The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Speaker ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ "The Job Scam Report" on Substack! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

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by Mark Anthony Dyson

How Winners Easily Embrace Losers Who Are Really Winners

How Winners Easily Embrace Losers Who Are Really Winners

 

The job market today is unrecognizable from 2022. It was a job-seeker market. Most people are waiting to change jobs if they can. It’s a smart move. But eventually, the levees will break as far as opportunities are concerned. Preparation should be the mantra right now. 

It’s not a good time to be Charlie Brown, so I thought. Read the rest of the story. 

Growing up, my favorite books were the Charlie Brown volumes my mom bought me. If I wanted to read, I read Charlie Brown. I felt that I identified with him the most. I’m glad my life didn’t turn into this 100-game losing streak in how he managed and played with his baseball team. Many people have been searching for jobs so long that they may feel like Charlie Brown. That may not be a bad thing, but let me explain.

Many of us identified with him because he was so human. He was more realistic than his cartoon contemporaries his age. Many people don’t remember the name of Charlie Brown’s baseball hero.

Joe Shilabotnik.

Who?

Joe Shilabotnik was not a real baseball player; he was fictional, like Charlie Brown, but here is what I remembered about this player.

1) He was not a starting player in the major leagues

2) He never had batted .300 or hit home runs

3) Charlie Brown traded away Mickey Mantle and several all-stars to get Joe from Lucy. Lucy wouldn’t trade but ended up tossing the card because he wasn’t as cute as she thought

4) No other characters talked about Joe, except Schroeder, who once told C.B. that Joe was traded… to a lower minor league team.

Think about it. Charlie Brown could have admired many other players in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s: Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax, and others. Instead, he chooses Joe Shilabotnik, who is probably a minor-league standout who played by default.

Charlie Brown’s career wasn’t much to talk about either. Throughout the years, I only remember his team winning twice. Both wins were forfeited because the other teams did not show up.

Not to mention that Charlie Brown got pounded like a pitcher. He was walloped sometimes, and it made his body spin so much that his clothes came off.

Maybe you remember how Charlie Brown always tried to kick the football from Lucy’s hand. He kept trying, and she kept pulling it away. But I later admired how he put his whole body into it. He intended to kick it to kingdom come, even though he missed every time.

We count on Charlie Brown to keep trying, to give 100% effort even after we lose or experience pain.

But what is bittersweet about the hiring process is being liked goes a long way. People who say yes and no will decide whether it sustains employment, but you should be likeable—like Charlie Brown and Joe Shilabotnik.

What did we like about Charlie Brown?

Perseverance, endurance, steadfastness, and faith. Charlie Brown’s team lost yearly, and his team would return year after year. He organized, coached, and coordinated the team’s activities yearly with few good players and many lousy ones, including himself. But he gave his all daily.

He had a vision he never gave up on. Would generations of kids and adults find Charlie Brown interesting if he was a champion? Perhaps. But we relate better to people who are more like us. That makes us likable and hirable, that we come back from our losses. Like the movie “Seabiscuit,” we naturally cheer for the injured horse more than the others.

He had a faithful network of friends. You need your network to support, vouch, and encourage you daily. Although his friends complained about Charlie Brown, they were in position at game time. It is easy to rally people when you win. How about when you frequently lose? People must like you to rally don’t feel you’re a loser.

All of us should have a Joe and Charlie to defend. It’s part of winning, being a winner, and defining winning. It’s the passing of opportunities better for others. It’s considering others ahead of us at times. And believe even when their batting average is sub .200 (in baseball). 

Everyone has felt like Charlie Brown, but few realize they have redeemable and attractive professional attributes like him. Although it is up to the job seeker to highlight these attributes, a great resource is people within the network who could help bring out the best in them.

There are attributes about you that people like and that could be used to get hired. What are they? How are you like Charlie Brown? How are you like Joe? Who believed in us when we were like either one?

 

Filed Under: Job Tagged With: Jobs, Perseverance

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Simplified Evergreen Resume Tips For Any Year That Wins

Simplified Evergreen Resume Tips For Any Year That Wins
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Companies want qualified people to do the job, and stories that combine the company’s heartbeat with the unique narratives of the candidates win.  

This is the most robust resume discussion I’ve had in the 12+ years of this podcast. 

In this episode, we discuss trends in resume writing, which help you write more purposefully, tell a story, and move employers to call you. More resume writers and career professionals, including myself and my guest, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, advise your resume, along with your LinkedIn profile, tell a complete story. We discuss storytelling everywhere, the importance of focus, and social media.

Do your resume and social profiles tell a story that helps your knowledge, skills, and abilities stand out? Here are three ways to provide feedback:

  1. Call and leave a voicemail at 708.365.9822
  2. Email: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com
  3. Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com/72, press the Send Voicemail button on the left, activate your laptop microphone, and leave a message.

