Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Job Search Update

My good friend, Rachael, sent me an email this morning asking how my job search is going. My blog today is the answer to her question.

Hi Rachael,

Thanks for thinking of and asking after me. I am still putting together my resume, which seems to be a very long, involved process. I had kept my "old" resume up-to-date, but after going to a seminar/workshop on resume writing, I have found that I need to completely redo it. It seems that nowadays, especially with the nature of today's job market and in the current economic climate, chronological resumes (which is how mine was written) are no longer getting looked at much by potential employers. These days, the best way to write a resume is to make it "functional"; in other words, focus more on recent accomplishments rather than employment history and job responsibilities, which is secondary in today's world. I had many accomplishments with my past employer, but the problem is that I don't have concrete numbers (like percentages, dollars, ratios) to show the impact of my accomplishments, so I'll have to "guestimate."

I have two career workshops this week: one on using LinkedIn as a personal marketing tool and the other on advanced interviewing techniques (I already took the workshop on basic interviewing). Learning all this stuff is fun, but very intense. It's also a little intimidating because I have been out of the job market for so long (12 years!) and things have changed so much since I last looked for a job. Actually, my last job at NAHB was the only one I applied for and I got it through networking... which, according to my career transition counselor, is the way 75% of professional-level jobs are obtained these days. I had worked at NAHB starting in 1980 and had kept in touch with one of my co-workers, Meg, when I left in 1986. In 1998, after selling real estate for a year (what a joke that was!!), Meg told me about a job opening at NAHB that she thought I would be perfect for. I interviewed for it and was hired. My new boss was Leslie and, even though she left NAHB in 2004, she and I remain very good friends to this day.

So..., once I have finished my resume, hopefully the beginning of next week, I will take it to my career counselor for review and tweaking (I'm trusting it won't need a major rewrite!). Then I will start my job search.

This whole process has been such a blessing for me. It has helped me depend more on God and turn to him to find direction for my life, both professionally and personally. I have prayed for wisdom and discernment, and I have learned to listen attentively for and to God's response. Like I mentioned at CG on Friday, for many months (years, even) I appealed to God to open employment doors for me in the international development/humanitarian aid fields, but none were opened. When I changed my prayer for God to lead me where He wanted me, God's plan for my career was made clear to me: Continue in association management, where I have 17 years of experience and can be a witness to God's grace and mercy to unbelievers. In addition, doors were suddenly unlocked in the field I was interested in, not as a paid employee, but rather as a volunteer ambassador. This reminds me so much of what C.J. preached a couple weeks ago when Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. "...[N]ot as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:39) When I was praying for God to give me what I wanted (a job in the IA field), He did not answer. But when I changed my request for God to do with my life what he wanted, I heard from him immediately. What an amazing God! What a good God!

If you would, please pray that I will continue to seek God's will for my life and not my own. Also pray that I would find suitable employment soon.

Thanks again, Rachael, for your thoughtfulness. You have made my life richer, and I am so grateful to God for you.

In Him,
Janice