The 2018 year brings another Valentine’s Day (V-Day), to your doorstep. This year’s V-Day happens to fall on a Wednesday, hump-day no less. Now it’s not lost on me that this day can either bring you happiness or sadness! Trust me, I know both sides of this coin all too well. Nevertheless, you are most likely thinking about your V-Day plans and those long stem red roses. Or maybe, you don’t have a date on V-Day. No matter, you love the outdoors and you’ve have already made camping plans on the beach in Galveston and the weather looks great. As the clock counts down, you can’t wait to get out of the city. You check the day and time but alas, it’s still the beginning of the week. You start thinking back to high school in hopes that someone would pull the fire alarm.
A job is like a date for V-Day. You have expectations for your date. You let your date in your world because of all the welcome attention, but deep down it’s not really what you want nor is it where you wish to spend precious energy. In fact, if you are not happy with the relationship then you are most likely on the lookout for the next best thing. To be clear, if you have a job, your feelings towards it will not change. Allow me to explain… If you are lucky enough to have a date on V-Day, you have a week’s distraction at best. How you felt the day before and how you will feel the very next day, will not change. A simple question to ask yourself would be: Am I in love with my job? If your answer is YES, I am extremely happy for you, you’ve found true love. However, if your answer is NO, then we need to have a heart-to-heart talk.
You have a love/hate relationship when it comes to your current employment or at least towards the kind of work you keep falling into. You hate what you do for the paycheck, but love the idea of a paycheck no matter what. Why is this? Well for starters, you may have agreed to all the job requirements on your first date with the employer. Like a real date, after meeting for a few minutes, the first impressions start to settle in. It is at this point you now know this might not be the perfect match for you. Rather than acknowledge that very important understanding, you decided to go with the more common approach… “I don’t want to hurt his/her feelings so I will just agree to everything they say.”.
Because you are not in love with what you do, this new relationship is on a one way road trip on Route 66 bound for Heartbreak Hotel. It’s only a matter of time before that thin line between love and hate breaks. Your dislikes will advise you to find a way to leave the job. This is done by you doing something crazy on purpose to get fired like stealing boxes on your day off or you up and quit without having another job in place. Worse yet, your date beats you to the punch and requests that you leave their presence. Now I know what you are thinking… Richard doesn’t have a warm, loving heart in his blog! Oh, but I do! I call it tough love with good news at the end.
Let me share with you an experience of mine. Looking back, my mom would often request I leave her sight, mainly because I never did my chores correctly. Washed dishes were riddled with food residue and moped floors still had crumbs in the corners. Mom would rhetorically state, “RICHARD, if you cannot do it correct at home, how can you expect to get it correct at a real job?” I would then look around and say, “Mom, it looks clean; I did my best.” “Is that so? Boy, your best would get us all fired on the spot! Remind me why I’m giving you allowance again?”
She really made me think about taking pride in my work but also the need to fall in love with the right kind of work for me. Cleaning wasn’t my thing or so I thought. Turns out, I am great at organizing clutter and I love a great transformation. Mom quickly took me off kitchen duties and moved me into the garage and closets.
Knowing how to sell my talents to my Mom was the key to her heart. However, to touch an employer’s heart, you will need to show more love towards your resume. How, you ask? When you read a job description it will describe the duties and abilities needed for that position. You will then discover you may or may not be a match. If the job doesn’t speak to your heart, then find one that does. Do not apply for a job just because it’s available. Reflect back on your abilities and achievements. Your resume should always sell the best qualities in you as it pertains to the job description. Try it; you never know… the next job or date you go on could be a match made in the stars. And remember, if you can learn to fall in love with your resume, the world will learn to fall in love with you! The love of your life (that dream career), is waiting for you so do not ignore what is meant for you!
Richard Prather is a bi-lingual Regional Facilitator for Workforce Solutions. Richard combines 3 years of experience at Workforce Solutions with his Master’s degree, diverse experiences traveling abroad, and commitment to excellence in customer service to provide training to both customers and staff throughout the 13 counties of the Gulf Coast Region.
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