Carol:
Hey, hey, hey Rebels. Welcome back to the podcast. I am excited about our guests today. This is a friend, a colleague, and the queen of writing resumes. Just absolutely amazing. Today on the podcast, what we're going to talk about is something I think is really important. Something that comes up, something that keeps people trapped and stuck in their careers in ways they shouldn't be, which is how to really build a resume that combats ageism, particularly if you're a mid-life professional or mid-career.
A lot of times people don't make the move because they're thinking, "Ah, ageism. Who's going to hire me at that age?" And so we're going to talk to the expert on what to do about overcoming that, so that you're not held back from that belief or that issue, so you can have the career life you want. So today we have Nickquolette Barrett, who is a certified and highly sought after resume writer, and the founder and CEO of iRock Resumes. She has spent and has utilized her 27-plus years in the corporate space in leadership training, advertising and media and marketing, and has utilized that to really help her clients be able to build resumes and land the careers of their dreams. So I am so excited to welcome you to the podcast, Nickquolette.
Nickquolette:
Well, thank you so much, Doctor. I am so honored to be here and I love, love, love the podcast.
Carol:
Thank you so much.
Nickquolette:
It's awesome. Yeah.
Carol:
Listen, I'm honored that you're here as well. I mean, Nickquolette has won awards and has so many certifications. If you want an expert who knows what they're doing when it comes to helping you craft something that makes sure that you hear, "You're hired," this is the person to go to. So I'm so happy you're here. I would love to know how you came from a 27-year career in corporate in all of that into rocking resumes. What was that journey?
Nickquolette:
And since we last talked, I turned 28 years. Oh, my gosh.
Carol:
Oh, wow.
Nickquolette:
Time is just going by so fast.
Carol:
Yes.
Nickquolette:
Now one of the things, Doctor, is that I've been doing resumes for years for friends. We always do them for friends and all that kind of stuff. And I've just always been the writing guru. And it wasn't until the corporation I'm working for had went through a major overhaul and change. And as a leader in corporate America, you are always responsible for getting your direct reports ready for that next great opportunity. So getting their internal resumes done, doing the interview prep, all of those kinds of things to get them ready, because that's part of your responsibility to develop them for succession planning. And it was one time when we went through a major change and it came all at once.
So I just decided to post out the results that I got with my team. I had a team of 11, and then at the one time there was five. They got promoted at one time and I said, "Yeah, this is what happened. I rocked out their resume. I did this interview prep." I just kind of talked about it. And then people started weighing in because I worked with the company for so long. "Oh, yeah. You helped me. You helped me and all this kind of stuff." Didn't think of anything about it. Kept working with my team. I got another five promoted. And then the only reason the 11th person didn't get promoted is because she said, "I'm getting married and I am relocating, so I am going to be quitting." So she's going to quit after her wedding, which she did. So she got married and she relocated to another city.
So at that time, my department had to give me another team. So I started working with that team and then it started getting bigger because the people at the company start coming to me more readily because they were ready for all these opportunities. I'm like, "Wait a minute, they didn't hire me to do this. I'm doing this my day-to-day job and I'm just working with my direct..." Two of my people came to me and said, "Ms. Nickquolette, you need to go ahead and do this as a business because if I didn't work for you, I would pay for you." I said, "Well, people get paid for this?" And I'm like, "What? What are you talking about?"And then it dawned on me because I remember when I relocated to Texas, I did pay someone to do my resume and it wasn't an actual person, it was a service. I won't name the service, but it was absolutely horrible and I was mortified. And at that time I paid a ton of money and so I ended up redoing it myself and then I didn't have to look for another job. They actually transferred me. And then after that, people start in-boxing me on social media asking me how much you are charged.
Now, Dr. Carol, at that time, I had no idea. I am all focused on climbing the corporate ladder for this Fortune 39 multi-billion dollar organization. I'm not thinking about starting no kind of side business or anything. And so I just said, "Okay." So I gave him a price. Dr. Carol, you going to crack up because I was literally charging enough for my manicure and pedicure. That's all. I just wanted my pedicure and manicure covered. And then people started getting these big jobs. I started getting VPs started sending their people to me when they were going through transition and I was still charging enough and they getting these charge. I said, "Well, maybe I could knock out another bill."
So I raised my price and then I start paying the light bill. Then another. And then I said, "Wait a minute. This is something for real. Let me think about this." And that's when I really became serious about it. After about a year or so, playing around, just a side thing, just making some extra money just to pay some different things, I said, "No, this is a real business. I need to focus on this and I'm getting people some great jobs." So that's a long story, but it's a funny story because I'm an accidental entrepreneur using my skill set to earn money, what I never thought about it because I was so corporate-focused.
Carol:
Yes. But you know what I love about that, is that it's very rare that people find what they love while they're working, even though it wasn't like the job per se, but you were doing something that you love to do anyway and found that pathway to be able to step into doing it really for yourself, and creating something amazing with it, which I think is absolutely amazing. And in this day and age, I think more people should do that. More people should really hone in and mind the things that they're really good at. I'm all about multiple streams of income. So I think that is completely powerful.
So let's get into the resumes. So clearly, you have a longstanding history of being able to create stellar resumes that are effective and bring success for people. When people are worried about changing jobs, particularly at midlife, you've been in a company for 20, 30 years and you're thinking, "A, I have no other skills but what I've done here," or, "B, it's going to be clear, they're going to see I'm an older person and they may not want to hire me." So, ageism is real. I mean, do you still find that an issue in writing resumes, that ageism is still a problem?
