I started fall classes with the UCI extensions program on Monday night after a hiatus during the Spring and Summer quarters. I'm taking two classes this fall, Writing for Marketers and Public Relations & Marketing, which I'm told will be very helpful in developing my composition skills. One of my assigned books is Hypnotic Writing, which I'd been perusing prior to the start of class and really started diving into two nights ago while Sam was watching the premier of Terra Nova.
Hypnotic Writing is built around the premise that every author has to compete with all kinds of distractions that compete for the attention of the reader. You, for example, may be reading this during a break at work, or while making dinner. I myself have been working on laundry while composing this post. The challenge for the writer is to be engaging enough that readers CHOOSE to focus on our message.
This applies to all the resumes and cover letters I've been sending out over the last several weeks. I am keenly aware that I am one of many applicants vying for a few moments of attention from a hiring manager who has countless distractions beyond filling a job opening. And yet I find it difficult to sell myself. I am more than just a single page of words, carefully crafted and formatted, trying to appeal to someone in the vast corporate world. I am a writer, sister, a (former) athlete, a best friend, a weekend warrior, a daughter, an avid reader, a fitness freak, a client, a team player, a perpetual student, a lover of good food and wine... where is the space for those things on my resume? The most difficult part of job searching is forgetting those wonderful attributes to which companies give no thought during a hiring process. Every day, I focus on the things that I have accomplished professionally, leaving out the unique parts that make me the person I am, and I'm starting to forget that I have a lot of great qualities that I don't give myself credit for. As this job search goes on, I am going to remind myself that this is just a chapter in my book, and the hardest moments in life are the most defining of a person's character.
Hypnotic Writing is built around the premise that every author has to compete with all kinds of distractions that compete for the attention of the reader. You, for example, may be reading this during a break at work, or while making dinner. I myself have been working on laundry while composing this post. The challenge for the writer is to be engaging enough that readers CHOOSE to focus on our message.
This applies to all the resumes and cover letters I've been sending out over the last several weeks. I am keenly aware that I am one of many applicants vying for a few moments of attention from a hiring manager who has countless distractions beyond filling a job opening. And yet I find it difficult to sell myself. I am more than just a single page of words, carefully crafted and formatted, trying to appeal to someone in the vast corporate world. I am a writer, sister, a (former) athlete, a best friend, a weekend warrior, a daughter, an avid reader, a fitness freak, a client, a team player, a perpetual student, a lover of good food and wine... where is the space for those things on my resume? The most difficult part of job searching is forgetting those wonderful attributes to which companies give no thought during a hiring process. Every day, I focus on the things that I have accomplished professionally, leaving out the unique parts that make me the person I am, and I'm starting to forget that I have a lot of great qualities that I don't give myself credit for. As this job search goes on, I am going to remind myself that this is just a chapter in my book, and the hardest moments in life are the most defining of a person's character.
Love the class title!!!
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