Anes Weblog » Resumes and Card Games

Resumes and Card Games

13 06 05

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I believe that we should all try to be financially independent. I define Financial Independence as being able to live at your current level forever without needing a salary. To achieve that goal you need revenue generating assets. But, unless you where born in a rich family, to acquire those revenue generating assets you will need a salary. The better (greater) the salary is, the better your chances of achieving Financial Independence are.

That is why I believe that friends should help friend get better jobs. And I do not mean doing illegal or unethical things. I mean helping them:

Educate themselves.
Learn how to express themselves.
Help them make contacts.
Help them learn how to sell themselves (their professional services) better.

This last one is the one that I decided to focus when I invited a group of friends for a card game.

To get a good job we need experience and education. But unless we learn how to express those things no one else will recognize them, and no one else will know you are the right person for a job. There are many things we can do to learn how to express our strong points when we need to hunt for a job. I believe we should practice them even if we are not currently looking for a job. Some of the things we may want to practice are:

Elevator pitch - a very short (30 to 60 seconds) paragraph that describes what you can do and how valuable you can be for your target employer.
Your Value Points - A good set of value points (3 to 5) that you feel comfortable explaining to someone else, including how they are useful to their company, and examples of jobs and success stories where you have been able to prove them. If you practice them over and over (in mock interviews, for example), you will be able to relay them to your prospective employer during phone and live interviews. If you relay a consistent, complete message that shows why and how you qualify for the position they offer, you certainly improve your chances.
A good resume - Chances are this is one of the very first communications you will have with a prospective employer. It has to create an impact and stand out from everyone else. It can not be average. At a time when companies are receiving hundreds of resumes for each position, you better stand out from the rest in the 10 to 30 seconds that it takes the human resources person or the hiring manager to filter out each resume.
A presentation letter - One for each kind of prospective employer. This helps the prospective employer understand why you are better qualified (or specifically qualified) for the position they offer. It helps that person understand why they should not filter you out. Most importantly, just having it will stand out from the majority of the prospective applicants who forgot to send one -- it improves your chances.

I do help my friends build up these documents and ideas. I help them practice for job interviews. I even strategize with them on how to best approach the job market. And I should feel proud of myself that the last two persons I have helped found a satisfying job in less than month and a half.

However, I wanted to take the idea of peer help to the next level. I wanted my friends to help my friends. The problem: helping someone look for a job is boring for most people. I decided to make a social experiment: Bait them with something fun.

I invited eight friends to a playing card game (very popular type these days) at a certain time. I specifically asked them to arrive at a certain time with copies of their own resumes. The invitation e-mail specifically mentioned that we would spend one hour and a half doing peer reviews of all of our resumes, and later two hours of playing card games (the very popular kind).

To my surprise, seven out of eight arrived relatively on time (the eight didn't had transportation). All of them focused on red-marking and reviewing their peer's resumes. They took longer than scheduled to work on the resumes, and we just played for an hour, just to finish the night without stress - and not burned out. Most of the suggestions where very useful. I must say that the resume I had before the event and the one I have now presents me in a better way.

My conclusion on this social experiment was:

People like to help people.
People like to learn from their peers.
People want to work on their own careers and their financial well-being, but never find (make) time to do so.
If you call people to do the things that they make time for, they will easily work on those things they should have worked.

I should try a second version of this social experiment to work on one of the other items I mentioned we need during a job hunt.

Great! such networking augur very well!! wishing you all the best in such efforts!
cvrkswami () (URL) - 14 06 05 - 00:18

I love this idea. As a person who enjoys copyediting for fun, an opportunity to review peer resumes, and to have mine reviewed is something I would jump at. Nice IDEA!
christine - 14 06 05 - 15:33

Today of all days I was telling a friend about my need to change my life (not satisfied with my “making a living”). And decided I was going to try and find something I would love doing. I was looking around at an old blog I had started (you commented on it so I followed you back here). I LOVED the poker game idea and maybe I will approach my new life search the same… who knows. I would like advice on how to start over (willing to get the education and more). HELP! and THANKS for the advice you have already given.

Keeme
Keeme () (URL) - 17 06 05 - 05:29

I’ll have to try that someday
ceo () (URL) - 24 06 05 - 07:45

That’s a great idea. I worked in a career where I reviewed resumes and now I always look over family and friend’s resumes to help them find better jobs. One thing I find very important is to taylor each resume towards the position you’re applying for. Lots of people just send out generic resumes to different jobs and these are the ones that tend not to get a call-back from the employer. If you taylor your resume and highlight duties that are related to the job you’re applying for and make your objective state the title of that job, your success rate will be much higher. Companies want to know how your previous experience relates to the job they’re trying to fill. This is the most important thing to keep in mind when creating your job directed resumes. It’s great you are doing this for your friends. Keep it up and you’ll all enjoy great success!
KP () (URL) - 04 08 05 - 13:47

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Resumes and Card Games

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