Need career help? Oprah’s got your back :: Career-Resumes®

Need career help? Oprah’s got your back

Last week, we shared with you some resume advice from a marketing guru. This week, we’re bringing you advice from a guru at a whole different level.

In case you missed it, Oprah Winfrey herself did “’I Hate My Job’ Interventions” on her show today. (Unfortunately, I did miss it. I heard about it from a friend of mine, who as laid off recently.)

From the Oprah website (the bold text is my added emphasis):

Business expert and best-selling author Marcus Buckingham has helped millions of people reach new levels of success and happiness at work—including employees at Coca-Cola, Gap and Microsoft—with his radical “strengths training” approach. His key to success is simple: Stop spending so much time trying to fix your weaknesses. Instead, focus on what makes you special and unique. “A strength is an activity that makes you feel strong,” he says. “If you want to know what your strength is, you’ve got to pay attention to how you feel. It feels like focus. It feels like concentration. You feel invigorated. Energized.”

The “A strength is an activity that makes you feel strong” statement makes me want to smack myself in the forehead and say, “Duh!” with as much sarcasm as I can muster, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt for a minute.

If you looked at your own work and asked yourself, “What are my strengths?” could you name them? Do they appear on your resume? Have you provided concrete results in your current position that you can say came from the use of your strengths?

If not, then let this be a bit of a wake-up call. You may not have the proof yet, but you can get it. Start looking for the opportunities to put your strengths to work at work. Get the results, and get ‘em on your resume.

And do check out the link to the show info on the Oprah site, since it also has a number of other useful resources beyond Marcus and his own information.

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