Your Resume Is All Over the Place!
This is a real life story. That is what a recruiter actually said to me. “Your resume is all over the place!!”. It was during one of those screening calls to scan a candidate for a job, the recruiter was clearly frustrated. I was not the “traditional candidate”.
I was struck by the recruiter’s comment. It impacted the way I saw myself for a long, long time. I started to doubt myself. My skills, my ability to deliver, be useful, add value. It took quite a lot of effort to shake the doubts that resulted from that single phrase.
Now when I look back of all the things I’ve done and all the things I’ve accomplished, I can only conclude that it was the recruiter’s and company’s loss. When you look same kind of people you’ve always had to solve same kinds of problems you’ve always dealt with, you’ll get same kinds of results. Progress? Or making the same mistakes over and over again?
If I were to have the same conversation today, my response would be:
I speak 5 languages,
I have
Worked every possible role in a software development project,
Started 4 companies,
Written into 3 blogs,
An amateur sports team,
Done a triathlon,
Run 550 floors of stairs in one race,
Built a patio without any prior experience,
Taught myself to code on a professional level,
Presented in multiple professional events for large audiences,
Hold a Director position in a professional organization,
Am passionate about technology, gardening, carpentry, environment, social justice, healthy lifestyle and Monarch butterflies.
I am a multipotentialite and I think outside the box.