Your Resume Is Just A Golden Ticket - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Your Resume Is Just A Golden Ticket - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Remember the moment in  Willy Wonka  and the Chocolate Factory when Charlie peels back the wrapper of his candy bar to find a golden ticket?   He waves it around, and dashes home to tell his family and then everyone breaks into song.   Because at that moment, he knows that hes found exactly what hes been searching for, and all his problems are solved. A little later in the movie,  it seems like the entire world is  gathered at  the entrance of Willy Wonkas factory to watch the gates crack open for the first time in decades.  Willy Wonka dances out to welcome the five lucky children who are the owners of Golden Tickets and those five selected children  are let in as they brandish their gilded piece of paper.   As they rush in the door, its official: theyve made it and all their dreams (of chocolate) have arrived. Our own golden tickets Isnt that we all hope for?   That when we send off our resume, the recruiter will pull it out of the envelope (or email attachment) and realize theyve found it.   That theyve opened up hundreds of  emails, only to be disappointed over and over again.   But then, theres that moment when they open the email containing  your resume!   And then, when you arrive at your dream company, youre welcomed  at the door with great fanfare because youre holding that special piece of paper.   And, just because of that gilded piece paper, youre given  the opportunity youve always dreamed of!   Wouldnt that be wonderful? But  thats  not what happens either in the real world or in the fantasty world inside the chocolate factory.    Because  like interviewers, Willy Wonka isnt looking to make people happy, hes actually looking for the perfect person for a vitally-important  job.   (His job!) The golden ticket in the real world Just  like a resume  in the  real world, that Golden Ticket isnt enough to guarantee a job.    All  the  Golden Ticket  does is get  a child  in the door of the factory   and then the real testing begins. And like many real-world  job interviews, it quickly becomes obvious that most of the children are  woefully unprepared for the tests and questions they encounter.   One-by-one, their weaknesses emerge in a glaring way and Wonka sends them packing.   At last, only Charlie remains and he still has to prove himself before Willy Wonka selects him. From what I see, too many of us are under the impression that when we apply for jobs, our resumes are our Golden Tickets.   We spend hours polishing them up so theyre as bright and shiny as can be, and then whenever we see an opportunity were interested in, we send them off with the expectation that our resume will be golden.   Then, when we find out that weve been invited in for an interview, too often we think that weve made it. But we havent.  All the resume does is to get us in the door. Then we have to prove ourselves by demonstrating our interest in the field, our passion and how we can help our interviewer solve their companys challenges. And thats where I see so many friends and aquaintances fall short when theyre job-hunting.   They spend  most  their time working on their resume, and discovering where to send it instead of spending their time learning everything they can about the job, the interviewer, and the industry. Theres no excuse for that.    The children in Willy Wonka didnt know they were auditioning for the job of their dreams when they arrived waving their  Golden Ticket.   We do and the sooner we realize that what happens  after we get in the door is the most important part, the better off well be! Author: Katie Konrath blogs about creativity, innovation and “ideas so fresh… they should be slapped” at www.getfreshminds.com.   She works for leading innovation company, Ideas To Go.