Get Over Yourself!

As if we don’t have enough problems, now this? What exactly does “get over yourself mean?”

Several years ago a CFO client hired me to write his résumé but he came kicking and screaming.  After all, he felt he was a great writer and he had purchased a résumé book which he kept in a plain brown bag.  Predictably his template résumé, copied from a sample, proved to be much wearing someone else’s contact lenses.  It blurred his message to the employer and no one responded. So I strategized, configured and produced a compelling product customized to deliver his unique background. He could run a financial organization but he really couldn’t strategize his résumé. Tough to admit!

Now he was receiving invitations to interview! I could see he also needed help with behavioral interviewing and explaining the circumstances under which he left his former employer, but when I suggested interview coaching he smiled and indicated surely the fact that he had interviewed people for years would suffice. 

Of course once he lost a great opportunity because someone else “out-interviewed” him, he came back and purchased a coaching package. The amount he saved in going back to work with a lucrative offer sooner rather than later brought immediate return on his investment. But again he had come back kicking and screaming.

Today he is tucked away running a big company. But he often guests at my speaking engagements and mentors my executives and managers. His first commandment? “Get Over Yourself!”

Comments

[Rowan Manahan]

Superb Janice! When I'm speaking about job-hunting, no matter what age-bracket the audience is from, I always ask the same rhetorical question - "Who is the job-hunt all about?"

My answer slide consists of two enormous words, completely filling the screen:
NOT
YOU!

As my 12 year-old nephew says, you've got to build a bridge and get over it ...

[Sabrina]

Excellent post. In business, leaders hire experts to do what they can't - they delegate to experts! They need to treat their career management/job search in the same practical, professional manner. Delegate the job to the expert while keeping the big picture. Ego has no place in this - be the quarterback and hand the ball off to the pro who can provide the best mileage!! Thanks.

[Mechele Pellebon's Career Vanity]

Excellent post Janice. Your story reminds all career-based consultants to be confident in our abilities, whether we are counseling C-level talent or not. If all else fails, we can point our clients to your post, while mouthing the words "Get over yourself." Thanks!