Now that all the hoopla has died down I figured I throw my hat in the President Obama, Nobel Prize, drama. First a couple of qualifiers:

1. This isn’t a political post.

2. It doesn’t matter who I voted for.

3. Unlike most people who have already discussed this subject, I’m going to keep this brief and focused on my area of expertise.

Looking at this from a career accomplishments point of view, a resume stuffer if you will, this is pure gold for President Obama as a recent “hire” of the U.S. Regardless of your political affiliation or views:

- His resume read well enough to be considered

- He passed the interview process

- He got enough votes to win the “interview”.

- He was hired to lead our country based on his past experience and his in person question and answer sessions.

To me the electoral process is not unlike the interview process one goes through at a typical U.S. company. (Obviously the stakes are higher for the job he was interviewing for but I think you get the point). As President of the United States, every action is scrutinized, each speech analyzed, each clip slowed down and replayed. Not only do all of these actions become part of the public domain but they also become the career of our newest employee (the President). Just like your career, each challenge is a chance to succeed or fail. Looking at it from this point of view makes the Nobel Prize a great resume stuffer for our President. Again, this isn’t an argument about if it was deserved or not, but rather - he’s received it and can now use it as leverage as he goes about achieving other important aspects of his Presidency.

As a job seeker you need to do the same thing. What is the “Nobel Prize” in your background? What have you accomplished in your career that can be used as a selling point during your next interview? Make a list of success and be prepared to share them during every job interview you go on and include them in every summary when you send out your resume. This is not the time to apologize for your good work. Do as our President did - graciously accept your praise, use it as leverage to get the next interview / meeting / door opened, and keep moving forward to accomplish your agenda (finding a job) regardless of what others think.

Job searching, like being President of the United States, is not for the faint of heart…

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Tags: Career, Career Advice, Duane, Impressions, Job Search

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 5:44 am and is filed under Career Facing, Client Facing, Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.