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Master Career Director

College Students: Combining Passion with Career

If you are a rising senior in college, you have probably heard a confusing chorus of “follow your passion” and “pay the bills.” It often seems as if a paying job is incompatible with a passion.

As a Master Career Director and a Job and Career Transition Coach (JCTC), one of my goals is to fill your resume with information that lets you progress in both your career and your passion. For example:

  • If your passion is cars and your degree is in finance, you might search for a financial position with an automotive company.
  • If your passion is writing and your degree is in engineering, you might become a sought-after technical writer.
  • If your passion is selling and your degree is in dentistry, you might consider starting a career based on selling medical or dental equipment or supplies.
  • If your passion and your major are in history, but you do not want to teach or enter politics, then be advised that many a history-making CEO started their career as a liberal arts major.

You may feel your degree and passion are at odds, but that is seldom true and does not “condemn” you to a life of unhappiness. If your resume emphasizes your skills, accomplishments, and education in both areas, you may find that the perfect job is within your reach. It helps to have credentials in your passion: even air guitarists have a championship season.

As you enter your senior year in college, I recommend that you begin searching online for careers that combine your passion and your major. There are far more career paths out there than you may be aware of. I also recommend that you begin a brag book for your achievements and milestones as a student, volunteer, or intern in both your career path and your passion. This brag book will form the backbone for developing your resume.

Many college students need help figuring out how to define their career, acknowledge their passion, and write a resume that will get them the job they truly want. If a Master Career Director, a Job and Career Transition Coach, and a professional resume writer will help, please contact me today. Let’s explore your opportunities together.

What Makes a Resume Writer Professional?

The best resume ever achieves two goals. First and foremost, it results in an interview. Second, it prepares you to ace that interview by reminding you of all you have achieved during your career and why you are a great fit for the position.

As a professional resume writer, my goal is to have every resume result in an interview and give a job seeker confidence and pride in his or her accomplishments, skills, and education. How do I work toward that goal?

  • By not simply taking a job seeker’s word for what they have achieved. I ask questions that often elicit facts that the job seeker overlooked and achievements that the job seeker downplayed—important information that any recruiter or hiring manager wants to know and important information for the job seeker to share during the interview.
  • By making sure that all the information in the resume supports the specific job search. Often, job seekers, eager for any job, will send out a resume that is so generic or broad that it is suitable for no job. Or the job seeker will describe responsibilities (“sold shoes”) instead of accomplishments (“sold 25 pairs of shoes daily, 10% over average sales for other sales associates”); or will waste space on irrelevant information. With a targeted resume, job seekers need not struggle to recall their greatest successes; how they overcame a challenge; or why they are a great fit for this company.
  • By organizing information to give the strongest initial impression: at the first glance a hiring manager or recruiter knows that this person has what it takes to succeed at the company and the job. Moreover, the right keywords are taken from the job posting or advertisement so that an applicant tracking system pulls that resume as a match for the job requirements. Finally, because those keywords are in the resume, the job applicant knows what words the interviewer is hoping to hear.
  • By making sure that the job seeker’s online presence and resume support each other. Few things are more embarrassing at an interview than having to explain contradictions between a resume and an outdated online profile (for example, on Pinterest or LinkedIn) or worse yet to explain away an online rant or photo that raises questions.
  • By advising job seekers through this blog, webinars, and articles to give themselves credit for what they have achieved and to seek help when their job search bogs down. As a Certified Job and Career Transition Coach and as a Master Career Director (MCD), as well as a professionally certified resume writer, I keep up with the latest trends in both resumes and the job market, to give you a resume that meets the expectations of today’s recruiters and hiring managers.

A resume written by a professional resume writer advances a job seeker through to the interview and helps ensure that the interview goes smoothly. Contact me today for the professional resume writing assistance that you need.

What Job or Career Are You Qualified for?

If you are searching for your first full-time job or if you were recently laid off, you may be suffering from doubts about your qualifications. You may not even know if you want to continue on the career path that your education best fits you for or that you have been following so far. How do you know what direction to take now?

Your first step should be to search through employment websites, online job postings, and print job advertisements looking not for job titles but for skills. If you begin with your skill set, you may find that you qualify for more jobs than you thought possible. For example, the following job titles may all involve the same exact skills: executive secretary, executive assistant, office manager, office administrator, and project coordinator.

Your second step is to think about geography and industry. Find out what companies are available in your preferred region and/or industry, and monitor their websites for openings that might match your qualifications. You might also contact these companies to let them know about your interest.

Your third step is to talk to people in the industries and companies you are considering. If you are shy about making personal requests, LinkedIn and similar online sites are excellent ways to connect. In general, people are delighted to talk about their profession and share their expertise. By asking questions, you may find out that you have more transferrable and valuable skills than you thought. You might even find a lead to a job.

When you have a better idea of your career goals, it is time to write your resume for the job you want. As I have often stressed in these blogs, you cannot write a strong resume for “any job.” If you have taken these steps and are still struggling, please contact me. As a Master Career Director and certified Job and Career Transition Coach (JCTC) as well as a professional resume writer, I am ready to help.

The Dangers of Applying for “Any Job”

As anxious as you may be to return to work after a layoff or to improve your working situation, you will hurt your chances if you set out to find “any job.” Here are four ways that an “any job” attitude undermines your job search:

  1. You cannot possibly research, write, and maintain strong resumes for “any job” that comes along. Resumes should be targeted for the job, using the keywords that appear in a company’s job posting and stressing the skills and education the job posting stresses.
  2. No matter how much you try to tweak your specific skills, education, and experience to fit any job, companies will see where they fall short.
  3. When you network you need to send a clear message about what your interests and abilities. The “any job” mentality muddies that message and makes it hard for your network to help you.
  4. No one can honestly show enthusiasm for every job in the world. Some studies suggest that a candidate’s enthusiasm during the interview is a determining factor in whether the candidate gets the job.

As a Master Career Director, Certified Electronic Career Coach, and Job and Career Transition Coach, I can help you focus your job search and your resume. Email me today.



LinkedIn Endorsements: High Value in a Job Search


 
LinkedIn now allows contacts to quickly endorse each other in their areas of expertise. The endorsement is one word and can be selected with the click of a button. Does it have any value? Wouldn’t a recommendation be better?


An endorsement is different than a recommendation.


LinkedIn is used by recruiters to search for candidates for positions via keywords, which in many cases are skills. Just like Applicant Tracking Systems, LinkedIn helps rank candidates based on how many of their skills match the job requirements.


With 175+ million profiles on LinkedIn, recruiters can now rely on endorsements to find folks who have the skills they need and speed up their search. The number of endorsements for each skill might also indicate the strength of the skill. Recruiters do not care if they find every candidate; all they need is a few candidates with exactly the right skills.


Once a profile is found, recommendations become more important. Recommendations are testimonials that validate a person’s skills. Unfortunately, if a person lacks endorsements, that person’s profile may never be found by recruiters and the recommendations might never be read.


As a Master Career Director (MCD) and certified Job and Career Transition Coach (JCTC), I can help you decide which endorsements will bring you the kinds of job offers you want and make sure that your profile, resume, and cover letter will keep recruiters interested. Contact me today.




	
	
























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