48 Days to the Work You Love Revised Edition

There are two kinds of success. One is the very rare kind that comes to the man who has the power to do what no one else has the power to do. That is genius. But the average man who wins what we call success is not a genius. He is a man who has merely the ordinary qualities that he shares with his fellows, but who has developed those ordinary qualities to a more than ordinary degree.

Yes, you must have a résumé. Anyone you approach in your job search is going to want to see a résumé. And even if they did not ask for it, you need the process of creating your résumé. I recommend writing and rewriting your résumé if you currently have a job you love, if you already have a job offer for a new position, if you know Uncle Harry is going to ask you to take over the company, or if you want to start your own business. The process of creating a résumé is one of presenting clearly your strongest areas of competence. In fact, the process of creating your résumé may be more important than the result of that process. You will learn how to tell your story.

I also encourage you to have an “elevator speech.” In the 48 seconds it takes an elevator to go from one floor to the next, you should be able to clearly describe what is unique about you and what you are looking for. The more familiar you are with that speech and the more confident you are that it accurately reflects who you are and what you can offer, the easier it becomes to deliver it with enthusiasm and conviction in a variety of situations.

A résumé is a fresh opportunity to present yourself as a candidate for what you want to do next.

However, regardless of your credentials, your eloquence, and your stunning graphics, a résumé is not going to cause people to stop what they are doing and scream, “This is the person I’ve been looking for!” Don’t get caught up in the fantasy that a “perfect” résumé will get you multiple job offers. A great résumé will get you past the initial screening process and lead to interviews with someone who has the power to hire you. That’s all you want it to do.

Getting past this initial screening is not easy, but if you see the whole process, it’s certainly possible. Keep in mind that a great résumé provides perhaps 10 percent of the process of an effective job search. In this and the next chapter you will see all the steps in a job search that will help you surpass people with better credentials, experience, and training. Understanding the entire job search process will bring you to offers others will never see.

You do want your résumé to present you as an outstanding candidate for where you want to go. You are not locked into repeating what you have always done. I have helped attorneys, dentists, and pastors redirect their career path by understanding the concept of having “transferable areas of competence.”

Now that you have looked at yourself, you are ready to begin to look outward at the best options. Only after you have a clear sense of what is unique about YOU can you start to consider the applications that fit you.

As for résumés, I know that in today’s competitive workplace you need to stand out, and I am the first to say that a résumé is a place to brag on and embellish accomplishments. However, I am noticing a blurring of embellishment and downright misrepresentation. The rule of thumb seems to be exaggerate and confuse.

Rather than reporting being a greeter at WalMart, people claim to have been a “customer service coordinator for Fortune 500 company.” The grease monkey at Jiffy Lube becomes a “petroleum distribution specialist.” Yesterday’s taxi cab driver appears on the résumé as a “transportation logistics manager.” “Engineer for meat inspection and preparation” represents the 18-year-old McDonald’s worker.

Keep in mind that today’s VP of Personnel was likely a struggling college student herself a few years ago. She probably knows the tricks of the trade, having presented herself as a “human resource specialist” rather than a babysitter.

The bottom line is this: the purpose of a résumé is to help you get an interview. But it plays only one small part in the hiring process. Be prepared to present yourself with confidence and to discuss your ability to contribute.

Writing résumés, searching for jobs, interviewing, and negotiating salaries comprise the logistical part of finding the traditional work you love. Now that you have laid the proper foundation, we can look at these important details. Many people see the résumé as the most important part of the hiring process, believing that companies make hiring decisions from them. A company would be foolish to make a hiring decision from a résumé. You don’t want your résumé to tell the company enough to make an intelligent decision about hiring you. All you want it to do is whet the interviewer’s appetite so that he wants to see you personally. It is in the interview that the rubber meets the road. Everything else is preliminary.

