Tone of Voice

Have you ever noticed how you like one radio personality more than another? So maybe you don’t listen to the radio, but you listen to podcasts and YouTube, and some of you listen to Tik Tok. Have you also noticed that some voices just annoy the shit out of you? There literally are some voices that I have to turn down the volume so I am not annoyed by his/her voice. Thank God for closed captions right? For me, listening to a “guy” with a high pitched voice just doesn’t work for me. If you are one of those guys, no hate sent your way, not your fault. Just don’t be a show host or in a position talking with the public. I really tried to watch Jame Charles, the make up Cover Girl boy, … but I had to shut him up. I think he has a deviated septum or something because it doesn’t sound right. Yeah right, we all know it was probably too much coke.

Did you ever see the movie “Love Potion #9”? Cute little movie where a nerdy scientist develops a potion that makes the opposite sex fall in love with you when they hear your voice. There actually is some science to it in real life. Some voices are just more pleasing to listen to than others, hence the reason rock stars and vocalists like Adele are millionaires. Remember Karen from Will & Grace? Yeah, another bad voice, and the funny thing is that wasn’t even her real voice. And her side kick Lesley, the short little old fairy; his voice was super obnoxious. Fortunately for me I have a deep baritone voice. Some of my readers tell me they can actually hear it when they read the blogs.

Fun fact: In many of my past jobs my “voice” was used for telephone greetings, overhead paging, and closing announcements. I even had a friend ask me to record her answering machine greeting so people would hear man’s voice instead of a woman’s voice. I have such a wide range I can impersonate a woman’s alto voice and then quickly switch to my baritone voice.

And ICYMI the Asian Hate Crime, massage parlor slaying … the killer (who I will not name) was sentenced to 4 life sentences and face charges of terrorism and hate crimes which could (hopefully) will result in the death penalty. And that pedophile Matt Gaetz, House Representative will face life in prison for sex trafficking. Crazy how you can go from a coveted high paying elected official to … sex convict. Don’t worry about being on that sex offender list buddy, you aren’t the predator anymore.

Shame On You

I am not talking YOU personally should be shamed for doing or saying something, I am saying, have you been shamed? Fat-shamed? Look-shamed? Thin-shamed? SOMEONE at some point made you feel ashamed. Of course you have. Everyone in some fashion or another is made fun of by a bully or jerk. Maybe it was Miranda Priestly who made fun of your ugly blue sweater or your nasty black shoes, or maybe it was a coworker that laughed at your choice of handbag or backpack? Or as I mentioned in prior posts maybe it was a bro or a sister that felt he/she had to give their two cents. Guess what, you also have been discriminated against.

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OR maybe YOU were the person throwing shade. It happens. You can’t help it, you laugh at someone’s ugly fashion disaster and post it on social media as a meme. While it might sound I am condemning this type of behavior, it actually is a strong motivational factor when persuading people to improve their looks. Of course we can’t all look like super models, but you can get rid of that double chin and muffin top. Sometimes I see really unattractive people I and just wonder if they don’t have mirrors in their house. Hey if you never looked in a mirror you wouldn’t ever know you were unattractive, right? In theory that is.

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Have you done any research on fasting? Sure the first 24 hours is the hardest, but just imagine how the reality stars of Naked and Afraid tough it out. When you have a lower body fat percentage your face starts to get thinner and you lose that double chin. And if you suck in your cheeks in selfies, you appear to have a chiseled jaw/face. Swallow and hold … and your neck all of the sudden has had a neck lift. Wow. Magic. Nope, just selfie tricks. You literally only have to hold your breath for 1-2 seconds.

And a shout out to “Nothing Bunt Cakes” in Westminster Colorado. You can buy a single person cake for like $5. So I bought 4. Yes I know they are all empty delicious calories, but everyone deserves a birthday cake or 4.

10K Calories -> 100 or Less

So, would you like to know how you can go from 10,000+ calories a day to less than a hundred? So I don’t want to sound like Romy & Michelle, but I invented this fat free, basically calorie free diet that forced my body to shed all this excess fat/weight. “God I wish I had your willpower.” – Michelle Weinberger.