Jacqui (@ValueIntoWords) is one of the 37 Master Resume Writers quoted in many national publications, including TIME, Forbes.com, and FOX Business. She blogs for U.S. News, Glassdoor.com, and her  blog CareerTrend.com

As a resume writer, I was reminded how important the process of ascertaining the job seeker. Jacqui loves the journalistic approach of the who, when, why, what, and how. I wanted to talk with Jacqui about trends, not necessarily how to write a resume. These days, employers are looking to shorten the time they review resumes and what gives them the most information in minimal time.

Here are some of the highlights of our discussion:

    • We discuss the significance of the visual resume “The Resume Infographic” by Hannah Morgan and how the resume has evolved since 2009.
    • Jacqui stated that storytelling had gained a drumbeat as a mantra, reaching epic proportions in social media circles.
    • With headlines and subheadlines, content has become more affluent, detailed, and brief, but the words matter the most. Jacqui tries to add texture to clients by identifying the who, what, when, why, and how.
    • The visual element enhances the content since words are the most critical element. Charts and graphs illustrate a snapshot view of some of the content. They condense content or give condensed content a top for skimmers or readers who want dashes of excitement.
    • Jacqui stated that a visual resume shouldn’t be your primary resume, but there is an audience for “visual” as a part of your web portfolio.
    • People need to slow down and think through the foundational stories behind visuals to become more meaningful and know they have roots – understanding who you’ve become and why that matters.
    • LinkedIn has become a channel that can model the value shown on a resume. Jacqui says that 90% of her clients will have a LinkedIn profile and a resume.
    • LinkedIn has expanded from an acceptable static profile to a more dynamic one. Job seekers must consider their audience and customize their participation.
    • Social media can now be used to view or preview the epilog of your resume. Although it’s an old term, it says so much. We should expand our view of a resume.
    • Everyone should know their story from the beginning to today and into the future.
    • I asked Jacqui to share how the stories will differ between the resume and social media. In your process, you may end up in a different career position while enhancing the story elements.

I hope you enjoy this rare 80+ minute conversation. I wrestled with editing it to be shorter, but I felt this conversation and perspective are rarely published. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Job Search, Jobseekers, Resume Tagged With: Resumes

by Mark Anthony Dyson

How To Successfully Transition From Military To Civilian Jobs

How To Successfully Transition From Military To Civilian Jobs

My father was a decorated U.S. Marine who fought in the South Pacific during the Second World War. His valor earned him a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart, and he was my hero when I was a kid and well into adulthood. I once asked him how difficult it was to leave the military behind and enter the civilian job market. He replied with a truth still echoed today among veterans: “You never fully transition from the military…some part of it will always be with you.”

There’s a laundry list of things to consider as you transition to the civilian job market and close that gap. You’ll get advice (solicited and unsolicited) from various perspectives with varying degrees of reliability. I’m going to focus on one critical factor — from the hiring manager’s perspective—that I have seen most veterans struggle with returning to the civilian job market: relating how daily military tasks and duties translate to marketable civilian skills that hiring managers want.

Think “Entry Strategy,”; not just “Exit Strategy”

Planning your military exit strategy must include steps for entering the civilian job market. Don’t wait until you are discharged to think about this next phase of your life. An entry strategy involves considering how your military service can serve you as you transfer to a civilian career. Here are five questions to ask yourself to get started:

· Which industries could best benefit from my training and experience?

· What kind of work am I best qualified for within those industries?

· What kind of work do I want to do? How well does it align with my skills, knowledge, and experience?

· Do I want or need to return to school first to finish that degree and get an advanced degree, or do I have to pursue certification or a trade license?

· Will I have to move to improve my chances of getting hired in one of those industries? Which areas of the country have a better employment scenario, lower cost of living, and cheaper housing that will allow me to be successful?

Tasks and Duties, Core Competencies, and Functional Expertise

Let’s first define some terms before we drill deeper:

· Tasks and duties: Daily work-related activities aligned with a particular job or position. Example: Laborer who distributes stacks of sheetrock into different areas at a building site.

· Core competencies: A series of related duties/tasks/responsibilities. Example: An ability to read house plans, use power and hand tools, and frame a house would suggest a “carpenter” core competency

· Functional expertise: A series of related and/or peripheral core competencies. Example: Knowledge/expertise in home design, home building, finance, and one or more related core competencies (HVAC, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc.) would suggest a “general contractor” or “builder” functional expertise.

