I first started writing resumes for a living when I decided to take advantage of a severance option while Norwest Corporation was going through corporate reorganization during the 1980s. One benefit of the severance package was a training seminar that covered how to write an effective resume and cover letter and how to go about looking for a new job. The seminar resources were great. The actual training? Not quite so much, but much better than the mandatory training sessions provided by the local North Dakota job service at that time.
The missing key for me was the book, What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles (ParachuteGuy on Twitter). His Web site is JobHuntersBible.com. The first edition came out in the 1970s, and he revises the book annually. It was his perspective on the job search process that helped me to realize that I didn’t want to find a job so much as I wanted to concentrate on doing what I enjoyed doing and was good at, which was helping other people write their own resumes and cover letters. I matched my strengths with available jobs, and even though I spent a year and a half actively looking for employment, I never did find anything I liked enough to quit the job-hunting process.
The thing is, looking for work is not just finding someone who will hire you to do something that will give you a regular paycheck and benefits package. The goal is to find a work environment and activities that fit you, your skills, your strengths, your values, and, potentially, your interests. Bolles’ book helped me to sort out what I needed in my work environment in order to be happy, productive, stimulated, and challenged to continue growing personally and professionally.
The talents and skills that I brought to my new career were my enjoyment of meeting and getting to know new people, my writing and research abilities, my studies during high school and college in a broad range of disciplines, and a lifelong fascination with technology, which has allowed me to continue learning and using advanced computer and IT resources over the past 42 years. Also, I enjoy solitude, quiet, and concentrating intently on the task before me, which makes self-employment satisfying, where doing the same work in a corporate or office environment would be eminently frustrating. And indeed, after reading What Color Is Your Parachute, I realized that that was what had made the preceding 16 years of working for others stressful for me to an unhealthy degree. I loved the work I was doing, but I was unsuited to the work environment.
If you are looking for work or even thinking about changing jobs, I recommend that you read What Color Is Your Parachute, and discover if his observations and insights might be of help to you in your job search.
