[The Blog o' Sands] The Resume

[C.Sands]

Greetings to all, and thanks for reading once again...I know that there have been some issues with the invite I sent out to get my blog posts via Google Groups and I apologize. If you are reading this via email, then you are indeed a part of the "Group." If you are reading this off of the blog site then look to the right and there is a link to click on so that you can sign up....hope that works...

So, I'm looking for a job...most of you know this already...and tomorrow (Wednesday, 3/12) is my one month unemployment anniversary. In that month, I have written and re-written more resumes for myself than I could have ever imagined would be necessary. I've retained the assistance of some recruiters and "resume coaches" who basically rewrite the darn thing for every job that I apply for.

"Oh look, this company wants more contract negotiation experience so we need to talk about your roles in contracts...this one wants a real "people leader" so let's emphasize your successes with employee turn around...this one is really concerned with certifications and awards, so let's really focus on that..." And on and on it goes.

The temptation in all of this is to say something about yourself that isn't true. It's a kind of balancing act...I want to communicate what I have done in the best light possible and I want to make sure that potential employers know what it is that I have done well. In trying to impress them, it becomes pretty tempting to stretch the truth a bit...forget stretch, substitute "fabricate claims ex-nihilo."

That temptation towards untruthfulness comes, in my opinion, from the fact that handing someone a resume is probably the most uncomfortable thing in the world. You are handing out the most positive spin on who you are that you can possibly come up with for them to criticise; and, nine times out of ten, whoever gets it will take a 10 second look and dismiss your resume from contention.

It's a gut wrenching process, and often times infuriating. "What do you mean you don't think I have enough experience!?...I wonder what it was that turned them off?...I wonder if I look like I'm too full of myself?...I wonder if I didn't sell myself well enough..." And the ultimate in painful questions, "am I really not good enough?"

Many times, the answer to that most painful question, at least in the eyes of whoever is making the decision at that point, is, "yes, you're really not good enough."

The really tough part is that the dude deciding if I'm going to get an interview is just that...some dude. No moral authority...not high and mighty...not an elected judge of character...some regular guy who makes bad decisions on a daily basis just like the rest of us.

And I thank God for it...for the gut wrenchingness of it all. I thank God that when I hand my resume, my name, my reputation off to those people, that the vast majority of them will look at it and find nothing of worth, nothing of value to them.

I thank God because, as I said before, they're all just people. I thank God because I don't have to hand my resume to Him. I don't have to make up a document, a list, with my best attributes all shined up and on display hoping that they are good enough to get me in with the Big Man. I don't have to "de-emphasize" the things that aren't great and sell the things that are. I don't have to worry about him looking and finding nothing of value.

My resume for my Father has two lines:

1978 - 1992 - Object of Wrath.

1992 - Present - Son of God, Bought at A High Price, Joint Heir With Christ.

I'm handing that in at my interview tomorrow just to see what happens...well...first I'll see what kind of benefits they're offering...

For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Contact me: cjnb...@gmail.com

Blog Address; http://chris...@blogspot.com

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Posted By C.Sands to The Blog o' Sands at 3/11/2008 06:55:00 PM