Month: October 2018

We lament. But we don’t put in the hours. We don’t do the work.

I offer CV advice for free to a selected few. The CV usually starts with “Private and Confidential curriculum vitae of so and so”. Page 1 wasted.

After initial feedback and coaching, the CV doesn’t drastically improve. It’s full of job descriptions and free marketing of the company he/she works for. It lacks the personal spice. What did you do to make things better? How did you make a difference? What sets you apart?

It takes me an average 23 seconds to reject a resume/CV. It takes 90 seconds to toss it into maybe pile. 2 minutes for a firm yes.

Usually, when the first page simply states the name, the rest of content is hardly a page turner. It’s inconsiderate of the reader as I need to figure out how this person fit into the overall organization and how she added value.

How do you make it better? My guidelines are as follows.

1. Ask yourself. Do you want to read it?
2. Then ask. What do you think of your CV, if you were the hiring manager?
3. Contact details should be clear and concise. Include your name, email, phone, and the city of residence. You don’t have to include the following labels: email, phone, and address. If someone can’t tell that your email address is someone@somewhere.com , you don’t want to work for that person/company
4. Number the pages on the bottom.
5. Formatting and readability matters. If you have multiple sections, all sections/headers should all look the same. Avoid multiple formatting/colors and font sizes.
6. Be concise and specific. Avoid jargon.
7. Instead of stating your job description, tell us what you achieved: Situation, Action, Result.
8. If you don’t tell us, we won’t know what you did. We never will because you won’t be invited to interview.

In closing, do the work. It takes at least 6 revisions to make it better. Revise it. Sleep on it. Look at it again. Share with others for honest feedback.

Do the work! Do the work!

Red awning outside.

Copper balls suspended by electrical wires, sway gently from left to right.

The water escapes the perforates pipes outside to cool the passerby.

High ceiling connects the floor with clear glasses to bring the outside in.

It must be the late afternoon after the gay pride parade. I see rainbow suspenders and belts all around time.

Just another summer day in Johannesburg.

The recent downpour drowned out the negative buzz inside my gut. The cicadas no longer hum for attention. They rest in peace, and blissful silence takes over. To my right, I see yet another sunset with soft brush strokes of pastel blues and pinks. The city seems so far, yet I know it is near.

I read a short story about a man served prison sentence for eight years and was released at the age of 24. He didn’t know how to get a driver’s license. It took eight trips… He had not been taught the basics of life’s administration. He worked at a local book store, where he fell in love. He married and had two children. He was invited to work at Harvard. Despite the odds, he became a lawyer, championed by his peers and professors. And look at him now! His story on New York Times has reached millions around the globe.

He could have given up, citing life’s compounded unfairness on his black body. Having no father to look up to. The unfairness of the criminal injustice system. How the bar may not even allow him to practice despite him getting full marks. He had enough reasons to give up. No one would have blamed him.

He reminds us.

We are not a sum of our circumstances. We are a product of the choices we make. The things we do. The things we don’t.

Being the first to achieve life’s milestones has its challenges. My university combined theory with practical reality. Not only did we learn about diesel thermodynamics, but also how to time cylinders in a four-hour lab. Most people from my discipline became facility engineers or sailors. And when looking for jobs, I set my sights on similar postings: grease monkey.

The combination of luck, networking and good grades put me on a different course. My “first” job with an awesome global company afforded me the opportunity to travel the world while earning a nice living (with expense account), and doing cool stuff. It opened my eyes to a brand-new world. I met people pursing their MBAs. CEOs. Entrepreneurs. Teachers. Volunteers. Those who dug trenches. Cleaned houses. People from all walks of life. Averaging between 10 to 13 hour days, I found ways to work hard while having fun.

Traveling was great until I grew tired of making new circles of friends every few years. I needed a change and looked around. My peers were pursuing MBAs, and so, I jumped on the band wagon. When I disembarked two years later, I found myself in a foreign country with no job and no friends (once again).

Luck propelled me to another global company to do more cool things with amazing people.

What is the point of all this? Not long ago, the best job I could ever imagine was swinging wrenches at a power plant or a HVAC company. Working every day, ‘earning’ my wages.

Today, I am thinking of ways to make money not from my wages, but from creating value. How to best leverage, delegate and focus. How to be a better leader, manager, and team member. How to be the best me. Money carries a different meaning. Money doesn’t buy you happiness. It buys you time. Passive income trumps active income (wages).

They say you are an average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. You set your sights to mimic those around you.

So, if you want to dream the impossible, change your habits. Change your surroundings. Change the way you move. Change the way you live your life. Until then, nothing will change. Achieving different outcome by doing the same thing is simply impossible.

My eyes squint to see who is driving a fancy white car. I am amazed to see someone from my team. What I know is this: she makes too little money to afford such a car. Why would someone buy a moving liability that gets used 2 hours a day, that sits in a lot, and most likely a heavy financial burden?

Why do live beyond our means? Why do we enslave our lives to jobs to pay for products with no intrinsic value? Why do we buy things to impress others and seek external validation?

I don’t care about worldly posessions. I value time and fleeting moments full of joy.

What do I drive? A small car that does what it’s supposed to: get me from here to there safely with no bells and whistles.

A piece of white paper.

Sketch an idea or a plan. Draw lines and color the blocks. Take notes. Write a love letter. Turn it over. Do it all over again.

Fold it once. Then some more. Make a boat. Or an airplane to take flight. Cut it. Crumple it into a ball. Throw it at someone before running away with mischief. Ha!

What do you see? A blank canvas? A construction material to realize our wildest imaginations?

Life is like a piece of paper. What we choose to do with it is entirely up to us.

She has two children of her own. She adopts her ex-husband’s two nieces and nephew. She becomes a mom of five children. Then she gets cancer.

After surgery, she sets up a restaurant to feed her children, aged 3 to 18 years old.

She chooses to forgot chemotherapy to keep her breadline going.

Perspective… imagine this lady’s life and compare our struggles against her’s.

Walking to my car, I smell flowers in bloom.

On my drive home, the sun sets to my right, as another day bids me a soft pinkish adieu.

Ability to smell and see. Two senses we take for granted. Just imagine how life would be, if our eyes and nose didn’t work!

For the next while, I will do my best to be thankful for all that I have. And sever ties with the unhappy business of complaining for all that I lack.

Daily reminders. A friend was advised to do this and I’d like to replicate.

3 things I am grateful for.

3 things I have learned.

1 goal for the day.

I am grateful for my health, amazing friends and special person.

I have learned:

1. It doesn’t matter how well you play for the first 90% of the game. It’s not over until it’s over. Play the entire game. Don’t slack off. Tidy up.

2. We should never measure today’s encounters based on yesterday’s experiences.

3. Reminders help us do the right thing. Even simple things like washing and exfoliating our faces.

Today, I will do my best to finish off what I started.