How to Stand Out in Any Application: Aligning Strengths with Passion

Introduction

Today’s job market has become a bit tricky, especially for someone navigating their first position out of college. Certain firms are laying employees off, others are still hiring quickly. Are we in a recession? Is one just around the corner? The list of questions seems longer than the possible answers. Regardless, your application will undoubtedly be one in a pool of many, just as mine was not too long ago. So how does one stand out? What should you highlight? Where does it make the most sense to apply? In this article, I’ll share some personal experiences and insights on how to embark on a journey of self-discovery that ultimately leads to a compelling resume that catches employers’ attention.

Start Crafting Your Standout Resume

Let’s start by addressing the fact that crafting a strong and unique resume takes time. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes, but there are strategies that can help your previous experience tell a more cohesive story and help you paint a more chronological path. The best possible starting point is not within your resume at all — it is within you, and more specifically, knowing yourself.

Knowing yourself can come in many different forms, though to be completely frank, understanding yourself fully is a lifelong endeavor. When it comes to resumes, job hunting, career building, and figuring out the existential question of “what the heck do I want to do with my life?” there are many opinions on whether to focus solely on your strengths or follow your passions.

Take entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s advice: throw your passion away and instead focus on your greatest asset — your talent. Don’t do what you love; do what you’re good at. Double down on those innate sharpest skills. This approach can yield differential results when compared to investing time into things that you’re mediocre at or just plain suck at.

For example, I found out that I was naturally strong at sales, homing in on a consumer’s wants and needs quickly, establishing trust, and finding a product that would either alleviate their pain points or maximize value. However, I hated sales, despite being good at it. It was not a sustainable path for me, as it did not fulfill me in the ways I wanted my day-to-day role to fulfill me (though for many others, it can and does).

Putting It Into Action:

1. Create a comprehensive list of your skills, experiences, and accomplishments.
2. Identify patterns or themes in your work history that can be emphasized in your resume.
3. Seek feedback from trusted friends or mentors on how your resume reflects your unique value.

The Timeless Challenge: Strengths vs. Passions

So, what about passion and following your dreams? Many motivational speakers and institutions of higher education seem to hold the vision that pursuing your dreams as a career is not only advisable — it could be nirvana! But is it really? Once again, it depends on your personality, set of values, what you find important, etc. This is another reason to put in the work to truly and deeply introspect and learn more about yourself during the extremely formative time of school and the years just beyond.

Before I returned to school and decided to study business analytics (also not a clear or simple decision and one that I wavered on a few times), I was a backcountry snowboard guide and avalanche educator. I loved my job but struggled with the structural realities of my life. I spent 80+ days on my snowboard in the backcountry every season, teaching people about my passion and showing them, they were capable of more than they knew. Yet there were other aspects of my life that were lacking and didn’t mesh. This is exactly when I decided to return to school — to pursue business and use it as a tool for good.

Putting It Into Action:

1. Reflect on past experiences where you felt engaged and energized by your work.
2. Consider how these experiences can be translated into potential career paths.
3. Experiment with different roles and industries to gain experience and identify your passions and strengths.

Unlocking the Power of Passion in Your Career

Through a few dead ends, I learned more about myself and what I needed, what I was skilled at, what brought me energy, and what brought me joy. Now I can begin to crystallize this knowledge into some tangible direction for my career path. I believe most of us are somewhere in the middle of this spectrum of passion/fulfillment and skill/talent in a role that is relatively well-suited to us — neither completely passionate about what we’re doing but excited enough about it and the opportunities that come our way, coupling that excitement with playing to our strengths.

Putting It Into Action:

1. Attend events, workshops, or conferences related to your interests to gain insights into potential careers.
2. Network with professionals in fields you’re passionate about to learn from their experiences.
3. Volunteer or intern in organizations related to your passions to build practical skills and gain exposure.

Your Career: A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Story

Start by learning about yourself. Challenge yourself to try new things. Pursue those random curiosities and things that spur interest or excitement. Be okay with trying things that might not be what they seem and learn from the process. Be okay with taking on things that you feel you’re not ready to take on. Be alright with saying no to things that you know you don’t enjoy anyway. Especially avoid things that “look good on a resume” that you genuinely hate doing and have zero fondness for. Learn along the way, especially about what you don’t like.

Challenge yourself to lead a team or learn to be a strong and productive contributor on one. Continue pursuing the activities, jobs, internships, and roles that excite you and that you are good at. Reflect, trim down what isn’t working, try again, try a few new things, repeat.

Be strategic. Play the long game. Worry less about the title of your role, the position within an organization, the prestige of the organization, how this may look to someone, and simply give it your all. Creatively ask yourself: given the constraints of my present situation, how can I make myself the most valuable team player or leader, leveraging my strengths, and contributing to what is really needed?

Reflect, rinse, repeat.

Stay humble. Accept mistakes and take ownership of your screw-ups along the way. You are not perfect — nobody is. But also remember that the master at something once had to take their first step. Give yourself grace and use all the things you learn about yourself along the way to continue zeroing in on a role that fits well with your strengths and your passions.

Nailing the Application Game

When it comes to applying for jobs, double down on a handful of opportunities, not 37. Go deep. Network. Learn. Choose at least a couple of ambitious positions, a few that seem spot-on (only slightly out of your comfort zone), and a few fallbacks. Tailor each application and resume to the specific job, role, and organization that you want to work for. If you’ve done a good job up to this point learning about yourself and the potential places you are applying, odds are you won’t have to change your resume all that much.

Putting It Into Action:

1. Research each organization and role thoroughly before applying.
2. Customize your resume and cover letter to highlight relevant skills and experiences for each opportunity.
3. Leverage your network to gain insights into the company culture and expectations.

Ultimately, brace yourself for numerous rejections. Keep in mind that these are not failures, but rather misalignments. The resumes that consistently stand out are those that best align with both the position and the organization and where your unique value and skill complements the recipe they are aiming to create.

Happy hunting, trust the process, and enjoy the adventure. Before you know it, you will have a great resume for a job you can get excited about.

This content originates from the author’s personal thoughts and experiences, expressed in their own original writing. All opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not express the views and opinions of their employer or other associated organizations. GPT-4, an AI language model, was utilized to enhance the flow and structure of the writing, crafting this statement, as well as generating each section’s actionable insights.