LinkedIn – The Bouncy Kitty

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” ―Abigail Adams.

There are traditional routes for higher education, but in light of the recent events, like COVID-19, college admissions scandals, UC Colleges dropping the SAT / ACT requirement, school’s delayed reopening, and the like – traditional routes might not be the most fruitful or effective learning methods anymore. As more and more people find the solace and mental space to work from home, it’s a great time to consider what else you can do from home and evolve into.

On a personal level, I’ve been with my current company going on a decade, and though I’m content with my Bachelors of Science in Applied Statistics – after being in the work field for so long, there are simply some aspects of the craft that had fallen by the wayside. As the adage goes – if you don’t use it, you lose it; and it’s doubly so when we’re talking about our innate depths of knowledge.

Though I had picked up new applications and industry knowledge – I simply felt I was lacking in other areas of thinking about business and the corporate world at large. As I forayed from my former role to where I currently sit, I wanted to hone back in on analytics, as well as learn a thing or two about both accounting and economics. After some thought, and a bit of pushing by those closest to me – I made some money moves, and was blessed to have been accepted into the January 2020 Cohort of Harvard Business School Online. Fast forward to now and I’m a proud certificate holder of their CORe curriculum. Down to my core, I am so thrilled to have actually taken the plunge into higher education and can’t wait to amass even more knowledge.

The Meaning of Being Educated. Education is an ancient topic aging… | by Lucien Griffin - Student | Voices | Medium

With infinite options and opportunities – where does one even begin?

With the ample amounts of downtime we’re all suffering from – there are ample paths to take, all of them leading to learning. So whether you’re trying to refresh your skill set, wrapping your head around something new and acquiring certifications or the pure and unadulterated pursuit of higher education – there’s a path for you. If you’re game to learning, but don’t know where to start – decide if you’d like to build new skills, or brush up on old ones. Then start doing some basic searches online to see what’s worked for other people, ask a friend, a colleague, or a peer at work. And you never know, some jobs will offer to even reimburse your schooling – however, mostly with proof of good, passing work. My suggestion would be to find a subject you care about, at an institution you respect – it makes for a great working relationship, and you’ll truly get the most out of your future education!

Due to quarantine and COVID safety, many of us have turned to remote learning over the last year. First things first, we have to face the facts: Long Distance Learning is a bit like being in a long distance relationship; either you’re really good at personal accountability, communication and your loyalty – or, you’re not. Plus, the classes aren’t exactly cheap – you’ll have to put up a pretty penny, or a few, to get your brain fuel. Good news though! The end result is that you’ll be well learned, have honed in on old skills while building new ones, and have proven to yourself that you indeed can handle that challenge – but just know that along the way, there will definitely be a few bumps and bruises.

Almost all accredited universities have an online learning component with digital departments for each and every one of us. This past year, I wrapped up my first online certificate course through Harvard Business School Online and their CORe program where I dove into Econ, Accounting and Analytics; and I’m SO thrilled that I did! I made connections, and not just between coursework and my work life, but social connections that I’m happy to have created this past year. Other institutions I was considering were: Stanford, University of Washington, UCLA Extension and Syracuse.

One thing I’ve discovered in my older age, is that going back to school isn’t always the best fiscal decision; I often wish I had studied something else during my time at University, even picked up a minor or a second major. But, hindsight being 20/20, I’ve realized there are other ways to supplement this type of learning! In that glorious time of life before COVID, you could physically walk into a classroom and simply audit the materials. You wouldn’t have the luxury of testing, or some of the reading materials, but you would be set up for learning success by being in the ether. There are some great online resources for those that are still resigned to staying home – some of my favorites are: edX, the brainchild of MIT and Harvard; Class Central, General Assembly Free Fridays, and Coursera at least for a moment was offering free courses for college students.

