Category Archives: Personal

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October 18, 2011

Confession: I judge a book by its cover.

Judge a book by its cover

Photo Credit: Jane Mount of Ideal Bookshelf

I often judge a book by its cover. If the images on the cover don’t appeal to me I may not be the intended audience. The work above is the most perfect gift for me (hint hint). As an English major I read the classics and then fell in love with historical fiction. I have so many categories of favorite books the gorgeous work by artist Jane Mount as featured in In Style’s Valentine’s Day Gift Guide is almost too overwhelming to imagine. Relax, calm down, they are “just” book covers! Yes, but the covers are the first introduction to the characters I’ve fallen in love with and grown up with. Nothing is just a book cover!

If the author doesn’t take ownership (personally, not legally) of the cover of their book their readers may not be the group they originally intended. Similarly, if you accept a client they undoubtedly know people like themselves and will refer more of the same. It is therefore important to focus on your ideal client to get more ideal clients. If your resume doesn’t target the job you want you won’t get the job you want.

You need to be the person you want to be in life, in appearance, online and on paper. It is important to be consistent everywhere so that others who make judgments based on the 1st handshake, the 1st glance, the 1st few lines of an email and the 1st few lines of your resume will judge you the way you intend to be judged. We all judge others even if we try to be fair and impartial. There goes the law, sneaking into everything!
October 4, 2011

Resume Language is More than Action Verbs

Job Search Communication

“Tea for two, and two for tea
Just me for you and you for me”
—Irving Caesar

Here, using the same words in a different order changed the meaning of the sentence. First, one order of tea for two people and second, two people are ordering tea.

“You like potato and I like potahto, You like tomato and I like tomahto Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto, Let’s call the whole thing off”
—Louis Armstrong

Here, it is suggested that if people disagree on how to pronounce something, it is worth breaking up. My husband is from Brooklyn, where ordering Italian food is like speaking another language….and I don’t mean Italian. We haven’t broken up yet.

Semantics, the study of linguistic development by classifying and examining changes in meaning and form, exists to show that words can mean everything. For example, The Butcher of Cadiz. Is it a profession? Is it an infamous title? That misunderstanding, from a scene in the movie Hitch, ended a date abruptly. The same words can have different interpretations depending upon who says them, the time and place in which they are spoken, and who hears them. For example, a friend was impressed that her boyfriend’s uncle was a conductor. “Wow, how interesting. Have you seen him conduct before?” she asked, already looking forward to attending a concert. “Umm, no. A conductor. Like on the 6 train.” “What? I thought you said he was a conductor.” “Yes, I did. He is a train conductor.” Same word, same time, different meanings, different people speaking and listening.

What words mean and the words people choose to say can lead to different outcomes based on different interpretations. This is especially true in the law and is just as important in resume writing.

There are lists of strong action verbs to include and lists of words to avoid. But those lists are not enough. You have to speak the same language as your audience. Every job has its own lingo. Know your target audience and speak to them. Use your words in the same way they do.

An interview is the last place you want to be left arguing over semantics.

April 22, 2010

Just Rolling Along – Transitions and Networks

There is an application on Facebook that I wish I invented called the “Friend Wheel.” It allows you to see all of your friends and their connections, or spokes in this case, to each other. It is amazing who knows who and how and from what time in their lives. Your wheel ends up looking like a web, a network of friendships and connections that can serve you in your life, in your job search and during any type of transition.

With the advent of social media, it is amazing to me that people still think it is acceptable to walk up to someone and hand them a business card. It’s odd and off-putting and often stalls a conversation before it starts. Not only may you not want to know them (which is a bad attitude), but if they are looking for business (which they probably are) or help from you (which usually means they want your business) then politely asking is better than shoving information in your face. Better to get to know you first. No, not like the Big Bad Wolf in Grama’s clothing…the better to see you with, my dear; it is best to simply start slowly. You are building a relationship.

More often than not when you meet someone you will have something in common to discuss, you’re both in the same place at the same time, and you are both hot, cold, hungry, energized, tall, short, lawyers, women, mothers, wearing shoes. Whatever it is, find it, see if the conversation is worth continuing and then decide if they are worth adding to your professional friend wheel. It may take a few meetings to determine this person’s, this spoke’s, connection to others or it may be instantly obvious. It may be that this person, or someone they know, will work with you through your next transition.

Everything in life is about transitions: the day you leave for college, the day you graduate, the day you start graduate school, and those days are not only school and career related. The day you get married, the day you bring home your first child, and the day you move into your first house, are all life events that generally happen at the same time as they happen to your friends. Yes, you will see the occasional birth or wedding announcement 10 years before you in your alumni magazine, but usually you and your friends are all going through the same life events within in the same 3 to 5 years. Take comfort in this. Transitions do not have to be nervous and scary times. “What is going to happen?” can be exciting.

