Why it’s important to keep your resume updated and how it’s a valuable tool.
How women spend more time talking themselves out of jobs than into them.
Why you have the most power when you first start a job and how to leverage that.

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Maybe you are looking for a new job or career path. Maybe you love your current position and you’re content. Regardless of the side of the spectrum you are on right at this moment, you should always be willing and ready to sell yourself. You just never know when your circumstances might change. It’s important to be prepared. We are going to talk about some great points to keep in mind involving your resume, why men apply more often than women, informational interviewing, and the power of being a new employee. 

Your resume is a valuable tool to sell yourself. 

I recently had a discussion about resumes with a travel agency contractor whose role requires building travel nurse profiles and looking at resumes for information. We couldn’t fathom why people would have, let alone submit, utterly pathetic resumes. If this person cared that little about their resume, what does that say about how they would perform at a job and the commitment to a company? 

The bottom line is you should care and you should care a lot. It is the first impression a potential employer will get of your years of working your ass off. And all you have is a few lines you through together to show what you do on a daily basis. We both know that isn’t going to be an accurate representation of what your years of dedication and hard work looked like. You wouldn’t go to a job interview missing a shoe, a tear in your shirt, hair all a mess. So why would you not tidy and fatten up your resume? 

You are a product. Would you buy something with limited information, missing ingredients, and poor advertisement and appearance? Or would you prefer something that you compared, researched, and read reviews on and are confident it’s the right product for you? Yeah, you likely would pass on the first option. So take your resume seriously and spend the time on it. Use your job descriptions from your current or past job. Search for job descriptions that are similar to what you have done and get ideas. Hire someone to assist you if you are going for higher positions and higher salaries. It’s an investment in yourself and your future. 

Here is a service that can help: ResumeWriters.com

We talk ourselves out of jobs, men talk themselves into them.

Women won’t apply until they meet 100% of the qualifications. Men will apply if they meet 60%. Why?
It comes down to confidence. We habitually self-sabotage and lack faith in ourselves and our abilities. It’s a mindset of failure rather than success. We tend to think “what if” and run through negative scenarios. We put too much pressure on ourselves when we start thinking like that. We should be thinking “why not”. Why not apply, why not try? What is the worst that is going to happen? You don’t get offered the job? But you gain knowledge by doing interviews even if they end up being mostly informational. You get more practice which then becomes a skill. You start to learn how to interview, you start to get more confident, you start to see offers you thought were impossible, and you start to change your mindset.

I’m a big supporter of doing interviews when you aren’t even really looking to leave a job. It might sound crazy, but hear me out. If it’s not something you need, you will be more relaxed. There isn’t the anxiety factor, there is no worry of “what if I don’t get this”. It allows you to be your most true self and answer questions naturally rather than over-planned, overthought and overdone. You learn more about the requirements, the expectations, the opportunities even if you are just browsing for a job you would like to have. You start to realize that maybe you are more qualified than you thought. A job posting is simply a screenshot, an excerpt, a summary of what the job might entail or what the company may be looking for. Once you start speaking and interacting with potential employers, you learn the real aspects of a job. Every skill is teachable, you will likely learn most of the job description, on the actual job. You also build onto your network by putting yourself out there and adding more contacts to reference at a later time. I once applied for a position because the title was interesting. I didn’t really have an idea of what I was getting myself into, but when I did the interview it was the most fun I had in a while! She was so personable, relatable, and someone I would want to be when I grow up. I still keep in touch with her periodically even if the job didn’t pan out at this time. There is always the future to think about! Now you can see why I am a strong believer in this, and how you start to think about “why not” instead of “what if”.  

You will never have more power than you do when you start a new job.

Your current job knows what you are willing to do for much less. They know you will put in the hours, handle urgent requests, miss out on family time, sacrifice some of your weekends, not complain about the lack of overtime pay. You’ll accept the mediocre raise every year, or not at all. You accept the small amount of PTO you get every year, and the blackout periods that come with it. You accept these things because you are comfortable. You know your job, you know your expectations, you fear repercussions for speaking up. You don’t have much power. 

But starting a new position gives you more negotiating power. You can ask for things you wouldn’t have dared at your current job. I tried to negotiate a higher starting salary at my current position, but it was a lateral move the way it was tiered. They came back to me with an answer of no, but it was not a deal breaker for me. I was already getting a way better deal by moving departments and changing job titles so it was still a win. An answer of “no” was the worst that was going to come out of me asking. I had nothing to lose and only money to gain. You really aren’t losing out on anything because it’s already a job you want and likely with the benefits you want. All you are trying to do at this point is see what else you can squeeze out as an added bonus. 

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Keep your resume updated, and be prepared to the best of your ability. 

Get help if you need it at ResumeWriters.com

Don’t talk yourself out of a job, talk yourself into it. 

Sell yourself like you are worth the money because YOU ARE.

Build your confidence, diminish your fear, grow your connections and network by doing things like informational interviews.

You will likely learn the job qualifications, on the job. 

Don’t underestimate the power you have when you start a new job. 

Until next week,