Your résumé is your sales tool for where you want to go. Don’t let it be just a snapshot of where you have been. That may or may not be advantageous for you. Recently, I worked with a gentleman who had managed drugstores for years. In that position, and accurately reflected on his résumé, his primary responsibilities were hiring, training, and supervising employees. Guess what he hated more than anything? Hiring, training, and supervising employees. Why would we present him and position him in a way designed to duplicate those duties? We restructured his résumé to show areas of competence like administration, planning, and operations. These were proven abilities of his and allowed him to present himself as a candidate for something much more behind the scenes with less people contact—aspects far more suited to his personality style.

If you want to redirect your career path, you can begin the process with a well-designed résumé. Remember, if your résumé is just a chronological history of what you’ve done, it will pigeonhole you into continuing to do what you’ve always done. You can redirect in major ways by identifying “areas of competence” that would have applications in new companies, industries, and professions.

Knowing how to conduct your job search process will transform the results you can expect. Many people become convinced that they are not pretty enough, do not have the right degrees, are too old or too young, or are getting a bad reference from a former employer. How you conduct the job search process will have far more to do with your success than any of those factors.

We are also going to look at how to find the “hidden” job opportunities. We know that only about 12 percent of jobs ever appear in the newspaper, on the Internet, or in another form of advertising. You can find those unadvertised positions and drastically reduce the competition you face for them.

Even though we know that the average job is now only 2.2 years in length, most people remain unprepared for the interview process. They believe that they can send out their résumé, have some company decide it has to have them, and simply show up for a routine interview. Few things could be further from the truth.

The interview is critical. This is where you sell yourself and negotiate the most desirable position. Time spent in preparation and practice will be a great investment.

Knowing that most hiring decisions are made in the first 3 to 5 minutes of an interview confirms that the interviewer is not looking at the fine print on the fourth page of your résumé, but rather is asking herself:

These questions are probably going through the interviewer’s mind in those first few critical seconds. Be careful of resting on your academic credentials and work experience. Companies realize that they hire a whole person not only a set of definable skills. Remember, you are there to sell yourself as the best candidate.

So with all the options and opportunities for jobs, what are the real predictors of success? Isn’t ability still the best predictor of success?

1. Passion. A person with passion is a person who can set goals. Without them, you can have no clear direction and will drift along the road of circumstances.

2. Determination. Without a clear purpose, any obstacle will send a person in a new direction. Without determination, you will easily be lured away from your path.

3. Talent. No one has talent in every area, but everyone has talent. Discover where you rise to the top. What are those things you love to do whether or not you get paid?

4. Self-discipline. Without self-discipline, a person can easily be swayed by others. Self-discipline is the foundation that makes the others work.

5. Faith. Even with everything lining up logically, there still comes that step of faith into the unknown. You cannot reach new lands if you keep one foot on the shore.

→Unemployment—What’s That?

Do you know that in the Tibetan language there is no word for unemployment? That is a concept reserved for our Western culture where we have jobs. In traditional Tibetan society, people were mostly farmers, animal herders, or merchants. There was no concept of set hours of work or of having a job. Their work was often seasonal and during harvest season they would work very hard. Then during the off-season, they and the land would rest.

That pattern of natural work and rest has been replaced in our culture with 24/7 accessibility to work. Cell phones ring in church, e-mail arrives at 2:00 a.m., demanding a response, and faxes peel off pages of urgent business in family kitchens. We have created artificial environments with artificial work expectations.

I guess that’s why I look back and value being raised on a farm where the sun and rain often dictated the day’s activities. I love the convenience of modern technology, but, as with all advancements, it brings the responsibility for maintaining personal life balance.

I have always encouraged people to recognize times of being “between opportunities.” Rather than the panic of being “unemployed,” perhaps we should see those times as welcome times of restoration, rejuvenation, and opportunities for new perspective. Seeing it as such would certainly require a new word. Any ideas?

