A Celebration for Many

This past weekend my sister and I traveled to Massachusetts to attend a bridal shower for my daughter. It was hosted by her future mother-in-law and was a delightful celebration for family and friends. It was a warm, beautiful day and springtime was on display both inside and outside of the house.

After an amazing lunch, we moved into the dining room for coffee, tea and the most beautiful celebratory cake that I have ever seen. I joined a small group of new friends and someone asked me about my profession. When I said I was a job search trainer and coach, the conversation turned to unemployment and underemployment and how difficult it is for “older” job seeker. What were the odds that of this small group of women chatting around the dining room table, 75% of us had been released from our former companies later on in our careers? Luckily we have all moved on and found other meaningful work somewhere else or in another field. 

I am proud of the resilience of the Baby Boomer generation and how a job loss at an older age didn’t break any of us.  It only made us stronger.  That was another reason for a celebration!

Interviewing Cheatsheets

I'm reposting this because I've been asked to share the worksheets:

When you attend any of my job search classes you leave with an armful of worksheets designed to help you write your resume, interview or network. You’ll get as many free samples and tools that you’re comfortable using. Two of these tools are designed for resume writing; specifically for writing your accomplishments. Writing  your accomplishments is one of the hardest parts of resume design.  Most people don’t think of about the impact of their actions and instead, use their resumes as a listing of job activities.  This is the worst thing you can do with your resume and is a good guarantee that it will end up in the trash.  Resumes must be tailored to each position and need specific, measurable examples of your accomplishments. After all, an interviewer or resume reviewer wants to know, “What’s in it for us?”

The first worksheet, Measurable Accomplishments looks like this:

What did you do?	Who was Involved?	Why did you do it?	How did you do it?	What was the result?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The purpose of this form is to review you job responsibilities and as you are doing so, jot down the answers to these questions.  Your honest evaluation should help you uncover the measurable results of your actions. 

The second worksheet is a simple two-column chart.  On the left you will list the responsibilities of the open position and on the right, you would add examples of your experience that match with or align with those responsibilities.

New Position Responsibilities	Examples of Your Accomplishments That Support These

Both of these worksheets should help your identify your accomplishments and allow you to build a specific, tailored resume.  They will also help you with the interview, especially with any behavioral questions.

Our USA Magazine

One of my favorite magazines hands down is Our USA Magazine.  It doesn't skimp on the artwork or the articles and many or the authors are regular people just like you and me. The Spring 2014 edition features many articles about American artists and art types and again, the photographs are a delight to the eyes.  

What I like about this issue are the stories of regular people who after losing their jobs, picked themselves up, brushed themselves off and went on to discover a second chance or in my case, I Earned My Wings.  Take a look; I don't think that you will be disappointed.  Rather, I think that you will be uplifted!