A BTW Gener8: Spring Clean your Resume!

Spring cleaning any one? It feels good to get things sorted out. For me,  this usually happens in rush before company arrives, and I barely have enough energy to enjoy my company or my efforts.
If you really think about it, whether you like to clean or not, spring cleaning  is something to celebrate. It opens up your space, refreshes, and renews your sense of place and purpose. You might actually like your space again.

Spring Cleaning can apply to just about any aspect of your life.
How about your resume? Have you given it a spring cleaning lately?
Yes, that’s right. Your resume.  When was the last time you looked at it?
Looking at your resume on a annual basis is important, in fact critical.
And the best time to look at your resume and refresh it, is when you DON”T need it.
A resume refresh can be a celebration!
Yes, a celebration.
Think about it: this is an official document.
It validates your life’s journey whatever it may be in this season:
• a stay at home mom
• an entrepreneur
• a professional with more than 15 years of steady work.
The resume documents your journey: the actions, accomplishments, courses of study, acquisition of new life skills and knowledge by choice or circumstance.

Giving yourself time to bring your resume up to date BEFORE you need it is the best gift to give yourself. You have time to carefully evaluate and identify your accomplishments. It  really is a time of reflection and celebration. And this is so true: if you don’t do it,who will?

I have learned over the years through experience and from picking up the tips and tricks of the trade to have two resumes. One that is ‘market ready’ and one that is an on-going chronological  document of work experience, employment addresses and residential addresses.
 The chronological resume documents all I have done. Literally, the names of supervisors, phone numbers, addresses of the job sites I worked at, job description, the amount I earned at the start of the job and the amount I earned when I finished the job, promotions, peer awards or employment acknowledgments, etc. The market ready one is the one I use to match my approach to the need of the job description, or as in my most recent case, the prompt to an essay.

In this global economy, so many of us have several employer addresses, with over 10 different  professional work experiences. Personally, my volunteer experiences are over 8 pages in length.  I often get my job interview opportunities through volunteer experiences.

 The market ready one is usually a ‘one page’ snap shot  and it is my  task as the job seeker to match that snap shot as best I can. With these two documents the administrative part of the job seeking process-- filling out applications, etc-- is much easier.
Remember, the resume and application process is an elimination process for the employer.
Having all your  job description in one place allows you to match the key words used in the application without struggle or misrepresentation.

I noticed it was time to refresh my resume when I received an opportunity  to submit an application that required an essay and a resume that summarized  the  last 10 years of volunteer experiences.  The ‘classic opportunity’ just ‘popped up’. I was not looking, and for a few minutes I toyed with not applying.  At first blush, this opportunity seemed way outside my comfort zone. I last updated my resume in June 2010.  In my current phase of life, I have been so busy volunteering and mentoring, I have not stopped to update my document. I needed a day to get my records up to date and then another day working on the documentation for this most recent  opportunity. Fortunately, I had a bit of time for this before the deadline, that is not always the case.

This process made me realize it is time for resume review party for all the fabulous women I meet  in this journey called life. I really enjoy the process of getting my accomplishments and new skills documented when I am not under pressure.

I also notice when I am enjoying the process, I can appreciate myself, formulate where I want to go and what I want to do next in terms of  personal and professional development. Yes, even in this economy, there is choice. For those of you who are in a place of worry due to lack of employment I propose you join us and use the refresh as a time to reevaluate how you have been going about the job search. In this job market the best way to get a job is to network with others who can help you get connected to a job interview.  The job search is for all of us, to connect each other to those we know with a need to fill.
And BTW, this is what we do best: support and encourage achievement.
Now those are life/work skills  to celebrate and document!

Join us!
BTW Gener8
Spring Resume Refresh
April 17, 2012
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location: The Yuba Sutter Arts Council Conference Room
630 E Street  Marysville, CA 95901
RSVP: Angie Woodrow

A tisket - a tasket: the story of the BTW Baske

Recall Between the Women:  A year long process of creating and discovering. We use our large and small groups to re- energize, gain personal insight and allow our creative self to be recharged. We use our hands, heads and hearts to illuminate the path we are on in this season of our life.

When we gather to talk, crea8, actu8 or genr8  we are making time to energize  our souls.

“To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it”-- Mother Teresa.

BTW is a place and space for us to remember to actually put the oil in. You know, like the mask on the airplane, and the toilet paper on the roll.  You actually have to do this for yourself.   How often is this scenario a part of your day?  (note:the word ‘oil’ can be changed to any concern of the moment)

Well.....I remembered to buy the ‘oil’ but then I ran out of time and did not put the oil  in the lamp....it is in here somewhere...it is just so dark I can’t see  the bottle to fill the lamp back up....

Unfortunately, we all know this scenario well.  We also know what a joyous feeling it is to get the oil into the lamp. We actually will do the ‘happy dance’ when we are filled. It is such a relief when this occurs more than once in a while.

In BTW, we noticed getting together intentionally to  discover, to connect and  to celebrate created an energy we wanted to be able to share. But what, and how with our time and talents already maxed out?

Enter the basket. It is a our vessel  to fill.
 Members of BTW fill it up with what ever they like.
Sometimes it soup, sometimes it is pretty paper napkins, or stationary & a few stamps, lotion, a scarf, a hand made gift ...something simple. One basket, once a month. And, when all our efforts are put together  it creates an amazing energy.

We do not really know how it effects the recipient as we are doing this in an anonymous way.  We have been know to ring the door bell and run. We know how good it feels to be recharged...and so we simply cannot resist the desire to share this with others.  We also notice that the basket is overflowing, never lacking, as we all work on contributing to filling it up. A very concrete reminder for all of us to continue  to use our hands, heads and hearts to illuminate the path we are on in this season of our life.