I wish it were that simple. Résumés and letters do not get jobs; they advertise for interviews. A résumé should not tell enough to make a hiring decision. It should simply entice the reader to want to see you. A good résumé will be easy to read and will quickly convey the value of your accomplishments. See it as a sales brochure—like one telling you about a new La-Z-Boy recliner. Did it make you want to go see it and sit in that soft leather, leaning back to let all your stress diminish? That’s the same effect you want your résumé to have on the reader.

• Keep typeface simple. Stay away from fancy fonts and graphics—save that for your wedding invitations.

• Present your information in short, easy-to-read paragraphs. Feel free to use bullet points rather than complete sentences.

• Be specific—state that you increased revenues in your territory from $3 million to $5.3 million in a 3-year period or that you reduced office expenses by 13 percent in your first year.

• Don’t lie. Be careful about describing yourself as a purchasing manager when you actually picked up the weekly pizza. Don’t list yourself as a vice president only because you know that company is no longer in business and there is no way to check on it. And be honest with your credentials. The most lied about item on résumés today is the addition of a nonexistent MBA. Academic degrees are seldom checked and people sometimes fall prey to the temptation to get that extra edge. Don’t even think about it. Focus on your areas of competence to make you a top candidate.

MYTH 2: THE CANDIDATE WITH THE BEST EDUCATION, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE WILL ALWAYS GET THE POSITION

Many factors are considered in a hiring decision. Education, skills, age, and ability are only a few of the hiring criteria. Employers interview because they want to see you—how you look, interact, and fit in with their organization.

A recent Yale University study reported that 15 percent of the reason for a person’s success is due to technical skill and knowledge, and 85 percent of the reason originates from that person’s personal skill: attitude, enthusiasm, self-discipline, desire, and ambition.

This is why candidates with the best qualifications on paper frequently do not get the job. We have been sold the myth that a degree is the magic guarantee for fame and fortune. Not in today’s workplace. There are plenty of English literature graduates waiting tables and MBAs mowing lawns. Just be realistic about the importance of a degree in your field of interest. Even in high-level positions, your personal characteristics may outweigh the importance of your degrees. Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Maya Angelou, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Richard Branson are all college dropouts and yet have achieved high levels of responsibility.

MYTH 3: GETTING A JOB IS REALLY A MATTER OF WHO YOU KNOW OR BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

Luck is what happens to people who have clear goals and detailed plans of action. Or luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Don’t wait on being in the right place at the right time. Create the situation and the circumstances to make you a candidate for the best positions anywhere. You don’t have to know the right people—you just have to get yourself in front of the right people. If you do the right things you will be amazed at how lucky you will become.

MYTH 4: EMPLOYERS APPRECIATE LONG RÉSUMÉS BECAUSE THE MORE INFORMATION SAVES TIME SPENT INTERVIEWING

Most résumés get a 30- to 40-second look. You must be able to communicate clearly in that time your areas of competence. There is no hard and fast rule about having to stay on 1 page, but there is seldom a reason to go beyond 2 pages in length. The key is to communicate what has value in positioning you as a top candidate. Include only those things that work in creating the image you want to convey. This is not a historical document but a sales brochure. I have a résumé in my file that is 15 pages long. The writer has a Ph.D. in chemistry and listed every study she had ever been a part of. Interesting reading but way too much information.

This can only work against you. Whether high or low, it has no positive purpose on a résumé. Salary is to be negotiated after the employer decides you are the right person for the job. Only when an employer wants you and you want them is it appropriate to discuss compensation. Anything prior to that will work against you.

Just think about this. If you are applying for a $76,000 position and in your last position you made $41,000, you will be seen as too low a candidate. Similarly, if you made $92,000 in your last position, they may be reluctant to interview you. Keep in mind that compensation packages are very fluid. If you are the candidate they want, the company may easily find another $10,000 to bring you on board. But if you don’t get the opportunity to interview, you will miss even having the chance to discuss your benefits to the company.

