It's 110. So I'm gonna go ahead and get started now. Hey, everyone. Thank you for joining my session today. Letting go of the perfect resume. I'm Kelly o'connell, a marketing programs manager at one screen dot A I and recovering perfectionist.When I started my career, I had a plan mapped out and a clear idea of what the perfect resume would be. I get my feet wet and my first job and dive into learning whatever was needed and gain the experience with Zeal. And from that first role, I'd start my climb up the ladder, committing myself to getting better and driving results for my team one step at a time, whether that step was a promotion or a new role. I would methodically advance my title and lengthen my tenure at each company I joined that step by step. Climb would continue until I was running a marketing team of my own hiring managers would see my steady ascension documented in time frames, titles and bullets and think she's loyal, committed. She seems to have been a valuable asset to those previous teams. It was simple, linear and unbeknownst to me, unrealistic. The problem was that I was only thinking about myself and what I would do to reach my goals, not about organizational changes, not about market conditions and certainly not about a global pandemic.

It wasn't until COVID hit that I was thrown my first big career curveball COVID brought pain struggle in a new reality for people across the world. And for me, it also brought not one but two lay off. It was right at the very start of COVID, March 2020 at a time when it wasn't clear what the impact of COVID would be that I went through my first layoff when the news is delivered, it felt like the rug was pulled out from under me. Not only were we all trying to figure out what was going on in the world. I was being laid off, I had given my all and absolutely loved the company I was working for and I knew they were happy with my work. But when I heard the news, a small voice inside me said everything I had given wasn't enough and I was a failure. If you yourself have gone through a layoff, you may have experienced something very similar. And when it happened, I took a couple of days to rest, reflect and process what the heck happened before starting my job search. And it was during that reflection that I came to terms with the fact that this wasn't something I could have done anything about. And it wasn't something my company wanted to do and actually they had handled it in the best possible way and they actually supported me in finding a new role. In other words, it was not a reflection on me. I didn't fail.

The reality was that the industry had changed dramatically almost overnight. Coming to terms with what happened meant accepting that there are things out of my control. Although I learned a ton in the first two years of my career building invaluable experience, growing my skills and helping my team succeed. COVID woke me up to the fact that no matter how much I gave, how well I gelled with the team or how much I cared about delivering results, there are things outside of our control that will impact our careers and that acceptance was fundamental to maintaining my confidence because like mentioned before I went through not one but two layoffs during COVID the armor, I built accepting and moving on from the first, made the second much easier.

At that point, I could more clearly see that this was an external force hitting my armor, but it wasn't gonna knock me down. There's a word for this armor and it's one of the most sought after skills for start up teams resilience. The Miriam Webster definition for resilience is the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation cause especially from compressive stress or an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change in moments of stress or mis misfortune.

It's imperative that you focus on recovering and recovering quickly. That doesn't mean acting like the stress never happened. It means processing it and understanding how it changes your narrative. Whether that's your own personal career, narrative or the winding path that brings a start up to success.

Well, working yet again on my resume, looking at those time frames, titles and bullets that explained my career. It hit me that my resume was marked by COVID. It wasn't perfect and it was never going to be right then. And there is when I let go of the idea of a perfect resume. There's a quote that I felt deeply at that time in my life and it still holds significance for me today and I'd like to share it with you all now. Perfection is the enemy of progress. Although my 10 years were shorter than I planned. I still had been progressing in my career through it all. I was growing my skills, I was helping businesses grow and I was growing relationships with awesome people at these companies. That's progress.

That's what really matters. And what I was after when I made my linear simple as pie career plan all those years ago. And that's what actually matters for your career. There is so much learning to be had from the curveballs that life throws at you having to pivot when you aren't expecting it like a layoff forces you to build yourself back up and it's actually an opportunity to build yourself back stronger. I would go as far as to say that there's actually more learning to be had hitting curveballs than someone who stays at a company for years. When you're growing through pivots or challenges, you learn where your confidence comes from and you learn greater empathy, especially if you want to or do work in start ups. Don't concern yourself too much with how long you've worked somewhere in start ups. You're always trying new ideas, tools, programs and wearing different hats. That's a ton of experience. And with the fast pace of work, it happens quickly, tenure is not as important as you may think or it may feel there's a good chance that some of the companies you work for or with won't be around in a few years anyway, whether that's because they fail or because they get acquired in these ways, start ups have different rules than most of corporate America and many hiring managers and recruiters in the space are aware.

What you should focus on is the work you are doing and the impact you're having. You have valuable, awesome skills to offer a new team. Never forget that when you, that you're in the front seat of your own career journey, no matter what happens or no matter what bumps you hit. So I'd recommend when you're going through a job search that you start with your network. When going through my own career changes, I learned that I was surrounded by people who knew me, knew my work and were willing to help. You are not alone. Your network is powerful and don't forget that when you're going through a job change, the relationships you've made at different companies move with you, shoot those linkedin messages over, send those emails, your network knows you and they might know some job opportunities that you haven't come across yet.

Simply asking them if they know anyone looking for your skills or if they could provide a referral is a smaller ass than it might feel, put yourself out there and tap into the power of your network. It's also important that you do not let fear cloud your judgment. Thats me buzz around in your head. Like what if it happens again? What if they think less of me because I change jobs so frequently the truth is they might, but they're missing out on your superpowers. Don't let your confidence be shaken and stand firm in what you're worth. Make the decision that's best for your career growth, not the best decision for the company or what you think future employers want to see on your resume. The company has to make decisions that are best for the business. You owe yourself the same commitment when you're interviewing interviewers will probably ask why you are looking for a new job or why you made certain transitions on your resume. Be honest, if one of the changes in question is about a layoff, there's no need to dance around it. It's not a reflection on you. It's a reflection of external forces that you didn't have control over. And it's a testament to your resilience, the right companies will appreciate your honesty and see your strength. Most if not all of us have struggled in COVID and gained perspective and empathy in the process, employers have been struggling through these COVID times too expect empathy from them.

And if you don't receive it, you're probably dodging a bullet when you're looking at a new company to potentially join. I encourage you to look at what they're doing to overcome the challenges that COVID has brought communication connection and even mental health have become more challenging in the remote work environment. What is the company doing to extend empathy and support to their team?

How are they handling the shift to remote work and even how are they changing their marketing based on the reality we're living in? Nobody cares as much as you do about your career and nobody besides you is expecting a perfect resume. Get out of your own way and focus on growing. Thanks for listening.