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When your body realizes you stopped giving it those fatty sugars, and no carbs it goes into survival mode and starts using those stored reserves. Yay, it’s that rainy day your body has been waiting for! I start by doing the 20 hour fast and then eating twice within a 4 hour window. I usually eat at 10 am and then 2 pm. I counted the calories and if you make an Asian wonton soup, with spinach, green onions and water chestnuts, it is less than 100 calories. Actually it is 78. Yes, you read that right.

Fill that InstantPot full of clean water and boil away. If you need some protein you can throw in a shrimp or two and it won’t add too many calories. You can mix it up with other vegetables to have some variety. You aren’t starving your body, and you won’t feel hungry. If you have added collagen to your daily coffee, that should also help give you a more “full” feeling. As a snack I eat almonds and sunflower seeds (only a handful). Almonds are a great source of magnesium and protein. Nut protein should always be your go to snack. Try this for as long as you can stand it.

A shout out to my new favorite YouTube personality, Thomas DeLauer. I highly suggest you check him out and watch a few videos. He is easy on the eyes also. He totally motivates me to grab the dumbells. I wish my biceps bulged like his.

If you want to make your soup more like hot and sour, splash in some Braggs apple cider vinegar and stir in an egg when it comes to a boil. The soup brand? I get it at the Asian market, Ocean Pacific, so it is pretty authentic. Dragon something? I think most of them are zero calories so pick one. Enjoy.

Yay it’s shark week! I just watched shark vs. tuna. Amazing. I love shark week. Crazy that they have been on this planet like forever.

2000 A Day

2000 calories a day. That is all we are “recommended” to eat on a daily basis. Says who? Oh, the doctors, the professionals, Dr. Now (from My 600 pound life), dietitians, athletic people, coaches … basically everyone. Okay, cool. So why a blog about it? Because, everyone, including me is kind of going over that daily allotment and the world, as a whole, is getting fatter. It’s not healthy, it’s unattractive, and frankly someone needs to say something.

Do you enjoy being fat? Do you like your clothes not fitting nicely? As my fat manager from AT&T once said, “You don’t have to tell fat people they are fat. They know it. They just get used to it and deal with it. But please don’t remind us we are fat.” I thought this was hilarious, as I used the exact same analogy for when an employee is late. It’s not like that employee all of the sudden looked up and said “Oh shit, I need to be at work like ten minutes ago.” Well, maybe some do, but more normal people know when they are supposed to be somewhere, like work … where the schedule is usually the same and the days off are also the same. In all fairness though, once I didn’t show up to work until 8 hours later, I was coded “No call no show”, but when I came in to “close” due to a schedule mix up/change, it was A-OKAY. Simple mistake. No need to fire Aaron.

So, back to those 2000 calories. Well, when Arby’s put out that orange dreamsicle shake it was like, … a dream for me. I had one, or two a day. OMG so good. And yes, I kept eating like I was a growing teenager, eating whenever I wanted. Surprise, Dr. Now says you cannot eat 10,000 calories a day. What? No way. Yes. Way. Stop it. No chips. No sugary sodas. Some people can drink that ALL DAY LONG. You might as well just put an IV directly into your veins pumping in that much sugar all day long. Sugar is in everything. It is almost impossible to buy anything without sugar, … at a gas station convenience store. Red Bull and Monster drinks are totally off limits. Damn. I really liked my Red Bull vodkas back in the day, but you can imagine what that does to your system. An upper and an downer at once.

So like most people locked up during COVID and no one to see my beach body, I packed on the pounds. No way. Way. Like 20 pounds. Can you imagine me 20 pounds heavier? Damn, I’d be almost as fat as my twin brother. Wait, he’s fatter than that. My abs turned to “flabs”. Fat – abs. Or so they say on Botched. So I needed to do something drastic, and unfortunately for me, those dreamsicle shakes had to go. I started by putting keto creamer in my coffee, which has MCT, grassfed butter, and Himalayan salt in it, which turbo charges your metabolism and helps you to burn fat faster. I also switched to a 24 hour fasting, which was kind of hard at first but the results have been amazing. I am happy to report that I shed those 20ish pounds and my 6 pack is ready for summer. I won’t bore you with the medical science behind keto diets, fasting, and putting MCT in your coffee daily. There are a ton of YouTube videos that will educate you nicely. IF you are going to start a fasting program, read/research the do’s and don’t so you don’t accidentally damage yourself. Switch to sunflower seeds as your go to snack. Drop those Twizzlers and Snickers. Switch to some variation of green tea. Lemons and honey are good for you.

