CAREER "LITE"

Are you stuck counting your carbs or calories? Does it seem like you are on a never-ending diet? Your lifestyle can get really boring when all you do is count the effects of your food intake. You step on the scale and it seems as if nothing has changed. If all you’re doing is counting the days, with a T.G.I.F. attitude on Tuesday, your job can have the same effect. If your current job feels like a prolonged diet and you have hit a plateau, here are some tips to fatten up your job and your career.

1. TAKE BIG BITES
Step up and fill your plate with difficult problems and unfinished projects before you are asked to do them. Don’t nibble. When you take a big bite your boss will notice. Co-workers may snicker or question why you are taking on an extra workload. Your credibility and reputation will be enhanced when you succeed. Also, snack a lot! Finish off all the little, nagging, unfinished, low priority projects that everyone else is avoiding.

2. DON’T COUNT RESULTS
As you take bigger and bigger bites, don’t stop to count your success. Be a little piggy and just pack it on. Promotion and salary reviews will be positively affected by your assertive career overeating. Chew slowly and don’t talk with your mouth full. Don’t brag about what a great job you’re doing. Let your accomplishments and results speak for themselves.

3. EXERCISE AND BUILD MUSCLE
Your exercise is mental, not physical. With all these extra career calories, you’re getting exercise that will keep you fit and enable you to continue your high caloric intake without adding job flab. Keep mentally sharp by having a continued education program. Attend seminars that will improve both your job skills and for personal growth development.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS

We all dread performance reviews because we don’t want to hear negatives about ourselves. Most good managers will put a positive spin on a negative comment with the intention of improving the employee’s performance. Some managers will state direct, unkind comments. The following are actual quotes from supervisors, taken from employee evaluations. I’ve picked the five best so enjoy!

1. If he were any more stupid, he’d have to be watered twice a week.
2. He sets low personal standards and consistently fails to achieve them.
3. This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
4. Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled.
5. He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier.

SURVEY SEZ: WOMEN IN ATHLETICS WIN

As we know, the days of little girls playing with dolls and crayons versus little boys with bats and gloves are long gone. Today’s youth soccer and softball leagues abound for all children. The following survey statistics validate the notion that competitive sports will greatly benefit career women:

86% of female business leaders surveyed said sports increased their self-discipline.
81% said that sports helped them become better team players.
69% said sports helped them develop leadership skills that contributed to their professional success.
68% said that their athletic experiences prepared them to cope with failure.
60% believe that women who play sports are more productive employees.
59% said that playing sports has given them a competitive edge over others.

After reading this survey, you may disagree with the results. I would like to receive your e-mails and comments on this subject for a future column. In my experience, when resumes have a list of athletic accomplishments and team leadership involvements, it gets my attention and my clients like to see that early commitment to team performance and individual accomplishments.

Dear Headhunter,

Just a point of feedback since I ran into your suggestions about a two-page maximum resume online at dailynews.com. For many of us who have job experience, often in different fields, we may have two or more resume formats we’re using because different job submissions require different information or slants. If I use the summary model augmented with some substantial details, the shortest my resume becomes is three pages. If I give all the information you are calling for in your "commandments"…which is necessary for many jobs, my resume runs at least twenty pages at ten point font.

Don’t you think that the ability to arrange my resume to suit the requirements of the job is vital?

Respectfully, J.K.

Dear J.K.,

I really like receiving your kind of e-mail from readers. I like a challenge to prove what I hold to be true and what "works" in the real world of business and career building. "Resume" is a French-based word that literally translates "to summarize." A good resume is like the first page of a good novel. The first page hooks you into reading the entire book. A concise resume should hook the reader to want to interview that person. It is a snapshot, not a photo album. Use your cover letter to slant your experience to a particular job opening or company, not your resume. It is very hard work to reduce all your experiences and education into just two pages, but trust me; the impact of a strong two-page resume will get results.

Save some of your other accomplishments for discussion during your in-person interview. Leonardo DaVinci wrote, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." My guess it that his resume would be a great work of art written on one or two pages.

Good luck with your resume writing!