Enhanced Lives is a series which aims to put our customers in the spotlight. In a short interview, we ask about their background, the experience they had with Enhancv and how it helped to improve their career.
Our second star is Matthew, a professor of English with over 10 years of experience in education, non-to-profits, and consulting. Matthew often teaches resume writing to college students. What did he like about Enhancv? Read on to find out.
Hi Matthew, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Over the past ten years, I’ve had a variety of roles within the fields of education, special education, human services, nonprofit management, higher education, and developmental disabilities.
Some might call me a “job hopper” but I see myself more as a “consultant” who comes on for short-term projects. In the bustle of the last ten years, I’ve found that my “passions” have been overwhelmed by busyness, so I’m just now starting to tap back into things I enjoy. For example, I’ve played guitar and bass since 1997; I sang a cappella in college; and I just performed in three separate community theater productions (an original off-off-Broadway musical, a staged reading, and a DC Cabaret show). I’m working hard to give myself a life outside of my job.
What was the reason you created your resume?
I liked the idea of a visually-striking resume and I was tired of my old system, so I thought I’d check out what Enhancv had to offer.
I really like the definition of insanity that states, “Insanity is doing the same thing but expecting a different result.” I’ve had over 10 jobs in 10 years, applied for hundreds, interviewed for scores, but still felt myself repeating the same cycles (namely, burning out after 12-18 months and initiating another job search). I figured I’d try something different to, perhaps, break the cycle.
What do you like about Enhancv? Did you learn anything from it?
I actually teach resume writing to community college students and consider myself a dilettante in the subject. I’ve known for a long time, for example, that the bullets under a job title should not list one’s job duties but should, instead, highlight achievements. I’ve also been using Summary Statements (or Professional Profiles) on my resumes since 2010. So while Enhancv didn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know, it provided a new way of applying my knowledge and let me break out of old habits. (Take, for instance, my attached resume that doesn’t even include employment history because, in my opinion, it doesn’t need to.)
What message would you send to other job seekers out there?
All a job is and will ever be is a job. Your job does not, nor should, define who you are. Though we live in a world where the question, “What do you do?” is an accepted pleasantry, each of us needs to be able to respond to such a question with more than a job title or a career track. If my experiences have taught me anything it’s this: what you do to earn money is only a fraction of who you are. It is much more important to be able to express who you are–what defines you as a person–versus just what you do.
I would like to thank Matthew for sharing his insights on Enhancv and a bit about his career with us. It means a lot and we hope it will motivate many others to get started and upgrade to more human-centric and performance-based resumes.
If you’d like to contribute to Enhanced Lives series and share your achievements with others, send me a message. I look forward to hearing from you 🙂
Make one that's truly you.
