I Want You to Want Me

click the link below to review video, turn the volume down (or up if that is your preference)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el2euHm4yGE

I do Want You to Want Me. I have picked it all up, trucked it across the country and found a place to call home. All the way from Des Moines Iowa to New York City. It's been a little adjustment for my dog Ted, but I love it! Now I'm here and all I need is the job. I gave myself 1 week to get settled and prepare for the search. Purchased a brand new spiffy Mac, set myself up with enough storage to back-up images for years to come. Purchased all the software that could ever be needed to do what I am good at. I am prepared to do the job. 

Now, I'm hunkered down and applying for the jobs I want. The ones I would love, and would work all the overtime, bring it home if need be, because I have everything I need right here. I just can't stay away from my computer and can't stand it when things are put off until tomorrow when they could be done today. I put together a three fold resume. First fold includes the customary resume on paper, the center section has a shinny new iPod; resume loaded, my contact info, PDF of the entire issue of a brand spanking new launch, online magazine I worked so hard to help produce (that issues is up for 2 awards for min's best of the web 2012).  Uploaded 3 photo essays that I put together in order to show how I can produce and art direct photo shoots to bring home the feel of being there just by watching the images slide by. Designed a creative little cover for the iPod with instructions and my website address. Yes, I designed a website that included everything... all to be a part of one lean, mean branding machine. The third fold is everything on a DVD. I am in hopes this will be a way of showing that I can do the job, many jobs as a matter of fact. I have a resume for those that like it on paper, one for the newest generation or the young at heart, that I think a fun and quick look that could be passed around and viewed at leisure (yes, I know that it needed to be returned so that it would not be perceived as a gift. Postage paid, self addressed envelope included). The DVD makes it easy to copy to your desktop so it could be readily available should a position come up that fit my experience. iPod and DVD include the website for easy click and view. The thought was that you could have it your way, which ever way was best and easiest for you.


Nothing... not a single call. Back to the drawing board! I have researched on the web, watched more webinars on how to be the one picked for the job than I can count. Each and every article and lesson with advice of how to sell yourself and be the one. Payed to have my resume rewritten and the creativity pulled out like a bad appendix. I cringed at this, but that is what everything tells me to do. I have steadily been building up my LinkedIn profile with the people and networks I am in hopes could help me get where I would love to be, doing what I love to do. I watch my Facebook page to make sure nothing offensive is posted and I use it as a way of expressing myself, to show who and what I'm all about. It is full of useful, fun and practical information, it shows my sense of humor, and that's what makes it fun.


Now, I have been saying to myself, how can this be so dang hard, why do we need to go through all the tricks and changes to each cover letter, resume, email, in order to trick an employer into thinking "I am the one"? Seriously, I watched a webinar on "word clouds". The premises is to go to the company website and copy the info from the job description. Paste this into "Wordle" (yes they have a website that will do this for you). Wordle will extract all the keywords that make a good word cloud. You then include all these words into your resume so that the employer thinks you think just like them. Are ya kidding me? I thought the idea was to hire someone with new ideas and creative thinking, bring in fresh and new blood. To hire someone that doesn't think just like us. That is what I went after when hiring a new employee! I wanted someone who brought me something new and blended well with what I had.


This morning when I sat down to my computer with my cup of java, ready to go back at it with 6-8 hours of applying for anything new and more research and networking, I find an article that takes hiring to its simplest form. What it seems to me it should be all about.

1. Can you do the job? = strengths
2. Will you love the job? = motivation
3. Can we tolerate working with you? = fit

here is where you can find the article

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2011/04/27/top-executive-recruiters-agree-there-are-only-three-key-job-interview-questions/

That's it, enough said. This article has reinvigorated me today to keep calm and carry on.

Jo Ann