Some people are remembered because they are sharp, creative, and interesting. Many people are gray and easily forgotten
Call up our office after 6 pm. Usually no one is there. Listen to my voice mail message. (800)239-7037. Bryan Dilts. I change the message every week or two.
You won’t be the first person to call just to hear it. Some of them are great. Some are merely okay. I, personally, think each is funny, motivational or thought provoking. Some other people think my messages are an abomination. Each message is the real me.
My voice mail is unique. Each person who leaves a message remembers me.
No committee would ever let me have those messages. They would strangle the creativity. I actually had a manager tell me not to be happy when I answer the phone at EDS. That is the kind of thinking that turns you into a grey person that no one will remember.
A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled. (Sir Barnett Cocks)
In your job search you need to strike a balance. You need to build confidence in the hiring managers. You also need to stand out. If you come up with a great idea, run it past some friends who can help you refine it. Then test it. The key is to refine and improve, not kill the idea. In the end, take responsibility and do something a little different. Your friends are not a committee with life or death responsibility. They are helpers.
Figure out what will make your resume better and unique. Decide a few things you can answer to the standard questions that make you standout in 10 seconds of an interview. Find the way to network that will set you apart and make you uniquely worthy of help. Always go for a little better.
Use help to do something better and more unique. Don’t let a committee kill your genius. Be sharp and creative, not just a gray person everyone immediately forgets.
Something to do today
So, what is unique about you? Is it your personality? Your brainpower? Your 10 kids? (I have that many.) Education? Sense of humor? Hard work? Soberness? Reliability?
Figure out a way to emphasize your strengths. Be different.
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Later: Boomer brain drain
Not 12 seconds, it is 5.7 seconds