Monday, July 14, 2008
Get Over Yourself!
As if we don't have enough problems, now this? What exactly does "get over yourself mean?"
Several years ago a CFO client hired me to write his resume but he came kicking and screaming. After all, he felt he was a great writer and he had purchased a resume book which he kept in a plain brown bag. Predictably his template resume, copied from a sample, proved to be much wearing someone else's contact lenses. It blurred his message to the employer and no one responded. So I strategized, configured and produced a compelling product customized to deliver his unique background. He could run a financial organization but he really couldn't strategize his resume. Tough to admit!
Now he was receiving invitations to interview! I could see he also needed help with behavioral interviewing and explaining the circumstances under which he left his former employer, but when I suggested interview coaching he smiled and indicated surely the fact that he had interviewed people for years would suffice.
Of course once he lost a great opportunity because someone else "out-interviewed" him, he came back and purchased a coaching package. The amount he saved in going back to work with a lucrative offer sooner rather than later brought immediate return on his investment. But again he had come back kicking and screaming.
Today he is tucked away running a big company. But he often guests at my speaking engagements and mentors my executives and managers. His first commandment? "Get Over Yourself!"
Several years ago a CFO client hired me to write his resume but he came kicking and screaming. After all, he felt he was a great writer and he had purchased a resume book which he kept in a plain brown bag. Predictably his template resume, copied from a sample, proved to be much wearing someone else's contact lenses. It blurred his message to the employer and no one responded. So I strategized, configured and produced a compelling product customized to deliver his unique background. He could run a financial organization but he really couldn't strategize his resume. Tough to admit!
Now he was receiving invitations to interview! I could see he also needed help with behavioral interviewing and explaining the circumstances under which he left his former employer, but when I suggested interview coaching he smiled and indicated surely the fact that he had interviewed people for years would suffice.
Of course once he lost a great opportunity because someone else "out-interviewed" him, he came back and purchased a coaching package. The amount he saved in going back to work with a lucrative offer sooner rather than later brought immediate return on his investment. But again he had come back kicking and screaming.
Today he is tucked away running a big company. But he often guests at my speaking engagements and mentors my executives and managers. His first commandment? "Get Over Yourself!"
