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This article has been syndicated from Style Wire, in partnership with Monster.com. Read the full post here.
Imagine waking up one Monday morning, getting dressed, making your coffee and arriving at work ready to tackle the day – only to be told your company is closing its doors and you’ll be out of a job the following week.
That’s exactly the situation I found myself in last March when the Canadian retailer I worked for told me they wouldn’t be renewing their lease, and would be shutting down U.S. operations. I was devastated. I absolutely loved my job, the company, and my coworkers. The timing wasn’t great; I had just ended a relationship, was dealing with some health issues, and on top of it all was out of a job. Needless to say, I felt overwhelmed.
First, I had to decide what I wanted to do. I could continue my career in retail where I was moving up the ladder fairly quickly, or I could turn on my heel and take the years I had spent pouring over my own social media (and the accounts of the companies that I worked for) and use the opportunity as a time to change gears within my career and apply for jobs outside my current field.
Then I had to decide exactly how I was going to do it. I had no idea where to begin my job search, and I turned to what probably isn’t the most reliable resource out there: Google. I spent what felt like endless hours scrolling through job boards and sites, trying to figure out what the heck I was qualified to do, and how the heck I was going to stand out in a sea of applicants.
Fast forward to last week’s Cocktail and Careers event at Bleacher Bar with Monster.com; endless resources at my fingertips, FREE resume analysis, Traitify Career Assessments, and a panel of expert HR and hiring managers. I felt foolish for not looking beyond the quantity of job listings on the site and missing out on all of the incredible resources from Monster.com. Their Graduated & Unemployed guide is packed with information for someone in a similar situation to mine. I’ll never know but I’m pretty sure I would have been called back for 50 percent more interviews had I passed my resume through Monster.com’s free online resume analysis tool.
After running my resume through the online assessment I realized so many mistakes I wish I could do over. Improving key words, common mistakes to avoid, getting resume feedback, to name a few. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, huh? After interviewing for a few jobs I didn’t feel super passionate about (and being effectively rejected) I took some time off and headed home to Texas. During that trip I decided there was no time like the present and I actively began building my own business.
It’s something that is certainly not for everyone, and I feel so extremely lucky to have had a steady flow of clients that keep my services in daily operation. I wake up excited to shoot, excited to create content, and excited to help grow my clients’ accounts.
While I didn’t land the traditional role I set out after, I am so happy and grateful and fulfilled that my career allows me the flexibility to make my own schedule and can still blog and be creative in my downtime, but I can’t help but wonder what type of job I could have landed with the help at resources from Monster.com….