MYTH 6: ALWAYS CLOSE A COVER LETTER WITH “I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU”

Never! Even in times of low unemployment, expecting the receiver to take the initiative is unrealistic. Remember, you must always take the initiative. State when you will call to follow up: “I will call you Thursday morning concerning any questions we both may have and to discuss a personal meeting.”

This may appear to be pushy or assertive, and it may be. But what you want is action. Persistence pays. To get the best positions, you will need to stay in the driver’s seat in this entire process. No one cares about your success more than you do and no one can present you better than you can. You will need to take the initiative in getting in front of the people who have the ability to hire you. Remember, you have a product to sell and that product is you. The more you approach this process with that mind-set, the quicker and better the results will be.

MYTH 7: THE MORE RÉSUMÉS YOU SEND, THE MORE YOU INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING A JOB

Not necessarily. Thirty to 40 résumés combined with quality introduction letters, cover letters, and follow-up phone calls are much more effective than 1,000 résumés sent out alone. The Internet makes it so tempting to just send out a million electronic résumés with the push of a button and hope that the law of numbers will work in your favor. That process may be true for playing the lottery, but it is unlikely to work in finding a desirable position for yourself. Well-targeted résumés directed to the right decision makers still get results.

If you take no action, you will likely get no results. Always follow up by phone. Sending résumés without following up is probably a waste of your time.

But just a minute—isn’t waiting a spiritual approach to having God open a door? Of course it is. But I see too many people do too much waiting—wringing their hands, sitting at home, waiting for the phone to ring—and too little working in this process. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (KJV). There you go—waiting is scriptural. But if we look at the word wait in this context we find that it comes from the same word from which we get waiter. Thus a more accurate rendering may be to be doing what an effective waiter would be doing—serving and acting based on what they know needs to be done.

“You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. Enthusiasm is the spark in your eye, the swing in your gait, the grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of your will and your energy to execute your ideas. Enthusiasts are fighters, they have fortitude, they have staying qualities. Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress! With it, there is accomplishment. Without it, there are only alibis.” — Henry Ford

→Résumé “Objectives” and Other Ways to Waste Your Time

Here is a recent “objective” on a résumé submitted for my review:

“To support the growth and profitability of an organization that provides challenge, encourages advancement, and rewards achievement with the opportunity to utilize my experience, skills, and proven abilities.”

Would you hire this person? But what do you know about this person? Is he a candidate for flipping hamburgers or for a CEO position? Does he have skills in supervising, organizing, planning, selling, marketing, etc? Is he proficient in any computer skills? You don’t know. This “objective” tells you absolutely nothing about the person. It was a total waste of time on the applicant’s part.

Knowing that most résumés get a 30- to 40-second viewing, you’d better tell the recipient something about yourself that would make him want to see you as a candidate immediately. Begin your résumé with a skills summary, profile, or expertise. Here’s an example:

Skills Summary: Over 14 solid years in technology planning and management. Experienced in strategic systems and organizing and overseeing projects. Knowledgeable in R&D, product development, and financial management. Team player in maintaining company policies and procedures. Expertise with IT businesses, especially those with complex technical, logistical, and implementation challenges.

Don’t waste your time with generic lead-ins that get you sent to the bottom of the pile. Use your 30 seconds to convey your unique value.

Build your résumé so it becomes a sales tool for getting you the position you want. You can present yourself as a top candidate for sales and marketing, administration, organization, developing, training—or whatever your dream position is—if you draw from your experience and identify it in an advantageous way. Let’s get started.

Your transferable skills are the most basic unit of whatever career you choose. Once you have mastered a skill in one career, you can transfer that skill to another field and to another career. These skills can also be rearranged, if desired, in a way that opens up a new and different career. Use descriptive terms such as managed, supervised, instructed, planned, organized, trained, directed, edited, recruited, wrote, sold, marketed, created, etc.

