Completely independent of each other, two friends reviewing my resume told me last week to stop “being so Minnesotan.”
If this makes no sense to you, I will offer an inside joke I have with the Manly Fireplug. I told him that growing up in Minnesota, I’d often see drivers pause on highway entrance ramps.
“Why the hell would they do that?”
“Because they’re thinking, (and here I adopted the appropriate vowel-flattening accent of my hometown): ‘Oh, I don’t want to get in anyone’s way…’”
Extrapolate.
The Fireplug and I use that phrase now, “Oh, I don’t want to get in anyone’s way,” whenever I’m being too modest. The Fireplug doesn’t usually have that problem, and I’ve learned a few things about self-confidence and self-marketing from him. Humility is attractive, yes, but not on the job market, and in case you haven’t heard, there’s a couple other people looking for work these days.
It had been a while since I’d worked on my resume, and I was still under the impression that you’d do best sticking to one page. Fortunately, in my recent quest to Ask For Help Even If It Feels Uncomfortable, a few friends with more experience in job searching have pointed me in the right direction.
In fact, so many people have helped me out, in a myriad of ways, with resume edits, job leads, and references, that I am almost humbled into silence. Almost.
But you can’t rely completely on other people to get your own shit done. I swallowed my humility long enough to bang out a professional/C.V. page for this here blog, and I’m glad I did. For that page, coupled with my recent posts, landed me some paid work.
It’s still too new and too fragile-feeling for me to say much about it, but it involves a publisher, books, and blogging. So, yeah. It doesn’t suck.