“Watch it wiggle. See it jiggle. Cool and fruity.” J.E.L.L.O.

Have you seen Goonies? Yeah, you don’t want to do the truffle shuffle either. Lose the fat. You don’t have to do a hundred sit ups, but you could maybe start with 10. 10 sit ups, not 10 jellos.

Your Personal Spa

Have you ever been to a “spa”? The closest thing I have experienced is looking at the spa treatments through the glass windows in the fancy Vegas hotels. Since I’m not a millionaire with boatloads of money to blow, I do the next best thing. Create my own spa like experience in the comfort of my own home. After staying at many of the 5 star resorts in Vegas I had a pretty good idea how to make my personal retreat even better.

Years ago I upgraded my shower to have five different spray nozzles, the overhead rain simulation is probably my favorite. We upgraded the hot water heater as well and now it is literally like a steam shower sauna experience. Cool LED lights, plants in the window, and of course an Amazon Echo dot to play “wind chimes” or zen music while you relax. And yes, of course there is a vanilla candle. Go buy a half dozen new expensive fluffy white towels and roll them up in put them in baskets so you always have an awesome towel like at the resort spa. Get yourself an expensive bathrobe. My shower is nicer than many of the million dollar home flips I see on HGTV. Every shower should have a handheld nozzle sprayer so you can wash your dog in the shower.

A long time ago I was at a friend’s house and in her guest bathroom she had paper towels instead of a cloth towel to dry your hands. She said it was much more sanitary, and you really shouldn’t be wiping your face on a towel that you used to dry your hands. It makes sense. It might accidentally expose your face to something nasty. We will just leave it at that. Paper towels also are great for wiping down the dirt from your face after you “think” it is all clean. Nope. There is still always a little bit of dirt and it is a good exfoliater as it is sterile and clean.

If COVID taught us one thing, DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE. Yes, the mask is down but seriously stop touching your face. Don’t touch doorknobs. I open doors walking backwards with my ass. If anyone sees me I say “Look at me! My ass opened the door and I didn’t touch it with my hand!” Laugh all you want, but there are millions of people that don’t wash their hands. Even with COVID people do their thing and then don’t wash. It’s gross. I always wipe down the gas pump handle before I touch it. Germaphobe? Nope. Smart. Hey I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t get infected. I don’t have to worry about the virus making my hair fall out. I can walk up a flight of stairs without gasping for breath. I can still carry a bag or five of groceries from the car inside. There are a ton of documentaries on YouTube of the after effects of “long haulers” and their life sucks.

Be thankful you are alive, made it through this and got your shot. Hand sanitizer is almost free, so stock up and keep using it in your daily routine (if you are out in public or around people). If you haven’t gotten the second shot is it really so hard to tell Siri, Alexa, Google, or Facebook to set a reminder?

The Fountain Of Youth

Beauty is skin deep, or so they say. I personally believe that having beautiful skin is the first step in your own self confidence. So I took this selfie this morning and next month I will celebrate 48 years young. Crazy right? So you know I have an identical twin, and he looks nothing like me anymore. Sure we look related but not identical twins. So what happened? Well I have a skincare/beauty routine, and he doesn’t. There actually are millions and millions of people who do NOTHING to preserve their beauty and youth. I mean, take a look at all the old farts in congress. Yeah, pretty bad. Crows feet, dark puffy bags, hard smile lines, and hyper-pigmentation like crazy. Years and years of UV damage and abuse. You could take a sharpie and connect all the dark spots. And if you were to ask them how many of them actually use sunscreen, the number would shock you. It would be like getting republicans to vote for a credible bill for once. Dream on.

