Musings on...Resume Reflections
Honoring the Value of Work When the World is Quietly Quitting
I recently updated my resume. As I tried to condense my work history into one page, I wrestled with decisions of which job experience merited the precious space. Editing was difficult, because the bullet points are not just job titles: they are stories, relationships and lessons that developed me. However, the most interesting part of my career was not the depth but the breadth. My little resume sports disparate industries in one career lifetime. College educated for a career in finances, I stumbled into manufacturing, the medical/pharmaceutical field, the non-profit industry, as well as tenures in mortgages, education, insurance and hospitality. Stumbled is my word of choice because the moves were not always intentional, but they were definitely serendipitous. For my generation, we watched our parents work in one industry an entire career, hopefully moving up the ladder, but usually it was one employer until retirement. It was a bill of goods we were encouraged to emulate. Go to college, get a great job that pays well with good benefits and stick with it, THEY said. I managed to be an unintentional outlier. I can only imagine my high school guidance counselor shaking her head. Career paths, like life, are not always straight lines.
It became clear that job searching with a nontraditional resume is a tough sell. A human resource manager wouldn’t have time to look at my resume and recognize variety as an asset instead of an impediment. The AI algorithms of recruiting software can’t compute the worth in my peripatetic route, but I know it has value. I can't be forced into a box: the skills and experience my working life bred in me transcend attempts of categorization and constraint. The common denominator throughout is sales and customer service, so at least my Linkedin profile has a title.
I have moved up the ranks, but I’ve also moved laterally through ranks. I have been trained by world-famous sales experts, but I have also been taught by just as impactful managers without worldwide acclaim. I have w-2s from multinational corporations, as well as 1099s from entrepreneurial upstarts. Once I had a company car and an unlimited expense account, but limited budgets honed my creativity. I started in an industry at entry level but finished as an owner. I have worked in well-established rigid hierarchies, and I’ve created hiring, training and office operating systems from scratch. I'm certified by a company that trains royal households, White Lotus-style resorts and yacht staffs of the uber wealthy. I watched an industry change in ways that resulted in a global recession and I leveraged early internet e-commerce when the ground fell apart below us. I’m proud that people turned away by the ‘ole boys club attained their piece of the American dream with my guidance, and I’m honored that my expertise helped international travelers fulfill their luxury bucket list. I’ve worked where perfection is the daily standard and I’ve worked where each day was like chasing a moving target. I’ve seen and learned some things!
As I pondered my resume, I realized that my reflections are a panoply of how frustrating, but fun and fulfilling the world of work can be. To honor the journey, I’m beginning a series of essays to lift my flat resume off the page and project its full dimensional glory. Adventures in Workland will be a record of important and impactful occupational observations. A few of the topics circulating in my head:
How to accentuate and articulate transferrable skills
What to do when you hate the job but love the company
The overlooked career perks of volunteering
What to do when you fail the interview
What personality tests get right AND wrong
Starting over, again
How a list of fantasy jobs can help you discover your dream job
Is job hunting and online dating really the same thing?
Perhaps we will begin a dialogue of our various experiences. The legendary writer and producer Norman Lear posits the more specific the topic, the more universal and relatable the experience. I hope my stories will make you reflect and honor the value of your employment history as well. You are more than the sum of your job descriptions. Get ready to fall down the rabbit hole with me, there is a ton of water cooler talk to share.