The Coach

Yesterday, I had a 2-hour kickoff meeting with my new career coach Matt Youngquist of Career Horizons. I chose to work with Matt based on a referral from a close friend and my observations of the work they did together during the previous year. As someone who has had a successful sales career, I knew that I had the skills necessary to promote myself to prospective employers. I'm looking to Matt to provide the industry expertise and experience that will allow me to hit the ground running and make the most of this opportunity to start a new career.

A few takeaways from our meeting:

• This career blog is somewhat unique as a job search tool. Making it a good example of my ability to find new applications for existing technologies.
• My current bio establishes me as a "game guy" more than a "growth catalyst". I'll need to restructure the content so that the emphasis is placed on the latter.
• The language of my resume is a bit "edgy" and might put some people off. - i.e. it will stand out in a crowd causing some to dismiss it and others to be intrigued because of it. That's OK by me. If you're going to be remarkable, you can't expect everyone to love you. Thanks to Seth Godin's Purple Cow for driving this point home for me.
• I am branding myself as a Growth Catalyst and will focus and these specific abilities to drive home my point:

1. I can visualize new market opportunities where none existed previously
   
2. I can adapt existing products to succeed in those markets or envision new products when adaptation falls short.
3. I have an infectious enthusiasm to suits me well when evangelizing the resulting products from item 2.
4. I can lead the troops in the cause, motivating seasoned sales vets or training and directing rookies.
5. Finally, I can look the CEO of my next company in the eye and tell him/her that I know from first hand experience what it's like to weather the scrutiny of investors. My new CEO boss can count on me to bring that sense of responsibility to the office with me every day. My decisions and actions will be scrutinized for the value that they add to the company and thus improving the return to the shareholders.