When strangers find out my real age, usually they don’t believe me, and then they want to know what it is I am doing to look so good. Is it a secret skincare product? A magical bean? A lotion or potion? Please tell we want to know. I can’t say it is just one thing that I do to keep my skin looking young and clear. It is a lifestyle of things. I’ve never really documented or written down what I do, and I figured now is as good as any. I mean, if it works for me, then in theory it should work for you, right? First off, do I take a special pill or vitamin? No. I do take a collagen supplement, and I just finished off a month supply from Dose & Company. Khloe Kardashian endorses it and it has good ingredients. Oh how I would love to have skin like Khloe. It is a powder and I put it in my coffee daily. Gorgeous hair, skin and nails. I seriously have to cut my nails almost weekly. I also drink about a gallon of some variation of water every day. Hot days, even more. Coffee, tea, Welch’s cherry flavored water, and sometimes a coke. No alcohol, and I try to stay away from processed sugars. If you follow my Instagram then you know I eat really healthy and make almost everything myself, including my own hard shell taco shells. Did you know restaurants put “things” in their fryer oil which make them not so great. So I love french fries, but I can cut up a potato and fry it in peanut oil with no added chemicals. McDonald’s, love your fries, hate your poisons. Stay away from fried foods as much as possible. That grease goes right to your face. Yuck.

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Speaking of, you should develop a consistent routine of cleaning your face, morning – mid-afternoon, and before bed. Sweat, dirt, toxins in the air, all kinds of shit gets on your face, clogging pores and making your skin red, irritated and not so pretty. I actually use the K-beauty (Korean) techniques and double, triple wash my face. What? Start with a make-up wipe, use an exfoliater cleanser, then a hydrating something (I use a goat milk version), and THEN a ph toner. That sounds like a lot of work. Nah, I can do it all in less than 60 seconds. My face feels fresh, smooth, clean and young. From there you can use an eye cream, a serum, and finally some moisturizer.

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Am I going to give you product recommendations? Well, I actually have a TON of beauty skincare products. 111SKIN is a brand out of London, Harley street, and is super expensive. I have gotten a lot of their expensive products at significant discount with my Ipsy membership. I highly recommend trying some of their magical products if you can afford it. Rianna and Khloe both love them, and so do I. I also am a big fan of Sunday Riley, and with both of these companies I have had terrific results. There is a company called “Fresh” and I have tried their products and I really like their face masks. I have found that masks are a “spa like” experience, especially if you use an ultrasonic face roller.

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With summer beating down on us, it is a really great idea to use sunscreen. I like SuperGoop, SundayRiley, and SOL Janeiro bum bum oil. The SOL is probably my favorite as it smells so good. It comes in a spray so it’s easy to apply. These are face sunscreen, not something you slather all over your body before you hit the pool. If you do any of your own research you will find all kinds of research that shows the UV rays are damaging to your skin. Ironic how our younger years it is most susceptible to long term damage, and yet, those are the years we think we can “lay out” and “work on our tan”. If you are young, don’t. Protect your biggest organ as if your life depended on it. Wear sunscreen.

These product endorsements were not paid, and all products were purchased with my own hard earned money. In all fairness, I was introduced to the Brazilian bum bum cream from Sephora as my free birthday membership gift and I have been addicted ever since. Vanilla caramel pistachio. It’s heavenly.

401(k) or 403(b) Advice

Okay now that you are hired and you have made it through orientation, you will hopefully get a benefits package. If you are fortunate it will start immediately. If it is for profit, is it a 401(k), nonprofit is 403(b). Most normal people don’t know much about either of these, and the HR people flat out tell you – I aint telling you shit. I know, how rude. Well, if they give bad advice, that is like, called malpractice, and they aren’t insured, so they really don’t have any business telling you how to invest your hard earned cash. I have worked for a financial planner and know a few things about those cool HR benefits. I don’t have malpractice insurance, and it is ultimately up to YOU how you spend your salary, before and after taxes. You might be in a different stage in your life than your new friend from orientation. You might NEED all of your paycheck instead of getting it 50 years later. You need to do what is best for you. So, think of these “funds” this way. If it is aggressive growth and income, it is like the horse races. You will win big fast, but can also lose it fast. Moderate growth is like, federal bonds, city bonds, much safer. And low to no growth but super safe, is like a money market account at a bank. Only invest what you can afford to lose. No one is forcing you to invest or take advantage of that benefit. Chances are you’ll end up cashing it out when you have a life situation/crisis. And that is okay too. If they match 3%, and you an afford it, donate 3% to your rainy day fund. Congrats on that new job. And of course, seek out your inner circle for that investment advice. Or pay someone, that is always an option.

