November, 2008
by Denise P. Kalm DPK Coaching and CA, Inc.
Denise Kalm has 30 years experience in IT including application programming, enterprise systems management and performance management/capacity planning at Pacific Telephone and Bank of America. She moved to vendor land in 2000, spending 5 ½ years with BMC on the EPA product line, then recently became the senior product marketing manager for enterprise job scheduling products at CA, Inc., formerly Cybermation. She is a regional officer of CMG, has held many volunteer positions within that organization and is a frequent contributing author. Prior to entering the IT profession, she was a biochemical geneticist. Her hobbies include flying, Jazzercise, writing and scuba diving. Her book, Lifestorm, on the Oakland Hills fire, is available on Amazon. She is an executive and personal coach as well, offering phone and in-person coaching.
About the Author
Denise P. Kalm, CA, Inc. formerly Cybermation
For many of us, our first "resume" was a college transcript, the only proof of our competence we could muster. As we accumulate expertise and on-the-job experience, the old grades and degrees should take a back seat to our current capabilities. But do they? And are you out of luck if you don't have the right degree or the right certification? Can you hope to advance?
Of course you can! We are truly only limited by the scope of our dreams coupled with our willingness to work for them. Many great successes never finished college (Bill Gates). Others built an empire with only a high school education (Ray Kroc - McDonalds.) Education does not define competence or excellence. And education doesn't only take place in a classroom.
Though there will always be a small number of hiring managers fixated on a certain degree or certificate, most of them are only interested in evidence that you can do the job. The best of them know that degrees may only offer poof that you could commit to something and complete it, an asset, but only the beginning.
Both those with glowing transcripts and those with terrific life experience often make the same mistake - they do not get the purpose of a resume. It is never just a laundry list of accomplishments and skills - it should be the carefully crafted argument demonstrating your merit and aptness for a given job. Those with college and post-graduate degrees may make the mistake of clinging too hard to accomplishments that grow less and less relevant over time. Those who have primarily life experience can fall into the same trap - your high school awards and trophies only really having meaning in the early days of your career. As an example, my degree in biochemical genetics had little to do with any job I had, and in fact, resulted in an interesting paradox - at the same employer, one interviewer wanted nothing to do with me (actually noting that it had to do with this degree). The other hired me because he wanted a scientist for the job. But it was the way I presented my experience in my resume that truly mattered. No matter what your educational background, everyone must be able to craft a strong argument that they are the right person for the job.
There are some basic rules in resume writing that will help everyone take a new look at their resume.
So what does this look like? Examples always help. For the college grad whose degree may not relate in any way to their chosen career, let's look at mine - an MS in Biochemical Genetics. What do I bring to the IT table? I started listing some capabilities that had broader application.
There were more, but this helps to show the method. Make as complete a list as possible, then apply the ones that fit your current goals to your resume.
For someone without a college degree, the same approach works. Let's take a highly competent programmer, Gail, who aspires to move up to management. She learned programming on the job, has done a lot of volunteer work with the PTA and ARF (animal rescue group), raised her kids, learned two programming languages on her own and who has mentored a new employee. Compared to a business school grad, her real life experiences may serve a new employer better. This is real - not theoretical.
Some of Gail's bullets might look like this:
These are very simple examples but they serve to give the idea. If you are looking at your experience and find yourself stuck, try this exercise. Sit in the shoes of the hiring manager. What do they want from you? What are the skills and experience they struggle to find? List everything and then check how well you can match these with any of your experience. Look outside the box of your actual job experience.
Do you coach soccer? The negotiating skills displayed in managing the parents are a strong indicator of your ability to manage. Do you write for fun or publication? Writing is a skill many IT people don't develop, and as such, it is in hot demand in many areas. And let's not forget that a long, proven track record of excellence in any aspect of your life is highly desirable to employers. It is hard to get rid of someone - you want any guarantee when you hire. A track record of success in any area of your life helps them believe that you are a sure thing. And in recent times, companies are beginning to value the diversity of life experience - everything about you matters, and has a potential to contribute.
Even newcomers to the field (whether fresh out of school or fresh from another career), most likely have a wealth of skills, accomplishments and knowledge that apply to the job you want. Translate your list into answers to the business challenges your hiring manager faces, and you can step ahead of the other candidates who do not understand how to do this. Don't just trust me; many people have commented on this. If you stop learning, you stop growing.
"Knowledge can be communicated, but wisdom cannot. A man can find it, he can live it, he can be filled and sustained by it, but he cannot utter or teach it."
- Hermann Hesse
"The least of learning is done in the classrooms."
- Thomas Merton
Stay tuned for another edition of "Your Career Coach" in February, 2009. If you would like additional information or personal coaching for your life and your career, contact me at or see my web site: www.DPKCoaching.com.