MyRetailCareer

to thine own self be true

Who hasn’t heard this phrase?  Ever wondered what it really meant and where it came from?  The entire quote is actually;

"This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."  and it hails from Hamlet.

It’s really a cliché which means that the easiest person to fool is yourself.  Why is this in a career advice column, you might ask? 

Over the past 2 weeks, I’ve done about a dozen free 10 point resume reviews.  I look the resume over and provide a candid appraisal. I don’t pull any punches. 

Is it self serving for MyRetailCareer?  Not really, because I always provide suggestions that the job seeker can implement themselves and I always offer them a free phone call to discuss their resume further.  Would I like some business from it?  Sure why not?  To say anything else would fly in the face of today’s title.

Care to speculate on how many people even send a thank you email in response?  None recently.  They are bad resumes from people with bad manners.  It’s readily apparent that they can’t be honest with themselves and as a result can’t take constructive feedback.  Those are really not good traits to have when you’re looking for a job.  Or maybe they aren’t really bad people but they can’t be true to themselves? 

It’s also said around town that when Shakespeare wrote this phrase he was supporting a great thinker named Socrates who believed that if a person was honest to themselves, new pathways would appear.  Sound like something you might have heard a few times.

If someone one tells you your resume is boring and looks like everyone else's,  get over your love affair with yourself and the resume and listen.  I was sent a short video resume yesterday with a note saying, “I’m trying this hoping to get more people to look at my resume.”  I looked at the resume, it was boring and looked just like the last 100 I have seen.  What difference did the video resume make?  None?

It’s not that people aren’t looking at this person’s resume.  The problem is that people are looking past the resume because the writer has given them no reason what so ever to give it more than a cursory glance.  It’s was boring and pedestrian and uninspiring.  Ugh!

And yes the chump, chimp picture has some double meaning and it’s bigger than my usual pictures for a reason as well.  

The Creative Resume Part 1 nears the end?

Or “ A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Resume.”

Message and Medium (blend together)

When we started developing the resume I featured yesterday, I was spending my time focusing on the message.  I had taken the old resume apart, asked the designer to start working on some accomplishments, reviewed some job descriptions that she was really interested in to find some similarities and started to organize things in my usual or unusual way.

What I try to do is identify where a person has been, what they have done, where they want to go and how they can get there.  It’s a roadmap of sorts of an unfinished adventure. 

Just like that great Broadway play, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” a funny thing happened on the way to the resume as well.  Phil Silvers and Milton Beryl turned down the part of Pseudolus originally so they cast Zero Mostel.  During a revival, Phil Silvers said yes the second time around then to play the part.  Another revival and Nathan Lane came aboard, won a Tony and was then replaced by Woopie Goldberg.  Who would have though?

While I was focusing on the basics of the resume, I had asked Audrey to lock up a domain name we could use for personal branding and to start playing with a web site.  She did all this for about $15 bucks on GoDaddy.  AudreyLoweDesign.com was created.  She picked the design elements from a template provided by the hosting company. 

So while I was casting Zero, Audrey was messing around with Nathan and Woopie. The message and the medium became one.  I liked the design, and as you can see, used elements from it to put together what some might call an unconventional resume format.  It certainly is colorful and differentiates itself without being weird.  The resume also communicates three key points:

1. Design
2. Develop
3. Deliver

You probably have figured out that these 3 words have multiple meanings and their use as an overarching banner for Audrey Lowe intentionally plays off those meanings.

Tomorrow, I’m going to recap where we are and what we’ve done so far.  Next week, we’re going into the Creative Summary and the website design and how we got there.  Keep in mind what I said on Monday; “It’s not about the resume but it’s entirely about the resume.”

My Name is Inigo Montoya

Those of you that are fans of “The Princess Bride” released in 1987 recognize the headline.  Those of you that haven’t seen the movie, watch it.  

Inigo Montoya is a drunk, Spanish swordsman with a singular purpose in life. “I am looking for the six-fingered man that killed my Father” he repeats over and over in the movie.

What does this have to do with your career?  Simple, having an obsessive focus can drive you to and sometimes over the edge.  If you are employed, the 84 hour work week with the Blackberry, iPhone, or Pre strapped to your hip isn’t the healthiest way to live.

