Being Good Is Not Enough

This post is a wake-up call to all current and just-graduated students. And the message is simple: Being good is no longer enough. Your 3.9 GPA, varsity soccer, three-language proficiency, year in South America, work-study in the campus bookstore, volunteering at the homeless shelter, bylines in the school paper, interning every summer since you stopped going to camp are simply not going to haul the water no matter what your parents, your advisor or the career service administrator tells you. From this moment on, it's all up to you. What you will do with the rest of your life, in particular the next year or two, depends on how well you package yourself, how well you present that package to prospective employers, and how well you make the case for why yours is the resume that will set the standard for everyone else.

For all of the how-to-get-a-job, write a resume, conduct a job search books and online information that is proliferating the how-to market, nothing will be as important to you now (and throughout your working life, for that matter) as how you brand yourself. Standing out from an increasingly competitive and glittering crowd of your peers depends upon how effectively you are able to sell your talents, abilities, passions, and vision.

Can you let go of obsessing over the format of your resume for the moment, and focus instead on the 150,000 foot view of who you are, how you will articulate it, and who should be listening?

Are you ready to conduct a hearts and minds campaign relentlessly focused on your value, your differentiation from the thousands of others just like you, and shape a tactical plan to execute this strategy?