The higher your transferable skills, the less competition you face for whatever job you are seeking. Keep in mind that jobs using higher skills are more challenging to find because they are rarely advertised through traditional methods. But the more you understand your areas of competence, the easier it becomes to target those organizations where there could be a potential match.

You always want to claim the highest skills possible. The résumé is the place to brag on yourself; don’t be modest. As already mentioned, don’t misrepresent yourself, just be bold about how competent you are.

Be specific. If you are reliable, doing what is expected of you and showing up for work on time, you can get any entry-level job today. But as good as they are, those characteristics do little to separate you from everyone else out there. The more specific you can be about what makes you unique, the fewer the competitors and the more you can move up the financial ladder. This may appear to be an irony in a workplace where it appears you must be a jack-of-all-trades. But the reality is that you still need to be able to show unique “areas of competence” to separate yourself from the masses.

There is not one right format for creating a résumé. If you have had increasing levels of responsibility and want to continue in that industry, a straight chronological format may be the best one for you. If you want to redirect your career, then a more functional format will help you. A combination of both chronological and functional is very common and can work well for most people today. The combination résumé is certainly the best choice if you:

• want to change careers and your most recent position has little relationship to what you would really like to do,

• have been a job-hopper with little consistency in the kinds of positions you have had,

• have areas of competence that are part of a position you held several years ago, or

→But I Don’t Want to Be a Dentist

Before he became a famous painter, Paul Gauguin worked in a bank. Novelist Tom Clancy started out as an insurance agent. Paul Newman was a construction worker. And many ordinary folks have made the switch from teacher to stockbroker, attorney to franchise owner, pastor to consultant, or dentist to marketing expert.

With people living and working longer, the careers we chose at 20 don’t necessarily fit us 2 and 3 decades later. With the volatile changes in medicine, banking, and education, many are taking a fresh look at new, more fulfilling career options.

You can change careers and still embrace your vocation or mission. Again, just be sure to integrate your skills and abilities, personality tendencies, values, dreams, and passions.

These should provide a sense of continuity even if you are changing careers. Use this to create a clear focus. Don’t be misdirected just because you hear there will be new job opportunities in a certain area. If the new opportunity does not fit you properly, you will still be frustrated in another 3 to 5 years.

You should cover at least 10 years in your work experience—longer if there is some specific experience that strengthens your presentation. Don’t worry if you are just starting into the workforce; draw from areas of competence that you have proven in your school, church, or community. If you have been a housewife for 18 years, don’t present yourself as if you have never had a job. Instead, describe your competencies in planning, budgeting, supervising, coordinating events, fundraising, promoting, etc. If you are a high school student, describe your abilities in customer service, delivery accuracy, reliability, graphic design, or Internet savvy.

Having multiple jobs is no longer the red flag it once was. Companies realize that to advance, you may have to move on. They also realize that in today’s volatile workplace, good people are frequently let go through no fault of their own. But you don’t have to list every position that you held for a very short time. Also, feel free to list only years rather than months on your résumé to draw attention away from the short length of some positions.

→Is Job-Hopping Still a Liability?

Changing jobs early and often isn’t the liability it once was, says Allen Salikof, president and CEO of Management Recruiters International Inc. It might even be a plus. Traditionally, employers who saw a job-hopping pattern on a résumé would pass on that candidate in favor of one with more staying power. But job-hopping isn’t necessarily the kiss of death anymore, says Salikof. Employers actually favor candidates who have moved around. Some employers are even put off by candidates who have stayed too long in one job or one company where their skills, particularly technological skills, have not had to keep pace with the marketplace.

“If the candidate’s history shows consistent increases in salary and responsibility,” Salikof says, “job-hopping may tag him or her as a hot property.” In some industries you may have to explain why you stayed around so long. Talk about a reversal in traditional thinking!

As for things not to put in a résumé, here are excerpts from actual résumés collected by Robert Half and appearing in a monthly column called “Resumania” for the National Business Employment Weekly:

• “An obsession for detail; I like to make sure I cross my i’s and dot my t’s.”