Inigo’s single purpose in life, drives him to drink and desperation; nearly getting him killed before he slays Count Rugen and revenges his Father’s death (hey, it’s a fairy tale, the good ones have to win).

Unemployment can be like that as well.  The job search can become an non-productive , over-riding, compulsion.  Marry that with the emotional feelings that can occur when you are sans employment and a full blown tempest of trouble can emerge.

Balance yourself.  Take some classes, set some goals, have some fun, go to the beach.  I’m not advocating abandoning the search, it is your present job, remember?  I am giving you permission to enjoy life as well.  Don’t keep kicking yourself while you’re down.

Regards,

My Burning Question to You

If you’ve noticed, I’m bouncing around 2 different thoughts in these blogs.  One is the story of the gorilla on the curb, who wasn’t prepared when they lost their job. That’s “The Abyss”.  The other is about steps you can take now, while you’re employed.  That’s the “Staying on Flat Ground”.

I’m going to begin with a question.  Did anyone even start doing what I suggested in yesterday’s blog?  I didn’t think so.  Since you clearly need some motivation, I suggest you check out the site, Timely Demise.  While this site focuses on retail and associated businesses, remember that when Caterpillar and Boeing people lose their jobs, they stop shopping. Warning, it can be depressing, so if you are at the Abyss, best to skip clicking on that link.

We’re going to pick back up at the end of day 2 but honestly, it could be the end of week 2.  Most people spend a lot of time, when newly unemployed, wandering aimlessly.  They’re seeing that mirage baby, and does it look refreshing!

Plus the golf game is improving daily.

This is a pretty picture.  Look closely at how the mountain is even reflected in water, water that doesn’t exist.  It’s a mirage, doh!

Lets assume we’re in Egypt that way I can say, “Denial is not a river in Egypt.”  No one is going to call and offer you a job. No one is going to respond to your crappy resume you emailed out on one of those big job boards.  It’s time to pull yourself up, dust yourself off and get to work.  Yes work, a job search requires as much, if not more effort than your old job.

First, get a good resume.  Nothing is worse than sending a bad resume for a good opportunity.  Bear in mind, that the resume is simply a calling card to get your foot in the door.  No one ever hired a resume.  A good resume won’t get you a job, but a bad one might lose you an interview.

Get some professional opinions.  I see bad resumes all the time, some written by professionals and others written by what appears to be a 5-year-old nephew. Tomorrow we’ll look at this topic more closely and we’ll have more to say to the people on the Flat Ground .

Oh, the Evil HRVP (AKA Darth Vader, don’t let the cute looks fool you)  called about your severance negotiations, it seems they really didn’t value you as much as they used to tell you.  Take a step back from the Abyss please.

 

PS anyone notice the animals and Star Wars Themes?  Give yourself 2 more points.  Wasn’t being more observant another developmental area in your last review?

Some things never cease to amaze me.

Sometimes I fail to grasp the power of social networking.  I was listening to a webinar last week on HubSpot "Viral Marketing: How to Create a World Wide Rave" with best-selling author David Meerman Scott.

David told a story about how the marketing person at Universal Orlando almost lost her job as a result of a very unorthodox plan to launch “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.”  It seems, with millions of dollars to spend, she decided to only let 7 people know about about the project, at midnight no less.

The 7 people were some of the most influential Harry Potter bloggers. They had been given a secret pass code to log on and were treated to a discussion headed by the man who developed the Harry Potter movie sets and was developing the Wizarding World at Universal.

So, the bloggers blogged, people picked up on it.  Since these were influential bloggers, mainstream media followed them and it was estimated that 350 million impressions occurred in the first 24 hours.

What does this have to do with MyRetailCareer?  Yesterday, I started a LinkedIn group, MyRetailCareer.  That was Sunday afternoon.  I sent out about 235 invitations to my retail, wholesale and HR first contacts.  Today by Noon, I had over 100 members and had received at least 25 requests to join from others.  And today was a holiday (Happy Birthday George). 

If you didn’t get an invitation, go here to LinkedIn groups, and send a request to join.  I might not have gotten 350 million hits but I’m pretty happy with the response so far.

Regards,

 

Brad