TUESDAY TIPS: August 26, 2014: Go big or go home!

TUESDAY TIPS: August 26, 2014: Go big or go home!

August 26, 2014 Uncategorized 0

As a career coach, I have no problem whatsoever, in fact I LOVE it, when a client comes to me, wanting help to get a new job far above her “pay grade,” i.e. an ambitious, scary, exciting job. Bring it!

If you know me, you know that “go big or go home,” is basically how I live my life. It’s difficult, in so many ways, for me to help a client get a job they clearly don’t want. You’d be surprised by how many clients spend the first 15 minutes of the session weeping in my office and then say, tearfully, “But I have to be partner, Carlota!” And then they glare at me, cursing me for my moronic determination to be happy. Oh whatever, I survived living in Russia, dating in Russia, law school, working for Nancy Grace, and my common-law marriage so, clients who want to intimidate me, you better eat your Wheaties, Kid.

I personally am much more interested in clients who come to me wanting to start a business, or write a series of sci-fi novels, or launch a school in Angola. But hey, I have to pay the bills, so sure, you want to be partner at some white-shoe law firm, come on down. #therebutforthegraceofgod

On the other hand, if you want to see me lose what’s left of my sh*t, come to me with a desire for a very ambitious job, and then hand me a bizarre, illegible resume, demonstrating no relevant experience or education, and a cover letter that’s essentially a rant,  and then smile and say, “Well, you can re-write this, right? You just um need to change the font or move around the dots or something…right? This is good, huh!” When you see my eye twitching like that, yes, that’s the signal to take cover. Don’t make me angry

There’s a significant difference between deciding that you are worth your best, and making a serious commitment to aim high, with all the exhausting work that comes with that decision…and seeing a fancy job on-line, deciding you’d like the corner office and submitting a crap resume and cover letter, so as to cover your fear and feelings of inadequacy with someone else’s rejection. Of course you were rejected: you had already rejected yourself by writing a substandard resume and cover letter. Did you really think that your cover letter, full of spelling mistakes and poor grammar, a cover letter that didn’t even give your name or the job you were applying for, would seriously get you an interview? And if you did, please, spare me: I have a full day’s worth of work ahead of me and my rage is distracting.

Just think about the implications of your actions for a moment. When you send off crap resumes, when you don’t want to “bother” tweaking your cover letter to suit the specific job in question, when you send off a resume that can’t be opened, and then laugh it off saying, “Ahh, f**k, I didn’t really want the job anyway,” understand that the only person you’re rejecting is yourself. The only life you’re dismissing is your own.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting more than you’ve previously achieved. In fact, that’s the point of life: to keep moving up, to keep climbing. But achievement presumes that we learn from our mistakes and, crucially, are honest with ourselves. If you want a job above your “pay grade,” great, now allow yourself to succeed by taking the time to study the application, and consider: How are your previous experiences and education relevant to the position? How can you extrapolate your experience? How are you going to write a cover letter that answers the reader’s needs, and thus gives him/her a reason to check out your resume? How are you going to write a one-page resume that makes the reader immediately grasp your professional value in light of the positions on offer? How are you going to seize this responsibility to sell yourself, and allow yourself to triumph? How are you going to allow yourself to be happy?

Before you give me that look, thank you, I KNOW that none of what I’m saying is easy. If it was easy, I wouldn’t have this business. I’d be wrangling cats in Hollywood, or something. But no matter how hard any of this –fixing your resume, taking responsibility, generally, for your life–sounds…a lifetime of rejecting yourself, and not allowing yourself to get the jobs you want, is far, far worse.

 

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