Be an Honest Shoe-In. Don’t Just Lie.

Benjamin Hawes
Benjamin Hawes
Published in
2 min readMar 15, 2014

Imagine you come across a job, and you decide to apply. You click through your files and find your most updated resume and you begin to fix it up. It’s your dream job, but you realize you might not necessarily be a shoe-in. What can you do?

You might find yourself lying about your skills on a resume. Wrong! If you want to put something on your resume, you can. Just learn the skill! Here are three things people can do to stand out, honestly.

Learn software that is used in your industry
There is specialized software in almost every field. Of course you know how to use Microsoft office. But are you also confident with Photoshop?

Can you make videos? These are very valuable skills, especially to people who can’t do them themselves. Maybe there is a specific program that you have always been interested in. If there’s something you’re interested in, and you think it will help create opportunities, then why aren’t you working on it right now? It really cannot hurt. You can sometimes rent software for low prices online. I am currently renting Adobe Creative Cloud for only $20.00/month!

Set up portfolio of your work, and constantly update
Whether you’re an artist, architect, musician or speech writer, you can start a collection of your work. It can be public or private, but measuring your growth is a great idea. Try to start off small, and slowly grow your collection of reports, recordings, research, or any other relevant work you have done. You can try a website, a journal, or just a simple a shoebox full of your work. It’s great for your own growth and who knows? Someone may ask for samples of your work in an interview. Get it started!

Get a part time job/internship related to your major
Are you interested in business? Get a small job in sales at a retail store you love. If you want to learn more about the health field, just apply for a position at a hospital, or a pharmacy. If it has anything to do with what you are passionate about, you will love it! Especially if you get paid. The people who start with part time jobs related to their major seem to love them. Go to Glassdoor, enter your major and see what jobs come up! You might find your new thing!

Resume writing skills are important, but we should always be working to set ourselves apart. Your education might not do that. Think of your education as a bare minimum. Then go the extra three miles. It’s a tough market, and people always say that it’s not your college GPA that is going to get you a job. It’s your college experience. So join something, do something and Learn!

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Benjamin Hawes
Benjamin Hawes

Side hustle coach here to help you find, start and grow your small business. DM to book a free 20 minute coaching intro :)