MY 10 YEAR Rez-I-Versary!
I woke up this morning and thought, hmmm, what’s different? Then out of nowhere came a flash of memory– 10 years ago this month I started at the Career Center and everything in my career life changed.
Up until then, I had been in college and worked as a manicurist at a salon (and at home). It was great money and put me through school… well that, and many, many, thousands in student loans. Not saying college wasn’t worth the money, because it was. That is where I discovered my interest in careers, job search, and resumes. It’s just a lot of money, as many of you know. But I digress.
So, January of 1999 is when I started writing resumes. I admit, when I first started I was not great at it. It was a good thing that I was working for a non-profit center and no one had to pay for my services. I helped people, or “walk-ins”, who had just been laid off from their jobs and had to come in and put their resume on the “talent bank” in order to get compensation from the State. Most didn’t have resumes, so we started from scratch. I was great at putting everything in order chronologically, but not great at career summaries–still in the mindset of “objectives”. Ewww. I would then go very heavy on bullet points. Bullet after bullet of whatever they did. Not great, but learning. This process grabbed my interest, so I started rifling through our many resume books we had at the Center. I was “wow’ed” by so many of the resumes that I saw that I just devoured the books, joined the PARW/CC (Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches) and was off and running, honing my skills and practicing like crazy.
One day a fellow came in and showed me his resume. He said, “I just paid $250.00 for this and the one YOU did for my friend for FREE was so much better!”. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I could GET PAID FOR THIS? OHMYGOSHHHHH! Those weren’t my exact words, but you get the drift. $250 was big money for a resume in 2001. I set up a website, quit my job at the career center, put out my shingle, and here I am today. I’ve earned my certifications, gotten my work published in various best-selling career books, been nominated for several awards, and have written thousands of resumes since then.
So, that’s my story. Happy Rez-I-Versary to me! Hmmm. How shall I celebrate? Maybe I’ll start by finishing up this CV for a Professor that I have been working on, and then get started on the VP of Business Development resume that is next on my list… and so on.
Still learning, still loving my job, and still helping job seekers land the jobs that they want.
I’ve always felt like I sort of “fell into” writing resumes. Many of us fall into our jobs, or they fall into us. Do you have any upcoming Job-I-Versary stories you’d like to share? Did you fall into your job? I’d love to know.
Up until then, I had been in college and worked as a manicurist at a salon (and at home). It was great money and put me through school… well that, and many, many, thousands in student loans. Not saying college wasn’t worth the money, because it was. That is where I discovered my interest in careers, job search, and resumes. It’s just a lot of money, as many of you know. But I digress.
So, January of 1999 is when I started writing resumes. I admit, when I first started I was not great at it. It was a good thing that I was working for a non-profit center and no one had to pay for my services. I helped people, or “walk-ins”, who had just been laid off from their jobs and had to come in and put their resume on the “talent bank” in order to get compensation from the State. Most didn’t have resumes, so we started from scratch. I was great at putting everything in order chronologically, but not great at career summaries–still in the mindset of “objectives”. Ewww. I would then go very heavy on bullet points. Bullet after bullet of whatever they did. Not great, but learning. This process grabbed my interest, so I started rifling through our many resume books we had at the Center. I was “wow’ed” by so many of the resumes that I saw that I just devoured the books, joined the PARW/CC (Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches) and was off and running, honing my skills and practicing like crazy.
One day a fellow came in and showed me his resume. He said, “I just paid $250.00 for this and the one YOU did for my friend for FREE was so much better!”. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I could GET PAID FOR THIS? OHMYGOSHHHHH! Those weren’t my exact words, but you get the drift. $250 was big money for a resume in 2001. I set up a website, quit my job at the career center, put out my shingle, and here I am today. I’ve earned my certifications, gotten my work published in various best-selling career books, been nominated for several awards, and have written thousands of resumes since then.
So, that’s my story. Happy Rez-I-Versary to me! Hmmm. How shall I celebrate? Maybe I’ll start by finishing up this CV for a Professor that I have been working on, and then get started on the VP of Business Development resume that is next on my list… and so on.
Still learning, still loving my job, and still helping job seekers land the jobs that they want.
I’ve always felt like I sort of “fell into” writing resumes. Many of us fall into our jobs, or they fall into us. Do you have any upcoming Job-I-Versary stories you’d like to share? Did you fall into your job? I’d love to know.