Eye Accessories

Say what? Okay, .. 4 eyes, spectacles, sunglasses, shades, … glasses. Oh, yeah, now you get it. We all have them in one form or another. If you are like me and have bad eyesight then you might be slightly attached to one of these items. So I am going to divert from resumes and hit up on getting your eyes checked. I had no idea just how bad my eye sight had gotten in the last few years. When you have plenty of glasses and over a years worth of disposable contact lenses, getting your eyes checked isn’t a huge priority … until you can’t read anymore. Signs on the road, text messages on the phone, even the digital speedometer is out of focus. Yeah, that doesn’t work with a cop as an excuse for speeding.

So I am a glasses guy AND a contact lens guy. The easiest way to change your look is to do it with some sort of eye accessory. Most people use sunglasses. Some of us use transition lenses that change our glasses into sunglasses. I know that is kind of nerdy, but I think it is genius. How many pairs of sunglasses have you scratched, lost or broke? Right, me too. And if you wear prescription glasses or sunglasses, can you say the same? Exactly. Why is that? Because those damn things cost more than a car payment. Why? Why do they cost so much? They are simply 4 screws 2 arms, the frame and 2 pieces of plastic lens (they aren’t even glass anymore). Total cost, less than $10. Yes seriously, I watched a YouTube expose on Luxicorp (the eyeglass giant) that owns most of the brands out there. So, you didn’t figure it out yet, I got my eyes checked, prescription updated, and new glasses and contacts on order. Big deal. Yes it is. And there are millions of people out there just like me. So, as a reader once told me, I do all the work and you reap all the valuable data .. i.e. WWAD or WWAB what would Aaron buy. I got my exam at Target, again a good experience, but I was not going to fall for their promotion. Buy $100 of contacts and get 40% off a full frame/lens pair of glasses.

Do you buy them at your local doctor, discount retailer, membership warehouse, or online? And if you do buy online, where do you go that is the best deal? It doesn’t matter what stage you are in life, everyone wants the best buy/bargain possible. So why would you pay more when you can find it less? Exactly. So this is a shout out for Bausch & Lomb, for their Bio True disposable lenses that came out to a retail price of $90, so $1 a lens for a 3 month supply. Not bad, but I think we can do better. Wait, why do I like these lenses? Well, they are available as bifocal for starters. They get rid of the halo around lights at night, you an wear them for 16+ hours, they have a newer slimmer profile that allows more oxygen for the eye to breathe. They are super comfortable and I don’t notice I have them in. So long story short, (too late), I found them at contactlensking.com for $26.99 a box, instead of $90 a box. Wow. Of course dozens of other sites had them as well for a myriad of different prices. Same contact lens, totally different prices. I ended up getting the non bifocal version at half the price. It was $50 for the special contacts that I didn’t feel really worked for me.

Whew, so we got that out of the way, and I ordered 2 pairs of eye glasses. One pair is with the bifocals so I can see things up close. The other pair, not bifocals, only single vision, but with the new updated prescription. While the prices at Target and other eye doctor’s offices ranged from $300-$500 after options. Why? Mark up. Profit. They know you and other people will pay it. Most people use some crappy job vision insurance. It actually breaks out better to not get vision and pay for it outright. So the first bifocal pair have transitions and blue light upgrades and came to about $200. The single vision, do not have transitions and came to $125. After I declined blue light for $49, they offered it to me right after check out for $19. Sold. So the thing that most eye doctors won’t give you, is the PD number. The pupillary distance between your eyes. I was lucky and it on my former prescription that I used at glassusa.com, which is ultimately who was the best value/money. How can you beat $145? So if you need new glasses, or an updated prescription, be sure you get that PD measurement otherwise your lenses won’t line up right and it will make seeing harder. I think I need a part time job at an optical store so I can get a discount and upgrade all my glasses. One time I lucked out and Europtics called me and said the tech who was working on my order accidentally made an extra set of lenses with my prescription and they wanted to give them to me at cost and just use an older pair of frames. So they HAD to tell me their cost. I joked that the tech must have been stoned or something and the manager laughed and said that actually was probably the case.