Being a part of a group, for me, is a comfort; bringing people together, recognizing a commonality, is fun. However, I have a friend who never wants all of her groups of friends together at once, her birthday was always fun because she loved parties, but she was stressed because so many different parts of her life came together. I, however, love seeing everyone together and literally watching the connections and venn diagrams of people move around the room. It is those human venn diagrams that can help you through different transitions at different times.
Until then, make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold. I was a Brownie in 1st grade.

April 1, 2010

Two Things Too Obvious To Include on Your Resume

One - Do not include an objective on your resume. Your objective is to get the job; that is why you are sending the resume. Save the space! (Note: There are some resume professionals who recommend an objective. However, in the legal industry they are not generally approved of)

Two – Do not include “references available upon request” on your resume.  If a potential employer wants references they will request them and you will provide them.  This is simply unnecessary. Save the space!

Also, while I have you here, WATCH OUT for:

  • two v too  v to, and
  • their v they’re, although you should not be using contractions (shouldn’t and don’t) in your professional writing, and
  • its and it’s, and
  • our v are v hour (yes I know that last one is not officially a homophone, but with some accents….and some misspellings)
February 4, 2010

It Depends

Anyone who has attended law school has heard that “IT DEPENDS” is the typical answer attorneys should give to any question. Does it allow you to avoid accountability? To stall? To open the question up to additional analysis? Yes, yes and yes. It does all of those things.

After I drafted this post I attended the Brooklyn Law School annual alumni lunch (yes I drafted it quite a while ago, one can never be too prepared). One of the honorees, a well respected, world renowned international treaty expert recalled a story from his time at Brooklyn Law. Leon Charney reminisced about a professor, who told him that at a cocktail party when he is asked a legal question he should say “it depends.” It is the fact that he chose this story to tell, about this typical answer, that speaks volumes.

Not only is it safe, it is true. It does sometimes depend on many factors. Everyone, even thrill seekers, wants safe and true sometimes.

While it is important to differentiate yourself on your resume, it is still a professional document that should remain, on its face and at all times, true.

Can you be creative and still safe on your resume? It depends! Can you be creative and make up a job you didn’t have? No, it is not true.

Talk to a professional, before proceeding, to determine which questions will be met with “it depends” and which will garner a simple “yes” or “no.” There is personal style but there are also do’s and don’ts. Don’t be a resume don’t.

January 7, 2010

What’s Your Style?

You must know or figure out very quickly, how you learn. How do you work most effectively and efficiently? Knowing those things can make you productive in one environment and stagnant in another. Your work environment and the way you interact with the space and the people around you will effect how you learn, produce and work. Take all of those factors into account when job searching, soul-searching or just deciding where to put the supply closet in your new office. Know your learning style and make sure it is in line with your professional, resume, and personal style.

January 4, 2010

I’m right on top of that, Rose!

Lesson #1: Don’t Lie.

Lesson #2: If you do and you get caught (and you will) have an alibi.

Lying to get ahead at work can get you fired.

Lying to get a job will never end well.

Sue Ellen Crandell never got the memo.

In the movie, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Sue Ellen’s mother goes out of town, leaving her five children alone with a babysitter.  Guess what happens next.  Sue Ellen is the oldest so,  the “17-year-old . . . tries working at a fast food restaurant, but she can’t stand [the paper hat], so she puts together a false resume and, posing as a woman in her 20s, she applies for a job as a receptionist at a [uniform] company. The company’s vice president, Rose Lindsey, is so impressed by her resume that she hires her on the spot as her executive assistant.” (emphasis added.) Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991)

Sue Ellen is successful despite having to hide her age and inexperience from her boss and co-workers, dealing with sexual harassment from her boss’s boyfriend and suffering as a victim of office gossip. But…and you knew this was coming…her mother comes home and catches her, at the height of her success in her new uniform. Sue Ellen’s boyfriend, who really does wear a uniform with a paper hat, shows up at the same time for some comic relief.

Sue Ellen’s lie, her adopting a new persona via a new uniform, works for her; she is offered a job after her eventual graduation. However, we do not live in Hollywood and unless you want to be fired, or never hired, I suggest you stay honest.

I do commend her for her timely French-braid and shoulder-pads, however, just dressing the part, professionally or otherwise, does not mean you belong in the position.

P.S. This movie includes a wonderful cameo by David Duchovney. Is it a cameo if they just weren’t famous yet?