Golden Nuggets

Hello Friends,

Welcome to my Blog. The main purpose of this Blog will be to share my thoughts and insights on subjects related to career management. For those of you who are not familiar with the manner with which I conduct my SMART Career Planning Business, I will share with you the following information:

Step One: Review my client's résumé

Step Two: Meet with my client

Step Three: Chat informally with my client so that I can have a better understanding of what they really want/need from me. It is during this, often critical stage, that I uncover salient information that can be used to help my client set themselves apart from their competition in the eyes of potential employers.

Step Four: Create a résumé that truly showcases all of my client's unique skills and abilities.

While I understand that what I have shared with you thus far is certainly nothing remarkable, I shared this information only to serve as an introduction to the type of information I uncovered during a recent interview with a client.

I recently met with a client who was a highly credentialed individual with several years of international experience in her area of expertise. While the fact that she was able to back up her many years of hands-on experience with the formal schooling, among her 'differentiators' was the fact that she also worked for the RED CROSS as a translator and spoke 5 languages fluently. When I asked her why this information was not included in her original résumé, she just smiled and told me that she didn't think it was important.

Earlier on in my career as a career coach, I also had the pleasure of meeting another lovely woman who was interested in becoming a physiotherapist. As she was an immigrant, she was well aware that any credentials that she held in her home country were not recognized in Canada and she was open and eager to get any further training necessary. The golden nugget of information I was able to glean from meeting with this delightful woman was the fact that she had the distinction of being on an OLYMPIC team that won a GOLD MEDAL in Volleyball. When I suggested to her that this particular piece of information would be noteworthy in a number of documents, including her résumé, she seemed perplexed. Her position was that no one would be interested in something like that. I disagreed! I told her that formally trained athletes, are in a 'different league' than regular folks and the fact that she personally knows many highly recognized athletes and that, in her world being awarded a medal is not of any great value or worth. Again, I disagreed. She finally relented and gave me permission to include this little 'non-event' in the “Career Highlights” section of her résumé.

The point that I am trying to make in this posting is that EVERYONE has elements in their personal history that can be of importance to future employers and that often it takes a 'stranger' to sit down with you over a cup of coffee to find out how truly wonderful you are!

If what I have said so far strikes a cord with any of you, I would LOVE to hear about it.

Cheers,

Mary