Blackbird Fly

There is always someone in each job search class that asks about the unusual name of my company, Blackbird Learning Associates. "Where did you get that name?", or "Why did you name your company after a bird?" are the questions I often get.

I tell them the story and it goes like this...
When I lost my job of 21 years I was naturally very distressed, hurt and sad. As I drove home after packing up my boxes I asked my parent's (who are no longer here) to help me rediscover my direction. The radio was on in my car. As I spoke that thought out loud, the radio played the Beatles song, “Blackbird.” Now I have hummed along to that song for years but never really paid it much attention. That day, though, I listened."Take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you have only waited for this moment to arise" are the words I held onto that day. It was then that I knew that if I ever opened a business, the word "Blackbird" would figure into it somehow.

Recently I decided that I shouldn't be so selfish and that I should share the Blackbird story with others. You see, I am not the only one who should spread my wings and fly. You have remarkable skills, you are resourceful and your talents are abundant. You too have only waited for this moment to arise. Go for it, soar, and know that you are a treasure. Someone will scoop you up.

Blackbird: Lennon/McCartney
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free.

Blackbird fly Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird fly Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Quick Resume Tips

I'm back! I have been away from writing The Flap for so long and it is not because I ran out of ideas. Business has picked up and I am designing and facilitating training programs on Motivation Skills, Time Management, Telephone Interviewing, Career Reflection for Mothers,and Interviewing Skills for Managers. I am also very close to finishing the book, Job Search Skills for Mommies and I am hoping for a Q1 publication date.

I wanted to tell you about a resume interaction I just had at the bank. My bank is very focused on customer service. As soon as I walked in, my banker took me to his desk and handled my transaction right there. He asked how things were and I told him how I have been running around giving the job search trainings. Right then and there he asked for help with his resume.(No charge of course.)
He had absolutely no idea how to start. Since we were in his open office and had a limited window of time, I shared with him my favorite secrets:

1. Write a Summary Statement highlighting your strengths. This one or two sentence statement is your personal brand and it should make an impact.

2. Identify 6 skills that are a combination of your job knowledge and soft skills. If you get stuck identifying them, go to a job search engine, such as Indeed.com and look up your title. If your strengths include some of the job skills written there, "borrow" them for your resume. Just make sure that you can back them up with hard evidence such as your accomplishments.

3. Designing the statements describing your job function for a chronological resume is difficult. Where do you start? I sent him to the Occupational Handbook put out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and had him look up the word, Banker. He was amazed that the words there described what he did at the bank. Here again, he could "borrow" the general description from the Handbook and season it with his own accomplishments.

These tips can help you get started on creating your resume. Like I told him, each resume should be targeted to every position that interests you. There is no more one size fits all.
Glad to be back.