It’s that time of year when local church choirs are preparing for the annual Holiday Show EXTRAVAGANZA! How big or small the show is depends on the size of your church.
Regardless of choir size, an important measurement of success with any choir is intonation and harmony. Harmony is a combination of sounds (pleasing to the ear) that conveys a message or mood. It is usually rendered in 4 parts/voices consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass. To produce harmony, the 4 parts must work together to achieve a pleasing sound.
Have you ever heard a choir that is lacking harmony? Harmony doesn’t just happen… It takes work, and rules must be followed.
In the same way, there are rules that must be followed when creating a successful job search plan. Let me explain.
In high school, I sang in the choir. I wasn’t a great singer, but I had a high voice and since tenors were hard to find, I was asked to be in the “top” choir. Individually I wasn’t good, but as part of a team, I was among the best.
When it comes to jobs, and a successful job search plan, a resume alone might be enough to find a “job,” but there’s a greater likelihood of finding a successful “career” when using a group of tools working together in harmony.
The soprano voice in choir is sort of like a job applicant’s resume. Sopranos sing the melody, and because it’s so important to the overall sound, it parallels the importance of a job seeker’s resume.
The alto voice acts as a “backup” singer to the soprano section. The alto contributes to the harmony making it sound fuller and richer. In the same way, a cover letter provides a richer and fuller explanation of what’s contained on someone’s resume.
A strong tenor voice is rare, but it’s important and cannot be ignored. In much the same way, networking is not an easy thing, but it’s so important when looking for work. How many times have you heard someone mention they found a job through a family member or friend? That’s networking.
The bass voice provides the foundation of a choir. In terms of jobs and careers, a job interview can, and often does, provide the foundation of a relationship between employer and job candidate.
Just like in a choir, when independently moving pieces come together as one, a stronger team is formed. When we look for jobs, we must be firing on all cylinders to give ourselves the best chance at acing an interview and landing a job. Remember the voices in a choir as you prepare for your next opportunity! A little extra time spent up front will help you tomorrow. See you at work!
David Spears is a member of the Workforce SolutionsNavigator team for the Texas Gulf Coast Region. Combining training and education to real world examples, David brings personal and professional experience with disabilities to the table in order to help job seekers with disabilities realize their potential. David has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business Administration with over 20 years of experience in the business world.
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