If you are working on a new resume, you need to start a page that lists every job you ever had. This is the page you never show anyone, but your copy of accurate dates, starting salary, … the things to be verified. Also list your supervisor, his/her phone number. Later you will use this as part of your work history (paid and unpaid).

Reasons for Immediate Disqualification

Yes. Yes. No. No. Maybe. Maybe. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, which ones make it to the next round?

Would you like to know the number one reason why candidates get disqualified in the screening process? Oh you think you know it all right? You have a 100% batting average. Send out 1 resume, you get 1 call, 1 offer and a corner office right? Wrong. It never works that way for anyone. So I had a friend who was having a really hard time getting an interview. Keep in mind this was years and years ago. So I took a look at the resume and it was just awful. I smiled and said there was definitely some room for improvement, and we could probably consolidate the 4 pages into 1. So why did my friend get disqualified? Well believe it or not, he was cut in the first round due to a couple of big mistakes. 1 page should sell you nicely. 2 pages and you are some kind of nerd. Dude, I have been working since the 80’s and “I” have 1 page. So can you. He was trying to get a job by listing every single piece of information about himself. He changed tense. He wrote in first person and third person, in the same sentence. He spelled manager as manger. Boom. Next. I redid his resume and amazingly he actually got an interview. He later relayed that his original 4 page resume was attached to the new one in the HR manager’s office. He was ashamed and confessed to the HR manager he got professional help on his resume. He got an interview an eventually got an offer. His honestly is what won them over.

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Everyone lies. Don’t do it on your resume or cover letter. If/when you get caught you WILL get terminated. In my profession I have been so lucky to get to do ALL the HR legwork in hiring candidates. Yes, that means background and educational credential checks. I can’t begin to tell you how easy it is to find out information on someone when you have a resume in hand. Lying about your degree is probably up there as far as lies, other than titles, and falsification of duties/responsibilities. If you are a general manager and had to do all kinds of shitty jobs, you don’t list each of those titles as jobs. HR managers know what a general manager does. Remember, it is HR that writes all those job descriptions, does the performance evaluation and promotes from within the company. They know a lot of stuff. We know that bigger titles sometimes mean smaller salaries. We know that non-profit employees get screwed. Don’t give false salaries that you cannot back up. I had an employer who wanted proof that I made my prior salary. I showed him my W-2 form and he shut up.

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When you leave a company there are a few things that HR CAN and will tell the new employer. The call will goes something like this: “Hey, this is Aaron over in HR at store 1111_, doing an employment check on __.” (If it is internal from one store to another, it might go like this). RESPONSE: “Dates of employment are _ to __. Starting title and salary was $ final salary and ending title was $_, no performance issues, no attendance issues, is rehirable.” Very standard phone call, and I can say that is exactly how I answered those calls for prior employees. If I didn’t have all the information, I might say “I can’t disclose that information but I can verify what you have is correct or invalid. What dates and titles do you have?” Of course, I could always get classified information out of the other HR person, after all we played on the same team. So I might say something like, “Say, _ is a final top 3 and we really like him. Is there anything you might say off the record so we don’t make a bad hiring decision? I’d hate to be negligent in my questioning and saved us a mistake.” Surprise, sometimes that person you are taking to might be a best friend of that candidate, and we know they will say anything for a BFF. Like accidentally saying that person has a ___ problem. Oops. Yes, it happens. Bottom line, don’t lie. You have plenty of awesome, marketable, sellable mad skills. Start by using them as you create your achievement statements.