Figure 1 is a simple example of the Task/Duty to Functional Expertise model.

clip_image002

Figure 1. Task/Duty to Functional Expertise Model (modified from Confessions of Hiring Manager Rev. 2.0, Second Edition, by Donn LeVie Jr.)

Can you have more than one functional expertise area? Absolutely! Typically, one area of functional expertise will be dominant for most people. In my book, Confessions of a Hiring Manager Rev. 2.0 (Second Edition), I show several specific military examples in the chapter for military veterans where I take duties/skills and translate them to core competencies and then to functional expertise.

There are two primary questions you can ask yourself as you create your Tasks/Duties to Functional Expertise hierarchy:

1. What specific skills, knowledge, and experience must I have to perform these military duties, tasks, and responsibilities?

2. How would I classify those skill sets, knowledge, and experience into practical job function categories civilian employers would understand?

Don’t kid yourself….these questions require thorough and deep thinking, maybe even help from other veterans. Two websites that can help here:

http://www.careeronestop.org/ExploreCareers/explore-careers.aspx

http://www.military.com/military-transition

Two Examples from Military Résumés

The following examples come from résumés in client organizations. I asked the individuals, “ How did this task fit with a higher strategic objective for the organization?” “How did your job fit in with the bigger picture?” For some folks, the question had to be asked multiple times in different ways to extract more information for determining core competencies and functional expertise.

Example 1: U.S. Air Force returning veteran (C-130 crew chief) seeking opportunities in private industry (commercial, private airlines).

Original bulleted item: “Performed C-130 aircraft maintenance at locations worldwide.”

Revised bulleted item: “Led team that maintained state-of-the-art C-130 military transport aircraft/gunships using various technical skills and knowledge to ensure crew safety, operational readiness, and mission success at strategic global locations.”

The task, as expressed in the original bulleted item, becomes a functional expertise that embraces the core competencies of project management, personnel management, aeronautical mechanics, electronics, safety systems, and so on, just by asking more probing questions.

Example 2: U.S. Army returning veteran (armored vehicle mechanic) seeking opportunities in private industry (heavy equipment mechanic).

Original bulleted item: “Responsible for maintaining several Abrams M1A1 armored vehicles.”

Revised bulleted item: “Maintained three state-of-the-art Abrams M1A1 armored vehicles valued at $13 million with XXX hours Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) for a 92 percent uptime efficiency rating to support field operations in a location in the Middle East.”

Whenever quantitative values for an accomplishment can be included, your stock goes up with hiring managers because they speak the language of numbers (revenues generated, costs avoided, percent improvement, etc.). Place quantitative values in a bold typeface on your résumé to draw the hiring manager’s eye.

The very nature of the word “transition” implies a gradual change from one state to another. Any job search should start with the premise that getting hired is all about what the hiring manager needs and wants; getting hired is never about you. It’s always about how the hiring manager will benefit from the future benefits of your expertise.

Don’t fall into the trap of using your cover letter as a summary of your résumé (eliminate the military jargon and acronyms); get to the point immediately in your first sentence and don’t state the obvious (“I have enclosed my résumé…”). Show how you can serve as the hiring manager’s “forward observer” through your demonstrated expertise.

Former Fortune 500 hiring manager Donn LeVie Jr. is the author of Strategic Career Engagement (September 2015), and the book that reset the rules for successful job and career strategies:  Confessions of a Hiring Manager Rev. 2.0 (June 2012, Winner of the 2012 Global eBook Award and Winner of the 2012 International Book Award for Jobs/Careers). His next book, The Demilitarized Zone: From Deployed to Employed will be available later in 2016. He is a keynote speaker and leads career strategy seminars from the hiring manager’s perspective at conferences, business/trade schools, colleges and universities, and U.S. military veterans organizations. Follow Donn now on Twitter @donnlevie and his blog at http://donnleviejrstrategies.wordpress.com. image

Filed Under: Military Tagged With: Military

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I moderated a panel on Wealth Management for executives by Black Enterprise Magazine in October 2023 in Miami.

I was interviewed on Scripps News show, “The Why!” 4/13/2023

I talked with John Tarnoff and Kerry Hannon of “The Second Act” podcast about job searching after 50 in October 2022.

I was on “The Career Confidante” podcast to talk about “boomerang employees” and “job fishing” in June 2022.

Making Job Search a Lifestyle With “Dr. Dawn Graham on Careers,” SiriusXM Ch. 132, Wharton School of Business May 2021

In May 2020, I talked with LinkedIn’s Senior News Editor Andrew Seaman on “#GetHired” Live.”

Beverly Jones, host of the NPR podcast “Jazzed About Work,” invited me back to talk job scams, job search trends, and AI tools in April 2024

WOUB Digital · Episode 183 : Job search expert Mark Dyson says beware of scams, know AI & keep learning

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