Growth is a funny thing…

Growth is a funny thing. When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

If we’re being completely honest…

Becoming a resume writer was never a part of my career plan.

Since I was a little boy, I actually wanted to be a comedian.

But when I tried to “break-in” to “Hollywood” I realized that I was feeling jaded

It wasn’t at all how I imagined.

So after relocating back East from my 3-year LA stint, I ended up starting my own resume writing firm because of the 2008 crisis. It was what I had known since living a dual life of HR and entertainment.

At that time, I was doing resumes as favors for people in my spare time. After a couple of actual paying clients, I decided it was time to make this an official company. And do not get overwhelmed if you feel like starting a company seems like a mountain. Believe me, it’s a lot of work, but check out this wonderful article to help with getting started.

I do know that I came to realize that my day-to-day time would slowly pull back from the administrative and client-interfacing work and directed towards marketing and sales. It’s amazing how much time in the day goes towards branding and business expansion. Make sure to check out this article to gain some insights on best marketing and sales practices to get started.

Finally, I was able to work through all these challenges and persevere towards an end goal I never knew existed 15 years ago. Now, I enjoy being a thought leader in my industry. I share information with my clients for free, collaborate with my colleagues daily and joined numerous industry affiliations to sustain relevance in the industry. Plus I follow some major influencers, which you can check out here.

Branding is key to standing out in a cluttered market due to COVID-19. Boiling it down, think about your situation from the hiring manager’s point of view. He or she has to be pulled aside from their day-to-day at the end of the workday to review resumes and fill an open requisition. An open requisition that is either costing them money or not making them money by leaving it vacant. When they find an ideal candidate, sometimes it’s more of a cultural fit if they know they can train someone rather quickly. So trust that if it’s supposed to happen, it will. If not, keep looking for opportunities. Maybe volunteer with a group, offer a company to work for free so you can learn the ropes, or join an online forum and start engaging with individuals in that industry to gain more learning. It comes down to ‘will you make money for the new company or cost them money?’ Work hard to be the former, it will carry you farther. Prove you can do the job, and a good job at that. Offer value and solutions, not abilities or skills. Everyone can eat a hot dog or two, but not everyone slam 70 weenies like Joey Chestnut to help raise money for a charitable cause that was about to go bankrupt.

Next the candidate should research their new career field/job target to gain more advantages towards actually becoming a thought leader! You need to do your research. You need to get a feel for the way the industry and respective companies function in the world now, post-COVID-19, not before like all the whitepapers out there still clamoring what we’re going to be, but reporting this from November 2019. Reports for NOW are tough to come by, but there’s models out there to find. Forecasts, news stories, industry insight! GOLD! Figure out what services they’ll provide to others after we open up for good.

What types of jobs are going to be out there in that industry that may be new, and that could pose as a potential new career? I love using Google News, Google alerts, Salary.com, Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn to uncover industry and job research. Using this research can be a good way to spot industry and job keywords (for the core competencies and summary sections), role responsibilities (for the experience section), and important transferable contributions (for the accomplishments section) for inclusion on your resume.

You also need to look out for continuing education opportunities. Seek out academic programs that can help train and prepare you for your new role while you’re in limbo. Find some new career job openings and the minimal qualifications in each, identify the possible credentials you may need to better position yourself in this new role, and find online institutions that you can acquire these credentials, and list them onto your resume. Also, find membership groups and industry networking opportunities…this is a wonderful place to gather knowledge from industry pros who can help explain the nuances of your new role.

When I got laid-off from my full-time recruiter job in 2009, at the time I thought my world was ending and my anxiety was crippling. But I started planting those seeds and 11 years later I can honestly say that transition was fate. Destiny made it work out in the end.

While I’m not doing scenes with Tom Hanks, I do get cast from time to time (yes, I have an IMDB).

What’s your career or business story?

Thank you for reading! Please visit www.jobstickers.com to keep up with all of MJW Careers’ content, and visit www.mjwcareers.com or email warz65@gmail.com (or call 855-YES-EMPLOYEES) to learn more about our resume writing, interview training, career coaching or outplacement services and solutions.

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