CareerMysteries

One thing about resumes that I think is important is some statement about your future objective. It should be contained in a sentence or two and if you’re smart about it, you will change the statement to suit the particular job or class of jobs you are applying for at the time.

If you are applying for a job as a marketing manager, I would like to see that you are particularly interested in marketing based on your objective. Also, many of the steps you have taken to date, should naturally lead you to this career point. (i.e. undergrad degree in marketing, internship in marketing, working in a marketing job as an idividual contributor, etc.)

If you spent three years as a dog groomer, you need not highlight that fact on the resume, but you certainly should cover all your dates of employment accurately in the interview and on the job application. The fact that you had this dog grooming business need not result in your not being a good candidate for the current opening.

Don’t get flashy with the resume with crazy colors, pictures and eye popping fonts. Just plain old words with a load of good grammar and a ton of truth. Don’t try to fool me or hide things from me. You’ll only make me mad enough to toss your sheets into the shredder.

Yesterday, we put our almost 13 year old dog to sleep. She was in pain from severe disk degeneration and it was time. Shelby was a wonderful dog who would have given her life for any member of her extended family. She was a marvelous Alpha dog whose tenacious ways were legendary.

I have such wonderful memories of her over the years as a protector, watch dog and occasional tuna sandwich thief. She liked to carry my then six year old nephew down the hall by the elbow and henceforth Patrick - now a teenager - became known as “the human bone”.

She had a younger “brother” Andy, who will miss her as much as any of us. They teased each other mercilessly, but in a funny way, though she pretended to hate him this last year since he joined the family, she loved him, too.

Rest in peace my sweet, loving, proud girl. You will forever be in my heart.

ANGELS by Helen Palsson
How about another poem.

Everlast by Therese Haberman

Sparkling white prisms dance around me,
Marking scattered moments with random bouts of glee.
Memories spring on fairy knees so lovely and wild,
Shining golden streamers from maypoles of a child.

Deep dreams float feather free.
An ancient stone castle by the gleaming North Sea.
Buoy bells tinkling in a gentle melody.
There forever may you walk beside me.

Now rest your sweet head upon my soft breast.
Sing me to sleep as the last wave meets her crest.
Warm sunshine kisses morning dew from your eyes.
Hold me tight and muffle the Ever last of my cries.

Have a great weekend.

Yes, I have my share of resume stories on what not to do. For example, please do not send your resume to me if it already has food stains on it. I much prefer to put them there myself, and I just might, if I am really interested in you and really hungry at the time.

Skip the scented paper or making the resume smell for any reason. I will not elaborate on this, but you can guess what could happen. You already know how much I hate to be assaulted by other people’s colognes.

Of course there are a bazillion typos out there. The worst one involves the person in a rush who misspells her own name. Yes I am speaking about you, Ilnda. Another pet peeve I have is when there are formatting things that are inconsistent in the document like a dash instead of a word that changes to a word in the next paragraph and back again to a dash. Very sloppy looking, feeling and thinking here. Shows a lack of detail orientation and poor preparation.

So, don’t do it. Huh. (Private joke).

Just a poem for today.
Early Autumn
by Therese Haberman
Soft cool breezes tease the trees
As shiny crows dart by
Gathering strength in numbers
for their daily town meeting.

Oh, so green with barely a
Tickle of yellow, red or gold.
Crisp apples beg to be plucked
Before falling forgotten to the welcoming grasses.

Hint of hickory smoke
Drifts through the air
Riding on the billowing coattails
Of long-shadowed afternoon sun.

Fuschia flower fades fast
With no hummingbirds left behind
To taste the silky-sweet nectar.

Still-green grass pokes and sputters in spots
As leaf trails mark stray paths
Hoping against time for one last mow.

Black lab steps slowly on stiff legs.
Ten long years of guarding her wooded domain,
A puppy still stirs deep in her heart.

She feels winter’s cruel edge drift ever closer,
Where she will wait by the warm fire
Dreaming sweet episodes
Of glory-flecked hours left behind
On this early autumn day.

Here are some thoughts regarding a resume or curriculum vitae or whatever your career niche uses to refer to a synopsis document for your career history. Some continue to ask the question about length requirements. I am not a proponent of making a resume a one-page document if you really need two pages to do yourself justice. However, a recent college grad will most likely be able to provide the needed information in a single page.

