Landing Your Dream Job

“If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life." — Somebody said this at one point.

I’m incredibly grateful to say that this is how I feel about my job. For a long time, I was miserable—bribing myself with Starbucks multiple times a day just to get myself to work (insert cry emoji). Now that I'm in this position, I feel it only right to share my findings!

In my last post, “Finding Your Unique Value,” we dove into what makes you unique and how to find these qualities within yourself. If you haven’t already read that post and done the homework (yes, sis I gave you homework!), then now is the time to do so…I’ll wait!

Today, I’d like to expand on that topic by bridging it into your resume content and job search to find your dream job without waiting 10+ years to get there.
You’re young and hot now—why wait, sis?(;

Important: When you craft your resume and job search with your unique values in the forefront, you are more likely to end up in a position that fulfills your purpose (instead of draining your energy). Follow what's attractive to you, not what people say you’re good at.

You know you’re a badass superstar, girl! So, channel that inner Elle Woods and go after what you want.

With your unique value in mind, list 1 to 3 key achievements per role on your resume. Spotlight! Strike a pose, B!
These should have a metric tied to them or explain the specific importance of the accomplishment. (If you don’t know how to write your resume to highlight metrics, please do yourself a favor and check out Sam Straun’s posts on LinkedIn).

Don’t forget that the extra tasks you take on outside of your normal role are still valid professional experiences! All those training materials you created? The automations you made to replace monotonous tasks? These are all unique and value-driven achievements you can list on your resume.

Tip: What you list as achievements on your resume will be highlighted during interviews, so make sure they align with the next role you’re targeting.

Think: Resume —> Job Description —> Interview

Your key achievements should be related to the role, but set you apart from other candidates. What you list as “experience” should showcase how you meet or exceed the job description’s duties and requirements. If you have topics you want to highlight during interviews, you need to list them as a key achievement or one of the first few points of experience for each role. Naturally, the interviewers are going to see these first and want to know more about what you did! This is how we hack the system, chica!

Remember: Your resume is the guide for your interview—so make it work for you!

Current POV: “I have to convince them I’m a qualified fit for this role.”

Reframed POV: “I know that I’m an excellent candidate for this position because I have experience in x, y, z; AND my unique abilities set me apart from other candidates by providing your company with a, b, c advantages.”

Here’s where the homework comes into play:
Remember the four quadrants and the questions you answered? Now’s the time to put it to use in your resume and job search.
Take the passions and personality lists and try to align them with the answers to the first set of questions.

Example: Passions may include creativity while personality lists curiosity. Answering the question “when am I most satisfied in my role” may include something to do with building visual dashboards from data to analyze and interpret findings for informed decision making.

Once you have answers like this, you can understand yourself better…or at least know which projects to avoid(;
Your goal is to find a job that makes you feel happy and excited every day—not dreading Monday all weekend.

Now you can align these findings with your job search by looking for roles that coincide with your interests, not just skills and experience. Don’t be afraid to ask ChatGPT to give you a list of roles or industries that fit this description!

Remember: You can be good at something but also hate it simultaneously. Hence, the importance of aligning your interests and passions with your skills and experience.

Reverse Engineer Your Resume— Tip: Stim to your fav Bad Gal RiRi playlist while you do this(;
1. Find at least 10 roles you could see yourself applying for, regardless of qualifications.

2. Open up a Google Sheet (click the button for my template!) or Excel document and type in repeated key words from each role.

3. Turn that dataset into a simple bar chart showing the count of each word.

4. Try to incorporate the ones that are used between 6 and 10 times into your own resume—this helps you get through resume ATS (Applicant Tracking System) bots.

Alternatively, you could paste the job descriptions into Chat and ask it to give you the common key words. However, I like to thoroughly review the roles myself, and this allows me to do so. I use Chat for things I can’t easily do, like comparing my resume against job descriptions to improve my chances of landing an interview.

AI is amazing, but don’t let it turn your brain to mush. It’s like caffeine—use it for a boost, not a meal replacement(;

Tip: Remain authentic—write your resume first, then revise it with these techniques.

Keep your resume true to your own experience (not just a regurgitation of the job description) by treating it as a plug-and-play rather than writing it from scratch through the job posting’s lens. Otherwise, you risk getting ghosted like that bad Bumble date you went on last Thursday(;

When it comes to writing your resume, don’t be afraid to embellish a bit! Just enough sparkle to catch some eyes; shine, don’t blind!
When in doubt, have a good friend review your resume to punch it up for you(; Let’s be honest—you tend to downplay your skills anyway.

If you struggle with formatting your resume, click the button for my resume template ! (Shout out to my friend Nadia who basically created this template when she reviewed my resume). Download and use it to your heart’s content. Feel free to take what resonates and edit out what doesn’t!

Bestie, don’t be discouraged if this takes you a while to complete! This is not something you can do in a matter of a single hour. It requires patience, diligence, and research.
So grab a dirty martini and enjoy the commitment to bettering yourself! You got this, babe(;

And th-th-th-that’s all folks! Go post up with your laptop and a cocktail to make those final tweaks, sis. You’re a star, and I’m not going anywhere.
Next up: “Negotiating Your Job Offer,” where we’ll cover how to negotiate your benefits once the offer’s in hand.

Let me be your guide. Learn from my mistakes—no fluff, no BS. Catapult your future with lessons I learned the hard way. Stick with me and you’ll get the stories, the nuance, and maybe even some solid advice(; No gatekeeping here—just love, light, and a little humor.

Until next time, girls.

—Your Corporate Big Sis

The views, opinions, and stories expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of the author’s current employer or colleagues unless explicitly stated. This content is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental unless otherwise noted.