I had a career coaching client recently who reached out to me because he was convinced that he had a resume problem. He was talented, had a promising track record in business and had recently gotten his law degree. Yet his confidence was shot after a stream of rejections and he was now looking at opportunities well below his skill level.
“I’ll take ANY job at this point,” he said to me.
And there was the problem, and it was just as clear in his resume: he was looking for any job not a specific job.
As we worked through the career coaching process together I helped him understand that he had to craft a STORY about himself. Reading his resume, he had done some marketing, done some business development, had performed some random legal roles.
His resume didn’t tell the story of who he was.
Said differently, he needed to position himself (and his resume, cover letter, social media profile) in a clear way so that friends, former colleagues, hiring managers, etc would know how to think about him and his skill set.
By utilizing my career coaching process, we created a plan for crafting a great story that would position him in the marketplace.
In brief: he is an individual with a background in start-ups, with a track record of building successful enterprises who got a law degree to take that skill to a higher level in an increasingly regulated marketplace.
Now that is someone you can hire, and he is already starting to get traction with that message.
The point of this example is that you need to think long and hard about the story you tell and how you position yourself in the marketplace. A list of skills or abilities isn’t memorable. It is the story of you that will get you remembered, generate a buzz among peers, and ultimately get you hired. You need to tell that story in your resume, your cover letter, your networking meetings… in short, everywhere.
When you think about it, hiring managers are very busy people, and hiring a new employee is just one thing on their long list of things to do. Creating a memorable story about yourself helps ensure that you aren’t forgotten in that person’s mind.
Need help crafting your unique career story? Career coaching can be very helpful in ensuring you are presenting yourself in the best possible way for the right positions. For information on what to look for in a career coach and key mistakes to avoid, click here, or if you are ready to schedule a complimentary career coaching session with me, click here. Remember, your resume should reflect your story rather than be the story.