On a side note: If you are participating in this job search series, please stop sending out ANY resumes and cover letters until the new one has been created. You only have so many target jobs you can impress and you want to do it with your best foot forward. You have this weekend to finish parts 1 & 2. You will need to define your dream job, as you should be tailoring your skills to the job you want and have the skills THEY want.

I am human and make mistakes. Your resume should not have a single mistake. An extra space, a period or comma missing will be your doom. And on a positive note, I was out in public yesterday, mask free! It was so liberating to laugh and smile in public once again.

Resume Achievements

So now that I can quickly disqualify you because you are not a right fit, based on your overview, OR I like what I read and I want to know more. Such as, what are the “things” that you can do that you are most proud? Some people are highly decorated and there are many things that are super impressive about them. But what about you? What have you done in your professional life as well as your personal life that you can share with an employer? Are you on any committees? Part of any other organizations? Do you hold any titles or certifications? Your goal today is to start writing down as many things about your skills that you want to advertise. Software, hardware, communication skills. I’m a publisher, editor (sometimes) writer/author (all the time), and reader. Not everyone has ALL of those skills. Some people literally can’t read. As an older person, I am starting to be one of them. Small text on my phone, beauty products, manuals are sometimes more than challenging. Probably the number one reason I compose in a huge font. I actually use Header4, which makes it this size. Some people, like Trump, don’t know how to click a drop down box and compose in a larger font. Yeah, I know, crazy. If people can’t read it due to size, they won’t even try.

So you really need a section in your resume that highlights your achievements, or your resume bragging/talking points. Remember, you can direct how your interview is going to transpire based upon the things you tell them in your action statements. So, for instance, one of the things that I am proud of, that is not on social media, is the fact that I raised over a thousand dollars in fundraising for the suicide prevention organization and I had to walk 20 miles overnight for their walkathon. Of course this is interesting and something that someone who is reading will want to know more. So your statements need to highlight what you are capable of doing. Human resources will respond to the correct verbiage on your resume. So understand and know your metrics. For some that might be reaching or overachieving your monthly sales goal. Awards from your employer are also key in getting noticed, remembered, and called for an interview. Do not make the mistake of thinking your resume will get you the job. It “might” get you a telephone interview. If you are the ideal/dream candidate, it will get you an in person interview along with a job offer. If you JUST graduated high school then you have all kinds of things to talk about that make you the best candidate. When I reviewed resume for students I would look at it for things that are talking points, things that are impressive and that that are just wasting space on valuable real estate. Use your network and ask people what are your strengths. Ask yourself, what makes you better than 100 other candidates? Keep in mind, the resume is designed to get you the interview. If you already know someone who can get you an introduction then you don’t need a resume. I have been hired in coffee shops talking with my clients about WordPress, and consultants overhear me and inquire wanting to know more. Sometimes just proving you can do the job, like showing your portfolio or websites, can get you hired. No interview required. Artists are hired all the time to paint/create a piece without ever knowing what the final piece will look like. If I said I would work for you for ONE day, what would you have me do? Create a marketing plan? Website? Review your resume and cover letter? Train you to interview? Teach you how to hire and screen the right candidates? Read financial statements? Teach you how to make money with our own set of skills? Review your manuscript? Create a logo? Photograph you for portrait studio pics? There are tons of “things” that can translate into valuable action statements/skills. Remember, your personality is a sellable skill, as are your looks. Television news anchors are hired because of their personality, not how smart they are. They just sit there, look pretty and talk. Wow, what a perfect job, until your looks fade and you are cancelled.

Shout out to Dollar General for a whole bunch of inexpensive fairy garden decorations. I found a bunch of fun stuff for mine. For those who created their own gardens, the fairies are ever so grateful. Cheers! It’s Friday, and those who are vaccinated no longer have to wear masks, according to the CDC. I hate masks. They tickle my goatee and make it annoying.

If you are working on your resume/action statements, do not do it as a resume format. Do it on a blank piece of paper. The formatting part will come later. Start by listing what you do now, what you did in past jobs, and what you can do in the future. This is really important. Think outside the box. Think like a HR screener.