This stuff makes my day!

Date: 3/03/2008
Subject: I got the job
Hello Jill,
Today, I started my new job at Cisco, thanks in part to the resume you created for me. Your attention to details and industry insight are invaluable which result in an honest, yet high-impact resume. Thank you.

I get “I got the job!” letters like this all the time and they always warm my heart, but this one is special. This gentleman, for a variety of reasons, hadn't worked for eight years.

I've had several conversations this week with clients about what is "realistic" for them in terms of what jobs they are likely to land with their shiny new resumes, given their work histories, education, etc. What's amazing to me is the lack of correlation between their accomplishments and their perception of whether they'll be victorious in finding a great job. Wildly successful individuals can have terrible self-confidence.

While my answer isn't always comfortable for people to hear, it's always the same. YOU choose how far you can go. YOU choose whether you are going to work towards a goal, or decide (or let someone decide for you) that you can't attain it. I will do my best to position you as a good fit for whatever goal you pick (and I think I do a darn good job at it), but you are the one who truly controls your future. Even if you haven't tried for years, as my client above illustrates, at ANY point you can decide to get back in the game.

Will it be hard? Absolutely! Is it possible? Of course! Think of the people you admire - the people who set their sights high despite improbably high odds and just went for it. Those folks never cared whether someone (their mother, their spouse, their high school math teacher) thought they could do it; they just went right ahead and did it. Were most of them scared to death? Probably, but so what? Those that let fear, or other people, or something they’ve read dictate their options are not running their own lives.

As the former CEO of the corporation said as I left to run my own business, "No guts, no glory." I couldn't agree more. The gentlemen above, who authored that email, has guts. And my admiration.