In a University of Pittsburgh College of General Studies posting (http://digg.com/u179cy), Carol Stanton, a CGS Career Counselor, compared the person on a job search to the role of a hero in a movie. Her description was complete with the 10 major components to a hero’s tale. In brief they are:
- The Dream-What do you want to accomplish? What is the ideal you’re working towards?
- The Hero-You, as the jobseeker, are the hero in your tale.
- Challenges-Every hero has to overcome challenges even if they are mostly internal.
- Allies and Helpers-Batman has Robin, Frodo had Samwise Gamgee in LOTR. (Who’s Got Your Back?)
- Setting-Where does the action take place? Which company or organization?
- Resources-What do you have available in your job search utility belt?
- Script-This is your resume. It tells the story you are trying convey to employers.
- Auditions-The job interview is like an audition–often with many players competing for the lead role.
- Setbacks-Heroes like Rocky get knocked down, but they get back up. What will you do if you don’t land the job?
- Celebration-Eventually the heroes succeeds by not giving up in the face of challenges.
Stanton does a good job of putting the job search into perspective. Indeed everyone that is on the job market is on a journey. During your quest, you will learn a lot about yourself–your strengths, your weaknesses, who your friends are and more. Following this line of thought, a recruiter could be considered to be somewhat of a wizard because of their ability to see the job market from multiple vantage points and go back and forth between the castle and the outer kingdom. They also have the keen ability to know a true knight when they see one.
If you find yourself on the job market at this time or anticipate it in the near future, try to keep in mind that there is something to gain from this experience as well. Share what you learn with others and see yourself in the hero role.
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