60 Days of Mammoth Hunting and Reflections

I’ve learned a bunch of things about hunting for jobs since I last posted on LinkedIn about 3 weeks ago.

• Resume Coaches are REAL. Shoutout to David Pan. In the featured image for this article, he’s the dude that helped forged the sword (my resume).

• Hunting for Jobs, alone, sucks.
  • Since I stopped posting daily updates, my optimism has declined.

• I’ve realized part of my identity is to be a Performer. Whether that means: performing on a job and HULK SMASHING uncommon RESULTS out of awful circumstances, surprising people by exceeding expectations at work, or doing magic tricks for strangers at a bar… I do better when there is a stage. Audiences charge me up. Even the prospect of an audience. Hence, this post is a renewed commitment to be more frequent about the journey.

• There is a HUGE difference between a Performer and a Showboat.
  • A showboat is someone that craves attention regardless of giving back to the audience. The kind of schmuck that NEEDS to control a meeting because they’re insecure. A different variety of the showboat is The Know-It-All.
  • The Performer (me) 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

considers the audience, their expectations, and how to deliver to enhance the entire experience — for everyone. You see, with a genuine performer it’s rarely about them, it’s all about engaging the audience, not asserting dominance or some other nonsense.

Back to the Primary Reflection: Hunting Mammoths (jobs)

When I think about submitting to jobs, even with the best resume possible, I assume that if there are 200-300 applicants to a role, there’s a good shot 20-30 of them will not only know how to write a great resume, but be a better 1:1 match. NOTE: I’m not saying they’ll be a better candidate, just a better 1:1 match of resume to job description.

It’s with that in mind, that I worry that sometimes having an awesome sword (resume) may not be enough. Though the sword (resume) equips me to fight, I suspect I need to sometimes allow myself to be gored by the mammoth, so I can shimmy up on the tusk and, like in the movies, use it as an opportunity to get close enough to finish off the beast.

Perhaps more sensibly, in a mathy-Bayesian way, what I’m trying to say is: if you’re a 1% shot to win a role in a set of 200… there might be some opportunity to create a set of your own where the odds are 50/50.

Don’t get me wrong — you still need a sharp sword. You just might want to wield it a little differently than everyone else.

Here’s to standing out.