For Washington residents, did you know that our state is fucking rad? Trick question, of course you did – it’s why you’re here! When I applied for my library card, I was over the moon because I realized that with your Seattle Public Library Membership you get a free Lynda subscription; FREE! (and, if you’re not a Washingtonian, you can also get one by signing up with Linkedin Premium!) Lynda hosts all sorts of digital learning, from Photography and Photoshop to Microsoft Suite and Access, to programming with C#, Python and JAVA. Meanwhile, Washington State Library’s Microsoft Imagine Academy is dolling out free access to amazing tech learning software from Microsoft that covers applications, data science, IT, web developing and computer science.

“If you think education is expensive, try estimating the cost of ignorance.”
— Howard Gardner

What uncommon routes, courses or classes have you taken to give yourself an educational glow-up as an adult? Let me know in the comments below!

From the moment we’re thrust into the world of academia, there’s a lingering air left over us that we’re destined to pursue our dream career and land our dream job. For some of us, that’s a tried and true reality; but that reality comes with sacrifices that tend to not be talked about: the fiscal rewards seem inversely proportional to the facets of our life that we sacrifice. Friendships, from familial to romantic, are thrust onto the back burner while deferred dreams evolve into the norm.

But then, on the flip side, there are others like myself included that are still passionately prowling for what makes sense to them. We’ve watched as hobbies and skills learned vocationally have developed into tangible career path, and our academic degrees have signified less and less, eventually fading away into obscurity on a wall in your home office as resolute proof of a life once lived. Regardless of your career choice, one truth I’ve learned about the working world is you should always be open to the variety of options out there, because you simply don’t know what doors of opportunity you might be knocking on in the future.

Over the last month, I’ve migrated roles in my part time position into a interim Human Resources guru and I’ve seen a lot – I mean a – LOT – of resumes fly my way. Some are stellar and some not so much, but it’s made the wheels of my mind work in new and different ways. I’ve found that whether it’s a do or a don’t, each and every resume has valuable insight – from elevating my syntax or word choice, adjusting my work history, delving into my skill set or omitting prior experience that has little to nothing to do with the new role. Beyond now owing myself an actual resume refresh with some of the new skills I’ve learned while taking in the hiring process, I finally have some wisdom to impart on the topic. Whether you’ve had your job for a month or a year, having an up to date resume that you can send out on a whim is clutch – and could land you the opportunity of a lifetime.

Style

‘Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.’

– Rachel Zoe –

Granted, I don’t think Rachel Zoe was referring to reviving your resume – but for all intensive purposes, for now – let’s just pretend she was. Even though the proof of the pudding is your content, the style and formatting of your resume are the first impression, and you know what they say about first impressions: it’s best to make a good one. Your resumes style should say as much about your personality as the words on the page, not to mention – it’s your first foot in the door with an employer.

I’ve found that a resume with an elegantly simple yet beautiful style will get passed on 9 times out of 10 over a plain text resume, while a standard plain text resume with proper margins and headers sounds ideal compared to a one haphazardly strewn together, without margins or any form of structure. But let’s back up a bit and get to the basics of resume formatting.

Traditionally, your resume should have the most important information on the top and left side, while the less important information is left for the right side and the bottom. This is because of two schools of thought – one, is that only the first few words of each line are even read – so those need to be the most important; the other is that resumes tend to be folded in half, and sometimes they stay that way – meaning anything ‘below the fold’ goes unseen.

The crux of your resume itself should be single spaced, with a 12 point font for the body. Mind your margins and as a general rule of thumb, leave at least .5″ on the right and left sides, and you can go down to .25″ for the header and footer margin.Keep in mind that too much text is overwhelming and having some white space is pleasing to the eye. Bullet points for positions and professions should be limited to two lines maximum, but one if possible. Whatever you do, please use proper case for your resume – take it from personal experience, a resume in all capitals is anxiety inducing and can basically guarantee that your resume will be sent to the bottom of the barrel. When it comes to style – consistency is key, make sure the body of your resume is all in the same font, size and color. And last, but certainly not least – use spell check and be careful not to jump between tenses.

