In my last email, I talked about what it means to have an intentional job search, and shared a link to my podcast Episode with Debra Coleman. Did you get a chance to listen?

Part of having an intentional job search is knowing where and how to spend your time and energy. We are all juggling busy lives, with full-time jobs and personal responsibilities.

I know, the impulse to start here is strong.

I have been there too.

Back in 2016, I wanted to explore careers outside of the EA role and came across career coach and branding expert Marcos Salazar at an Eventbrite-sponsored career event for social entrepreneurs (today, his Ted Video on personal branding has over a million views).

After the event was over, I reached out to Marcos and ended up working with him on nothing other than my resume even though he offered other career services.

Looking back I realize that our time together could have been so much better spent on more important such as personal branding or other career tools but I was too blind to see this. I quickly grew overwhelmed with the process and having to quantify my work and think about the impact and results I was having so I never actually finished my resume.

I had never taken the time to be intentional about my career, and like many of you, the Executive Assistant role was something that just fell on my lap and I was lucky to land my first job at a prestigious organization at the time.

My time with Marcos was very valuable though, because, I quickly realized that I needed to change my scope of work and how I was operating in my role at the time. I wasn't in a rush to make a career or job change, so instead, I started to take on more leadership activities and focused on being more intentional at work and in committees of the non-profit organizations I was volunteering for.

I see my clients make the same mistake as me.

When clients come to me, the first thing they want to do is work on their resumes because they genuinely believe their resume is the problem to landing a job, however, I'll say it again, this is one of the biggest time wasters in your search and you can get stuck on working on it for months.

So let me share three common resume mistakes my clients make why they choose to prioritize their resume over more intentional job strategies:

• They think the reason they are not getting call-backs is because their resume is bad and not getting enough interest or attention.
• They don't actually understand the purpose of a resume and how it is used at each stage of the job process.
• They want to have the perfect resume before they take any action, fearful that someone will ask and they are not ready to share.

When you work with me we start with one of three iterations of your resume, so that you have a clean presentable copy to share just to get the ball rolling. Then we quickly move into making sure that you are generating enough activities and interest that will help you gain clarity, build confidence, and get attention.

So what is the biggest secret of a successful job search—a secret I recommend my clients start with, even before working on their resumes?

I will share what that is in my next email. In the meantime, if you are curious about getting career support from me, I want to invite you not to waste time and book a clarity call with me today. Space is limited.

Leslie Martinez INTENTIONSMANIFESTED "Everything you want to manifest starts with your intention." Free Downloads: Note: after you sign up, remember to confirm your email to receive the free download. ​5 Overlooked Steps for Landing Your Ideal EA Role ​2024 Year In Review Journal​

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