colleagues.

I will miss Wausau Whitewater, this is the end of an era, but I have a new world ahead and I am so excited. I’ll keep you posted on how this new career journey of mine goes. Right now, the sun is shining and Teddy is playing the piano.

Stuck in your job search or just ready to move on from your existing position? Julie Walraven can help you find a new career! To find out how, Click here!