I would certainly not expect a professional with twenty years of job history to give me a one- pager but would be much taken aback by anything longer than three sheets of paper in normal size type.

One thing I do hate is when people try to get all funky with the type styles and mix it up too much. This is akin to wearing an outfit with stripes, plaids and prints all together. Maybe some sort of fashionista expert can get away with this, but for the majority, it will only be an unwanted distraction.

I have to giggle at the resumes that include a picture of the applicant. And most often, they are less than very attractive. It is almost never to your advantage to include a completely irrelevant picture. Conversely, it may make the hiring manager question whether or not you could have good judgement skills.

Careermysteries are solved my Ms. Therese today and tomorrow.

So what, you ask, constitutes a great interview?  It really doesn’t take much work on your behalf.  You enter and I notice a refreshingly well dressed woman (or man) who carries herself with confidence.  Smiling, you reach out your dry hand and give me a firm handshake. (Not one of those weak, dead fish, clammy clamps on the end of my fingers like you are afraid I might bite your nose off). 

Your diction is perfect. Your inflection is interesting. Your voice has not the slightest hint of whine (or wine, for that matter.)  You are polite, intelligent and show evidence of having looked up my company and know something about it and the job you are applying for.  Your nails and hair are well groomed and your jewelry is tastefully understated.

You don’t interrupt me and you answer every question directly and to my satisfaction.  If you cannot think of an answer or an example you take a moment to come up with one or you move on and go back to it later.  You ask good questions about the company and job and you don’t patronize me or give me a load of bull, because I can smell it coming the way you move your eyes and hold your head, before you even spit it out of your mouth.

You fill out my application perfectly and sign it, you send me a lovely, typed “thank you” letter the next day. You are by all measures, enthusiastic, eager and well qualified for the job in question. 

You could be a great interview if you take these things into account.

Careermysteries Solved by Ms. Therese to Help You Become What You Might Have Been

Being in New England in the fall is one of my favorite things about life.  The views are clearer, the trees seem to speak to me in ways I can’t hear at any other time of year and there is something precious about those beautiful blue sky afternoons.  You know they won’t last long and you want to savor them.

Fall is about dying, endings and reaching out toward something more defined, deeper in meaning, harder to grasp.  Something that seems to be just beyond your vision or coming around the next curve.

 I feel good about this fall.  A new freshness has awakened something good.  The politics are changing, the world is on the brink of something better.  May your autumn be festive and bright with the colors of life and love.  Enjoy it while it lasts.

Language issues are often a problem in the interview when there are jobs that require very minimal language skills, like working on an assembly line. If they bring an interpreter, I am grateful. But you realize that poor English speaking does not equate to low intelligence. It is remarkable when a person can hardly utter one word in our language but if you mess up a quarter of an hour of her wages and suddenly it’s a miracle, she can speak! “What happened to my pay? Fix, fix!”

A guy came in with his dog and it wasn’t the seeing eye variety. It was in a little tote bag. One of those pathetic little squeaky things. which is a miniature version of a real dog. Another guy had a ferret in his pocket. At first I thought it was a rat and was scared to death it might race across the desk and bite me! So, if you are interviewing please leave your pets at home.

I hope your having a terrific weekend.

There are some things that irk me.  The word irk is one of them, but let me go on.  Here is an applicant for a job in a manufacturing plant.  He comes in wearing those pants that are so far down, I wonder in a distant way, if he lifted up his shirt, what the world might be forced to view!

He saunters in with a name like Duane, which is fine.  He is respectful enough to take off his baseball hat, but has yet to look me in the eye.  In some groups, the eye avoidance is a sign of deference and respect to the other person, who is in authority.  With Duane it is all attitude, all bad attitude.

 We make some small talk for few minutes, weather and traffic stuff.  Then he says, “Hey, le’ me axe you, I hear you gotta job fo’ thir’ shiff.  I wanna work on that shiff.”

No, no we have no shiffs.  I do, however, have a job on the third shift if that is what you mean.”

“Yeah, yeah, das it. Ha, ha.”

What I really want to say is straighten up your act, don’t come in here with your bad attitude and give me your I-hate-the-world flack.  And most of all, if you’re too lazy to say the words, you just might be too lazy to do the work.  When you have worked 35 or so years and you know a thing or two, then you’ve earned a little attitude.  Then and only then.

 ”Thanks for coming in for the interview. Next, please!”