Mark Anthony Dyson, Author at The Voice of Job Seekers

10 Wondrous Ways Your Spouse Can Boost Your Career

Marriage is a powerful relationship. Yes, I see and hear the eye-rolling, head-shaking, and let-me-check-my-Facebook-page-on-my-phone people sigh in the “I’m sick of hearing this myth” attitude. I must warn you that this post is a positive marriage post, so if you need to stop reading, go ahead. But please allow me to pontificate because the evidence below is from personal experience and the relationships of many of my friends and a career practitioner. Your spouse will boost your career aspirations, goals, and accomplishments if you let him or her. I will spare you the “what doesn’t kill you” cliché, but the formula hasn’t changed. It takes two selfless, imperfect, and sacrificing individuals to make your career thrive through your spouse.

I don’t know one marriage that has lasted the last ten years without confronting serious career decisions. The divorce rate has risen recently because couples from broken marriages waited out the Great Recession for a better financial situation. We will probably see the divorce rate surge past 50% in the next few years. Although job loss isn’t the sole reason for the marriage’s demise, it is often exposed to problems that do or sometimes are the last straw.

1. Your spouse will likely tell you the unfiltered truth. One of the challenges and blessings of marriage is how your spouse relays the “you’re not doing it right” message. Sometimes, the rough delivery is the wake-up call to take a second look at your approach to anything. In this case, your job search, career goals, professional fashion attempts, and/or relationships could be boosted. Your spouse knows exactly what button to push, and sometimes, the buttons that annoy you the most are the ones that motivate you in the way that moves you to action. It’s also a sign of a good partnership. Sure, there are times when the delivery of the message is painful and, at times, causes a little dissension. But you think about it several times when you realize that person has your best interest at heart.

2. His/her network is your network. You have twice the contacts most wouldn’t have when you were single. For this to be truly effective, when you need to help family members with trivial chores or attend a school play, position them in your mind as networking or career management. Mostly, you will find yourself telling family members what you do and the why, how, where, and when about your career. Don’t lose sight of the goal here, as numbers count, and how deep you dig into your network counts more.

3. He or she can help you rehearse conversations and interviews or proofread. This works if your spouse does any of these as a part of their job. Proofreading is great if your husband is a writer or is doing his graduate work. Or if your wife is an editor or writes herself. But if they are neither, it can get you closer if he or she catches errors. Your spouse can help you with the little communication habits that turn people off or annoy them. My wife drills into me about eye contact. I did a good job before meeting her, but after all these years of hearing about it, I think I’ve been excellent at eye contact since we’ve been together.

4. Encouragement. If you are not the main source of encouragement for your spouse, it is usually not reciprocated. But if you work at it with your spouse, where both of you are competitive and encouraging to each other, it can be a powerful tool.

5. Each other’s coworkers become a significant part of your career trajectory. I have seen coworkers become part of the solution in married life. These days, coworker relationships are more constant than dating and sometimes marriage relationships. If mutual liking and respect exist, these relationships are countless but advantageous.

6. Your spouse can challenge you like no one else. This is a powerful motivation in a positive way in my marriage. If your relationship has the right tenor (in my opinion), no one can move you to action, lift you, or crush you like your spouse. If this dynamic is mutual, it is a sign of a marriage that will strengthen for years to come, and experience continued career success.

7. People are positively motivated when two work as one. There is nothing more encouraging when couples coordinate, promote, and act on the same page. This takes a lot of communication and understanding, but if you’re not, this can be contentious. This means that your efforts together will stagnate, but on the other hand, what is revealed can be rectified if the desire is mutual.

8. When one falls, the other will lift you. When a spouse is conducting a job search, it affects the two of you. All the anxiety, nervousness, and stress are on both of you. It is not recognizable at first because it affects each person differently. It is difficult to see if you are the person who needs a job or a new job. The trap is realized when one doesn’t become what the other needs. Finding ways to serve each other during this time is a balm or remedy. The power comes when spouses are trying to out-serve the other. Then courage, patience, perseverance, persistence, and resilience are installed in each other due to lifting up one another.

9. Your Spouse Is an Expert in Your Talents. The bonus is if they can bring out the best of you. This doesn’t continually transform into career attributes, but sometimes affirmation from your spouse can inject energy and synergy into your job search. This is especially helpful when job leads run dry.

10. He or she can shorten the length of pain and disappointment. The job search is a roller coaster full of ups and downs, peaks and valleys, and, at times, depression is even harder to anticipate. Sometimes, we need comfort, not more strategies, follow-ups, or attempts. Yes, the need to keep going is essential, but the moments of rejuvenation are needed more. From a hug to shutting out the world for an evening will work. Sometimes, we need someone else to let us relax and take our minds away from the grind when it’s a grind. The job search is a hilly, rocky, and muddy marathon. Anything spouses can do to ease the pain is essential.

By no means will a combination of my suggestions fix shortcomings such as specific skills or personal attributes needed for any profession. What it will do is help each spouse endure the challenges that are often faced in today’s complicated job search. If you need these things in your life, then I know where you can start: You start becoming what he or she needs.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

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?

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

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:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708.365.9822
Email: [email protected]
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!