How to Embrace the Most Embarrassing Parts of Your Resume
Everyone’s resume has a dud or two. Glaring gaps after getting fired. That new boss who reorganized your team-and maybe didn’t like you that much-and gave you a title demotion you’re embarrassed about. And let’s not forget your short-lived stint as VP of operations at a hypergrowth startup, where your chief responsibility was packing boxes til midnight on Fridays until your partner cried foul.
I feel uncomfortable about parts of my career history
I went headfirst into marketing after college before realizing it was an Excel job and I expected a Powerpoint one
- Started a restaurant that flopped
- Made lateral moves, playing hot potato with my career for about a decade without ever cracking the ranks of leadership
I gained a clear and simple truth, grounded in fact: This is where I’ve worked, and whatever others may think, I still gained some valuable experience from it-experience that helped me make better decisions about my career later on.
Ask me about that, and I’d be glad to talk about it.
Remove yourself from any possible judgment
You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish
What if duds like these aren’t duds?
What if they’re simply the points on the zigzagging line that leads to the presently crystallized version of you
- Someone with experience, know-how, and the crucial leadership traits of humility and empathy gleaned from working in the battlefields and the trenches-not just commanding the fleets?
Self-judgments are dangerous self-fulfilling prophecies
We tell ourselves we are fat, lazy, don’t exercise enough, aren’t worthy of a raise, are not worthy of love, wouldn’t find another job if we were fired, etc.
- Sometimes we forget that we’re all trying our best-all of us-to do better
Selling your experience
To do this well, you first need to come to grips with the parts of your job history that you’re least interested in talking about.
- And that means working your way through these three phases:
- Selling Your Experience
- The ability to take command of your resume and tell a compelling narrative about your career is critical.