As you probably know if you read my blog, I'm an unemployed bum and have been for quite some time. I've been sending out my resume, but haven't been getting a whole lot of responses, so I figured I would enlist the help of my Uncle, who was an Employment Specialist for our Church at one point. It didn't hurt that there was a very specific position that I wanted that I have previously held before, so I can make it very, very specific.
My problem? I suck at writing resumes and cover letters. I mean, I really suck. For the most part, I can bumble through the skills and experience part because...hey, you either have them or you don't, right? I mean, you can word them differently (which my Uncle totally helped me with, than you!), but the experience and skills are what they are. The objective is really all you have to catch their attention and it's really hard for me to do. My brain doesn't wrap around the concept of what an employer is looking for in an objective. Thankfully, I have people who have worked in the business of helping people get hired that are more than willing to look at it and help me out or I think I might be in serious trouble.
But the worst part is that I suck at writing a cover letter even more than I suck at writing an objective. I feel like I'm bragging too much about myself and the employer is going to snort and just chuck it in the garbage because there is just no way that I can possibly live up to what I'm claiming, even though everything I say in the letter is true. And I try to balance the professional distance with personality that gets me in the chair for an interview. This results in anxiety of the highest order for me. Really.
Again, luckily, I have a great team of family and friends on my side who are soooo patient and willing to help me. Especially when I do the exact opposite opposite of what they told me they wanted. So, to them...thank you. And now, I have a prettier resume, so hopefully I get more calls back for more jobs!
Does anybody else have this problem? Am I the only one who struggles with resumes and cover letters?
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Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI just subscribed to your blog. One of my friends goes to cosmetology school in Germany and will be spending a few weeks in North America, likely Canada in a few months. She was asking me if there are opportunities to job shadow/intern at a salon/spa or other cosmetics related place. Would you have any idea about how to set something like this up? is it best to just contact individual places, or should you go with a central contact. Thanks! Arjuna