Go to college, work a part-time job for four years, party with your friends, craft a basic resume at the career center, and graduate.  Then, it’s time to find work.  So, you post your resume online and wait for the interviews to pour in...You probably know this story quite well.

Upon graduating, I was ready to tackle corporate America.  I thought I was a shoo-in for an entry level position in any field.  After all, I had a degree and I was a fast learner- someone would hire me in no time.  Well, reality smacked me right on the forehead…hard.  

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Months passed by, and I heard nothing.  Where were all my interview requests?  I knew I had the skills to succeed, yet my inbox was jammed with automated rejection emails.  Nights and evenings were spent at my laptop screaming, ‘just give me a chance, people!’ 

Unfortunately, I never realized how unprepared I was for life outside the safe and secure college cocoon until it was too late.  Spoiler alert: no one teaches you how to navigate the real world in college.

I never learned the importance of telling a story in an interview.  I didn’t have the ‘charm the pants off of everyone’ networking gene.  In my head, all jobs ever created were to be listed on Indeed.com.  In fact, Indeed and I were once the best of friends (well, maybe we were more like frenemies.)

I’m going to let you in on a secret: the key to success is your frame of mind.  The job market is competitive, and the influx of millennial workers is only increasing.  To land your dream job, you must stand out, know your worth, and be confident in it!

Throughout my volatile job search journey, I realized that other people were not responsible for my success, and they definitely were not responsible for my own happiness.  Employers were not going to just hand me a job.  Rather, I needed to go out there and tell them why I was the best person for the role.  As I discovered the career search mistakes I was making, and corrected them, the foundation for my future was beginning to take shape.

My greatest revelation came down to this: we make our own luck.  I was learning to create instances of luck by working for it.  Failure wasn’t an option; it was do or die.

In order to be successful, I had to know what I really wanted, and what I could do well.  Then, I needed to go out there and get it.  My newly formed mindset empowered me!

A few years later I was working for a Fortune 500 company, and I hated it.  While contemplating a career change, I had an honest conversation with myself and asked, ‘What are my strengths?’ and ‘What do I really want to do with my life, and how can I become equipped to get there?’  Once I had this list of hard skills and soft traits that I could offer an employer, I made it part of my story and my professional brand.

Shockingly, I realized I wasn’t the only one who was experiencing these frustrated and forgotten feelings.  I was learning so much during this process that I started helping my friends who were going through the same struggles finding a career they loved and felt passionate about.

All of this led to the founding of LaunchPoint Resume, which I created as a result of my own frustrations with the job search.  I got my professional resume writer certification and went to work launching a career that would help other young professionals be competitive in the job market as well.

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The key to success is your frame of mind.  To land your dream job, you must stand out, know your worth, and be confident in it!

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I built a career and lifestyle blog around the idea that your inabilities produce capabilities.  Everyone has their own unique strengths and weaknesses.  My story is what makes me unique and valuable to a potential employer. I’ve learned that feelings of failure won’t just creep in during the job search, but throughout certain life situations as well.  It’s how you learn to recognize them, deal with them, and conquer them that makes the difference.

Every day, I speak with clients, asking them the thought provoking questions to craft a story unique to their individual attributes.  I’ve helped countless young professionals and career changers revamp their professional portfolios, and have equipped them with the tools they need to be successful.  Resumes are often your only chance at a first impression. -  If a hiring manager only plans to scan your file for 7-10 seconds, then you better make sure your resume is at its best.

The time to build your network, mold your future, and take charge is now.  Remember, a resume is only as good as the story it tells.  So what’s your story, and how will you tell it?  

If and when you get stuck writing your next chapter, contact LaunchPoint Resume- we’ll help you get it on paper. 

 

Lauren is  a young professional working to inspire other women to take charge of their careers.  She also writes about how to navigate the job search with a disability on her blog, CaP-ABLE...and Beyond.  When she’s not crafting killer resumes through my company LaunchPoint Resume, you'll find her writing about career, politics, disability, and lifestyle topics.  Her current obsession: finding the perfect gif to accompany my monthly newsletters.

 

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