Closing Time

Well everyone, this is my last post for now. I’ve graduated again – but this time from Career Investments’ Get-A-Job plan. Yay! I have a new perspective, strategy, and awesome resume – and really appreciate the process!

I graduated from May, and found myself face-planting into the real world sooner than I could say Yippee!! Before it knew it, I felt like Scooby-Doo running away from a monster. You know, when his feet are running like crazy but he’s not moving anywhere? My brother Chris once told me that this is the hardest economy graduates have entered since the Great Depression – and boy, can you feel it!

Despite perseverance, dedication, great grades and a wide variety of experiences to make me competitive competitive, finding a job is extremely challenging. It’s so easy to get caught up in the world and feel like you’re making no headway. You realize your to-do list is bigger than what you’ve accomplished, and your unemployment status eats away at your confidence.

I found it invaluable to have someone point me in the right direction and give me the tools I needed to make real progress. I feel much more empowered and capable than before – and have even had some interviews! I’ll take what I learned from Career Investments with me for life (because as much as I hate to admit it, chances are I’ll face another job lull at some point). And even though things constantly change, what I learned from Career Investments can be applied universally.

So, as I bid you adieu for the time being, I want to thank Kathleen, Eric, Jim and Tara at Career Investments for all the support and advice they’ve given me. I hope you’ve found this helpful, humoring, and homey. I just really wanted to throw in a third h-adjective. But really, I hope you’ve enjoyed sharing my experience in learning some helpful tools for a job search – and thank you for joining me on my adventure!

The Garden

Now that I’m thinking about what’s important and unique to showcase, and have some strategy – it’s now time to tackle presentation.  A.k.a…my resume.  Kathleen, Jim and Tara at Career Investments are not just resume writers – they have expertise in highlighting what’s important, and creating impact in every aspect of the job search.

There are a few important things Kathleen told me to know about resumes: (1) A resume is like a piece of art, so naturally everyone is going to have an opinion.  (2) It’s really easy to overload a resume.  People don’t just go to school for school anymore – you better be involved in activities too!  But, overload the resume and you’ll overload the people reading it.  (3) A resume should be treated like a garden.  As Jim once said in a presentation, you have to clean out the weeds and shrubs so that the prize roses can be seen.  Not to say that activities shouldn’t be put on a resume, but it’s how you design it.  You don’t want your weeds coming before the roses.

The first thing Kathleen had me do in this meeting, was write down three adjectives or phrases someone just looking at my resume would think.  Then she had me write down three adjectives or phrases I wanted people receiving it to think.  Then she wrote down three things she wanted to highlight.  Of the nine, she then had me pick three.  I chose high-potential, award-winning presenter at a national competition, and advertising agency plus corporate marketing experience.  They all happened to be hers.  Based on that, we rearranged my resume to feature the roses.  We didn’t get rid of anything, but we made sure the roses came before the trimmed shrubs.

Oh! I forgot to tell you guys the other day, but another thing Kathleen has me working on is un-packaging common words or phrases to really paint a picture for someone.  The first thing she had me un-package was the phrase Having it All Together.  What did that really mean to me?  That exercise worked because I’ve found myself saying that “I have the ability to express ideas and concerns”, rather than just saying “I’m a good communicator”.  That way, I give people an idea of what I’m really saying – and it sounds much more impressive.  Steps in the right direction!

Time to Strategize

Getting back to being a college graduate in the real world, my first post where I listed off just a few questions that have run through my mind these last couple months, show just how crazy it is trying to put my life together.  My to-do list for getting a job is so long – it’s hard to know where to start!  It’s terrifying!  Each week I make a to-do list to complete in 5 days.  Some weeks I dominate the list, daring it to give me another challenge.  Other weeks I would look at it think, “well, I accomplished 2 of my 20 things… that’s good, right?”

Hence, the importance of strategizing.  A tool Kathleen suggested for managing the list is to break it down.  Every night before going to bed, I should write down the 5 things I want to accomplish the next day.  Growing my network is a huge to-do.  So, break it down.  One day I’ll look for an IES Abroad alumni group in Chicago.  I studied abroad through that group, and want to move to Chicago for advertising – chances are someone who did their program is in advertising or knows someone.  With this, not only am I strategizing how to tackle my ever-present to-do list, but also how to grow my network.  I’m beginning to realize that as I continue through Career Investments’ program, I’m starting to think about things that are important to the interview/job process, in a strategic way.  Slowly but surely, I’m developing My Plan - and the Real World is becoming a little less scary. 

The In-between and Chasing Dreams

What’s so amazing about Career Investment’s program is that they draw from so many influences.  They use books, tests, you name it, to create an incredibly dynamic, well-rounded and successful program.  All these influencing sources have helped me dig deeper and have encouraged me to really think about things.  As ready as I was to graduate and never have a homework assignment again, the homework Kathleen gives me between meetings is quite helpful, and – as much as I’m shocked to say this – Exciting!  It’s helped me rethink some things, or realize what have overlooked. 

I spent my holiday weekend tackling my first homework assignment - thinking of my top three dream jobs.  What would I do if there were no limitations?  First, and most relevant, I want to be a Creative Director at a big-time agency, and do a national campaign for an exciting company, like Nike.  I would love to walk down the street and see a creative tactic, or see an ad on TV that I helped create.  Second, I would be a horse trainer.  I love how I feel completely free on a horse, and like everything is in my control – though it’s really not.  Another bonus is that you get immediate gratification for your work.  As soon as the horse moves how you want it to, even just for an instant, you get excited.  My third dream job is to be a photographer, taking pictures of whatever I want, wherever I want.  I could travel the world, capturing it by a lens not only to remember later, but also to share and help bring the world to others.

As disconnected as my three dream jobs seem to be – it was interesting what Kathleen said about them.  My dream to be a horse trainer speaks to my love of working on a team and achieving greater outcomes.  My dream to be a photographer speaks to my fascination with culture and experiences, and capturing them – which connects to my dream of being a Creative Director where I could influence culture with advertisements.  Anyone else getting chills?