Not resume, Your story sells
Akshay Pruthi, Male, akshay.151291@gmail.com
Academics: Cliched
Position of responsibilities : Hyped
Achievements: Fake
Can you actually sell yourself through your resume? Well, I don’t think so.
I know, what I am saying is nothing different. Why am I saying? So that YOU start making the difference.
Many juniors in my college come to me and ask one big question:
“Sir, would joining this college club help me in building my resume? Sir, what else should I do to build my resume?”
Right question? Maybe. Worth asking? I say— NO
One of my juniors asked me to share my opinion of how I see my career as. So here’s a little from my journey.
When I came to college, I was of the opinion that as always, there would be people to help me and I would have to do minimal effort to grow myself, to create an identity. I didn't know it would be so difficult. Not going into the details, I soon realized that if I want to make it big, I would have to expose myself to opportunities outside college.
I made a LinkedIn account and started sending random requests. To whom? I searched for Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page..blah blah! Big names huh?
Yes, I thought it would be easy. I’ll try and connect to them. Tell them my idea. And, it would be done! My name will be big.
Crap. I can’t send them a request. Why? Thanks to the LinkedIn premium account services. And for the record, I could never find Mark on LinkedIn.
So yes, I wasn’t successful and I settled for simply sending requests to my seniors to build my LinkedIn network.
Learning: You should know your real value
I was new to this world of entrepreneurship and was in a habit of making mistakes. My brother being senior to me and more experienced repeatedly corrected me on where I was going wrong. I didn’t know how to make formal interactions or how to be mindful when it was required. The more I interacted, the more I learnt. And today, I am the first choice for any meeting/deal we have to crack.
Learning: It’s okay to make mistakes. What’s important is to take actions on your mistakes
I never stopped sending requests to the ‘big names’. Because I could never understand, why would they not help me? They have a proven record of success. If a person is so passionate to walk up to the same ladder on which his/her idol did, there’s no reason for not replying. I sent thousands of e-mails asking people for help but only a few returned. I thank them for taking out some time. Meanwhile, I was growing fast in the entrepreneurial industry. My project was appreciated by various students, seniors, investors, media channels, international invitation by Jacobs university (Germany), and by the end of 3 years, I was able to make a very very small name in this industry. I had more clarity on various aspects of businesses by that time. I got various offers to join some national, international brands. But my focus was to run my own start-up and make it big.
Learning: You should have only and only one focus. Don’t let time and circumstances change it
By the way, I was still sending requests to big names on different social platforms.
And, one of them replied. Mr. Ankur Warikoo (Groupon- C.E.O). I had an inter-personal meeting with him. It was probably the most interesting and inspiring half hour of my life. I came back with lots of food for thought. He was passionate, updated and eager to help. And that’s what a true entrepreneur is.
Learning: Try till you succeed.
I think your passion to succeed, your desire to achieve and the correct mindset can set you apart from the crowd wherever and whenever you are presenting yourself.
A junior recently asked me, if I had an advantage over other fellows since there’s something on my CV that not many people have. My answer to that would be simple. I have built my C.V. Others didn’t. And it’s never too late. To me a C.V. is just the written format of what all I have done till date. Nothing I need to exaggerate there. You have to work. You have to strive hard to achieve something you feel good about. And that’s what I did. What I did was dream big.
Learning: Know your strengths and weaknesses. Appreciate BOTH
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