• “Note: Keep this résumé on top of the stack. Use all the others to heat your house.”

• “Don’t take the comments of my former employer too seriously; they were unappreciative beggars and slave drivers.”

• “I am loyal to my employer at all costs. Please feel free to respond to my résumé on my office voice mail.”

• “Work history: Unsuccessfully searched for a job, incompletion of graduate program, took Bar exam and failed.”

• Cover letter: “I’ve updated my résumé so it’s more appalling to employers.”

• “Work history: Left job because disciplinary actions were taken for showing up late.”

What if you really don’t get along with your current boss? Is leaving out of the question because any new employer will have to talk with Mr. Idiot in checking your references?

Well, for starters, it is fairly uncommon for a new employer to talk with your past boss. Don’t list him as a reference. Are there others in the company you could ask for a reference? What about that project you worked on last year. Can you use the team leader as a reference? Do you have a former boss who will sing your praises? Do you have customers who will speak well of their relationship with you? How about people you’ve worked with as a volunteer? Church and community activities are legitimate sources of referrals. Do you have a former professor who believes in you?

And be realistic about the part that references play in your getting that great position: calling references is usually done after the decision has been made to hire you. No one will waste time calling references unless they have already emotionally decided you are the person for the position. Because of the career coaching I do, I am frequently listed as a reference. I don’t get three calls a year from prospective employers. With today’s job market, few employers even do the checking they should do. And if you want to make sure your references are solidly reliable, try www.jobreference.com.

One word of caution: If you are asked about your current boss, be prepared to put a positive spin on what actually occurred. Don’t say anything negative about him or her. And don’t say anymore than you are asked.

You will find some examples of real résumés in the Appendix. You will see that there are different formats, depending on the purpose of each résumé. Remember, the résumé is only your selling tool in an attempt to get an interview.

Feel free to use as much from the examples as you want. You can copy phrases that apply to your situation, but do personalize your résumé for yourself. Everything in it should work for you. If a piece of information does not help position you as a candidate for what you want to do, don’t emphasize or draw attention to it.

Now you are ready to construct or revise your own résumé. Don’t make this process more complex than it needs to be. Spend 1 to 2 hours and complete it. Yes, it needs to be great, but it’s still only 15 percent of the process. Your creative job search, introduction letters, cover letters, phone follow-up, and interviewing skills are equally important components. Create your own look or choose one of the résumé templates found on any word processing system.

→Education—What Is It?

I continue to receive a barrage of e-mail containing concerns regarding education. “I’m 27, have a degree in psychology, and still don’t know what I want to do.” “My son has dropped out of college and I’m concerned he’s on a road to nowhere.” “I’m an attorney, four years out of law school, and think I have made a mistake.”

What is education? Is our traditional thinking about getting degrees still accurate? Webster’s dictionary defines education as “the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind, and character” of a person. With this definition we can readily see that education can occur in many ways and is certainly not confined to traditional classroom.

I have spent much of my life involved in the academic world, having completed my bachelor’s, master’s, and doctor’s studies. And yet I have been concerned about the overselling of that kind of education in our country. We know that 10 years after graduation, 80 percent of college graduates are working in something totally unrelated to their college degree. And most of our actors, performers, and business owners have not found college to be their key to success. There are 2 reasons to go to school: (1) to get a piece of paper so someone will give you a job, and (2) for the personal development that takes place.

If you go for the first reason only, you will probably be disappointed. The second can never be taken away. But recognize where personal development can take place. You may work on a construction crew, an organic farm, a day-care, or in a classroom, and all are legitimate places for growth and education.

3. Do you recognize how easily your abilities may transfer to a new industry or profession?

4. Can you see value in those things you may have done as a volunteer through your church or community?

5. Are there skills or training you need to make you a candidate for the work you love?

6. Has God given you abilities that do not match your desires? If so, how can you reconcile those?