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Showing posts from July, 2023

Quantify Quantifiables

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"Quantify things!" "Make sure you quantify your experience!" "And quantifiable impact statements." "Quantify, quantify, quantify!" It gets said a lot... but some people struggle with it... so here are 4(ish) ways to quantify your #impact on your #resume

The All-Seeing Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg

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This robot has represented so much in my life. From hearing about the wild dream to being a part of building cutting edge disruptive technology, from 6 people to 60, from Startup to Acquired, from hiring coworkers to building life long connections. Despite the changes this robot witnessed, it also represented consistency: Injecting genuine personality into everything with fearless vulnerability, tackling every problem with the belief that the solution was not in the product but in our attitude, and most importantly - loving people, loving connection, loving the highs and lows. For me, this bot represents the all-seeing eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, from The Great Gatsby. It has witnessed a time many of us think of fondly, and it has witnessed my life since - navigating a world without my Gatsby. He would have turned 50 yesterday (anyone who knew him would probably chuckle at the absurd silliness of him as a 50 year old...) We used to joke "I fought the bot and the bot won,"

Falling Behind

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  Bad news. After staring for too long at a PowerBI, it came to my attention that my hair part line is really behind target.

Cover Letter Fan-Fiction

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I heard someone say requiring cover letters is like asking candidates to write fan-fiction about working at your company. 😄 Jokes aside, I think seeing a cover letter as a literary work is a good framework for when to write one, and when not to: Don't If... It's imaginative: "At your company I would..." It's autobiographical: "And then I turn 22..." It's irrelevant: "I really like charcuterie..." Do If... It's a short form persuasive essay that can't be immediately inferred from your resume: "I was the lead developer on the very product your company now uses." There is no 2.

Sand Sculptures

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Listing hobbies on your resume is like sharing a picture of your beach vacation on LinkedIn. If you do, it should be relevant in obvious ways. If it's not relevant in obvious ways, then it should be a conversation starter. If it's not a conversation starter, it should at least pique one's interest. If it's not piquing interest, then it's just taking up precious space... ...just like a giant sand-sculpture takes up precious space on a crowded beach.

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