Today was such a long day. I was at ProMatch for the mandatory meeting, plus I was volunteering as an usher. In the afternoon, I attended a class on tailoring your resume. I got really frustrated this afternoon, because I’m getting conflicting advice. I mean, I know a lot of this strategy is still subjective, but goddamn! Last week, I went to the NOVA career adviser, who said my resume was awesome. Then today, after I listened to the guest speaker in the morning meeting and sat in on the ProMatch class, I started feeling like my resume was too dense, with too much generic fluff.

I suppose the message from the guest speaker was this: nobody cares what you did before, all the laundry list of tasks. All that matters now is your value proposition. How are you going to help the hiring manager with her/his pain points? What specific stories can you tell that illustrate your experience? How will your knowledge and current skills serve the hiring manager NOW? Already, I had tweaked my resume earlier this month based on basic resume classes, but I think the ProMatch classes are more specifically geared towards professionals, so the style/execution is even tighter. That’s my only conclusion: my tweaked resume may have sufficed compared to other NOVA job seekers, but compared to other ProMatch job seekers, it needed yet another revamp.

So all afternoon, I cut the crap. The workshop coach was an old Indian guy, and he said I could trim the fat in my resume about 40-50%. Shit, really? Then they (the experts) said I have to incorporate more white space… highlight specific scenarios where I kicked butt. I have to say, I love writing, but holy fuck, the editing process can kill ya! I got home about 4:30p, took Martin to the park, and then proceeded to work on my one resume for one specific posting until 7:30p and then again after dinner. I mean, I know I can’t be spending so much time on one application, but I just want to figure out the secret sauce so that if I get traction, then I know the changes are working. Sigh.

So now I am all paranoid that the version of my resume that I sent in to a foundation last week is not good. I know, that ship has sailed. Incidentally, I reached out to my contact at the foundation, and he suggested that HR consider me for the comm position. We’ll see if that scores me an initial round. I have to practice talking about my accomplishments more.

So another week of ProMatch has wrapped. I am really liking some of the people there. It’s kinda weird actually, because a bunch of them remind me of Hollywood characters. Like there’s a very nice EE. He looks like the warden in Shawshank. Another dude reminds me of Hugh Jackman, and a third dude has all the mannerisms and tone of Milton from Office Space. It’s insane. Today in the resume workshop, the Hugh Jackman guy was getting really snippy with the group leader. Like he was challenging the advice and then just cutting him off. I started feeling really uncomfortable, because prior to witnessing that exchange, I really liked Wolverine. And then I was kinda annoyed with myself for not intervening. I mean, I dunno. They are both grown, adult men (one in his 40s and the other in his 60s), but shit, the tension bothered me. If I were to have spoken up, how could I have handled the situation? Fuck man. Overthinking brain.

So I also wanted to follow up today about my recent parenthood comments. I was thinking that maybe I might be coming across as a kid hater. Not true. I actually like my friend’s kids. I mean, I get that there is something about seeing the world through the unadulterated eyes of children. And they are kinda cute with their miniature size and wide-eyed innocence. I suppose my gripe is really about parenting. For us, it’s a risk we just aren’t interested in taking. I almost have a perpetual worry that the parental sacrifice is just too great. I dunno why it’s such a bleak attitude: I guess I’ve just seen a lot of drama and dysfunction. Most parents really try their best, but the outcomes still really run the gamut. I know, my brother (and my extended family) have really fucked me up. It’s hard for me to really see the good. Whatever. The point is, my friends are smart people. They know what they are jumping into, and even if things turn out to be more challenging than anticipated, they’ll figure it out. Just like I am with my career path.