Like your Cover Letter, your resume should stick to one page – if you’re a creative, you can use the second page for projects and publications, but for your resume itself – it shouldn’t be one page and a paragraph – not even one full page and a trailing sentence on the next; one page, and one page only. If you need a place for overflow information, try an online supplement like an About.Me page or LinkedIn profile. For those that consider themselves slightly more web savvy with a lot to say – try your hand at building your own webpage, not only is it a phenomenal reference point for any future employer but now you’ve already added new skill sets like Website Development, Search Engine Optimization, Google Analytics and Google Adwords.

Benefits of a Visual Resume

For anyone who’s pursuing a more creative avenue like Graphic Design, Photography, Public Relations or Videography – you know how to best represent yourself, and it’s not in the old humdrum way you’re used to. You deserve pizzazz, you deserve some pomp and a you deserve nothing but the best of circumstances. A visual resume is incredibly befitting and will show employers that you’re prepared to bring your A game to the table at a moments notice.

If you’ve got a friend in graphic design, grab’em – because their resumes are honestly instantly more creative and competitive than the rest of us. From simple additions like adjusting the flow of information or using columns to organize individual sections to more complex ones like including graphic images, social media icons and infographics to represent quantitative data – I’ve been blown away by how crafty some applicants are. Word to the wise though, always save these types of resumes as a PDF – that way, the text doesn’t run a muck and lose formatting when it’s uploaded to your employers website.

Content

Now that we’ve got your resume looking good and feeling great, it’s time to conquer the content of your resume – because when you get down to brass tax – the content is the product. For your resume less actually is more: with less fluff you give the reader a chance to focus on what’s important. Let’s start at the top of the resume and work down to the bottom.

Header: Your full address isn’t necessary, but your city and state are valuable to the employer – as is a link to a variety of different digital media profiles, from Twitter to Facebook and LinkedIn. Just remember, these will be checked – so best to keep them clean!

Objective: Unless you’re making a drastic career shift or have just graduated from college or university – the ‘Objective’ statement on the top should either be eliminated or simply moved over to your cover letter.

Work History: After a certain point in your career, you don’t need to tell your collective work history – you can start piece by piece, picking and choosing – including only the professions that apply to the new job. Move anything that’s not pertinent to a ‘Master Resume‘ that chronicles your entire job history, including remedial internships and part time gigs. However, for the resume you ship around to prospective employers, it’s best to keep off any short term job that spanned for less than four months.

Each employment experience should have between 2 and 4 key notes, including key learnings, moments of growth, and acquired skills – all driven by powerful verbs. If possible, use numbers to drive your points home – not only are they a simpler way of determining value, but quantitative figures will make you stand out. Your history doesn’t necessarily need to be in a linear order – this segment should tell a story and read with your strongest applied skill set for the job at the top, then descending on downwards by rank of importance. Omit your salary history – that’s a conversation for later down the road.

Education: Now that we’re finally out of college, our GPA and graduation date don’t matter as much as our degree itself, the honors and awards we received and the organizations we belonged to. Did you go Greek? Work on the school newspaper? Have an hour segment on the radio station? Graduate with honors? Volunteer at a local shelter? All of these qualities are foundations of well rounded employees with a variety of brain stimulating hobbies.

Skills: In 2016, there are some skills I just hope you have under your belt and believe you me – I’ve seen it all: Myers Briggs Personality Types, ‘Fluent in English’, ‘Smart Phones and ‘Googling’. Though I’m actually a fan of the first, what I realize is that all of these facets can pigeonhole an employee, or even prevent them from moving along in the hiring process. USPS isn’t difficult to navigate, neither is Facebook. But Facebook Page Analytics and Insuring International Shipments are two completely different stories.As a general rule of thumb, if you have to ask – you should probably just leave it out.

Posting and Hosting

Before you save your resume, convert it to a PDF and preserve any creative or graphic elements. Save the file using your name + ‘Resume’ and the Date, and save it into a master directory with all of your old resumes. That way, you’re ready to send on the fly moving forward. As far as posting your resume online, there are several free options – including Monster, Indeed and LinkedIn; or, store a text version of your resume on About.me and a graphic representation on Visualize.Me – the possibilities are endless! Now go on, get out – and get hired!