Nickquolette:
Yeah, yeah. I get most of my clients in the mid area because they're mostly director-level going to VP-level, VPs going to executive-level. And they do become worried about that because they're thinking, "Well, will somebody hire me because I've always wanted to do X, Y, and Z, but just scared to take a leap." So yes, it is real. It does come and it does act out in corporate America. It's just a fact. They don't want to call it that. And the way that they hide it is through legal. They find a way to lay off not only the older generation, but they lay off enough of the younger generation just to make sure they don't look suspicious, and they don't necessarily give them those opportunities because they're thinking about the money that they have to pay their experience. And so they would rather get someone else in.
So what's been happening now, Dr. Carol, because of everything that's been going on with all of the mass exodus, that's almost out the window. So we are in the sweet spot right now where they're now realizing they need that experience and they need that tenure because you're not only coming in in your role, you're also becoming a leader and trainer and basically a mentor to some of the younger people that they brought in that don't have all of the wisdom, skill set. Now, I'm going to say wisdom skill set because wisdom is a skill that you develop over years and so therefore they don't necessarily know how to navigate. And so they need that mentoring. So therefore, when I presented to my clients in that perspective, I said, "Well, we have to position you to showcase number one, you have the skill set. And number two, we don't have to tell the whole entire story, just a compel enough story so that they would draw you in to tell the rest of the story."
And so that's what I see, too, these long, long resumes, four or five pages with everything they've ever done in their whole entire career and they're trying to send that out. So I'm like, "No, let's tell a story so that they can see beyond that and see your skill set." So I do it based on content. So you can basically say that I am a marketer of people. I create content to market you so you can get past that. So if there is a way to do it, ageism is real, like you said, but there is a way around that if you really focus on telling your career story.
Carol:
And I love that you used the word story because I talk a lot about narratives and stories and we hear a lot about strategic storytelling and really utilizing it as a form to market yourself. So is there a difference between storytelling and writing your resume? Or should your resume actually be a story?
Nickquolette:
And you know what? I'm glad you asked that question. And when you think about story, it's not necessarily telling a story to put someone to sleep. It's actually creating a narrative that actually integrates everything that you bring to the table, so they can visualize you in the actual role. That's the story that you want to tell. And then, with that type of writing, you can utilize that in a natural interview. You can utilize that as your elevator pitch. You can utilize that for different things because now you also understand what you bring to the table. We say storytelling because it's catchy, but it's really telling a narrative of your career and weaving it such that with that opportunity that you're applying for matches it, because recruiters are tired of looking through all of these resumes and then they don't necessarily find the actual person, because the resume is not speaking to the actual opportunity that they have open. So that's what it is. It's a narrative.
Carol:
Yes. Well, it sounds like what you're doing is really marketing yourself. I mean, for any brand that's out there, they're going to tell you all the highlights and the benefits and all the 20 million reasons why this is the boot to buy, that's the handbag to carry. That's the dress that everybody is having that you need to have as well. So in a lot of ways, it sounds like you're learning how to really fine tune and market yourself at the highest level, through changing the narrative that really supports what it is that you're looking for and what they're looking for, in terms of who you're working with.
So let me ask you, what are some of the things that are maybe common things that you see that people are doing in addition to... You mentioned one, like four or five-page resumes with everything and the kitchen sink in it. But what are some of the other things that you see people doing that would make them fall into that trap, where it probably would get flagged under that ageism issue?
Nickquolette:
Oh, my gosh. I'm glad you asked a question. The main thing that I see... And I just literally revamped a resume for a pharmaceutical director. He put on his resume that he sent to me, his objective statement. And I'm like, "Okay. No, we have not seen that since the '80s. We do not do objective statements." And he was cracking up because he said, "I hadn't done it. And what I've been doing is just building on that same one since college, and just kept adding additional information to it." And I said, "While I appreciate the information that you've gathered over the years, it's not really telling your story. It just says you did a bunch of stuff. And when you started off talking about that your objective is to get a job, that is an assumed. You don't have to state the obvious." And so therefore I had to get that.
I'm like, "No, we are not objecting anything. We're going to tell your story." And then he said, "I wished I would not have waited so long to get this done." I mean, he said, "The investment is so worth it." He said, "I've already told three people. My children, when they graduate, they coming to you." And I'll say, "Okay." He said, "It's a different way of thinking about a resume." And I said, "That's what I want you to do, because when you walk into those interviews for that potential high-level opportunity, you need to present yourself number one, as an adult, not the college resume that you're still working on. And also to showcase your skill set. So that is the main thing I see, the objective statement. And as I already mentioned, too many pages. And then a third thing that I see a lot of times is people take their job description and they plot it into a natural format of a natural resume.
Carol:
Talk more about that.
Nickquolette:
Oh, my goodness. Because they think whatever the HR person hired... Or actually the company hired them, the actual job description. Now we all know, Doctor, that when you get into that role, you don't necessarily do all the things that they have in that. Your role evolves over time. And people don't remember that. They just think this is a title and this is what they hired me to do. So I'm going to take that information and I'm going to put it in the format of a resume and say, "That's the resume." But that's not the job of a resume. A resume's job is to land an interview. So therefore they need to know not your task and duties and responsibilities, because I see that a lot. But they need to see, what is the results from your labor? Don't just show me that you're a laborer or worker bee.
And that's what those things showcase. It's just that these are your responsibilities, your task and stuff like that. But what are your results? And any career professional will always think of themselves as a results-driven person. What results do I get from my labor? And so if you're thinking about that and not just using it as a buzzword, it's true, you have to show that you're getting results. So that's what I see a lot. And it's taking the job description that they got hired years ago and plopping it into the word format of a resume and say, "Here you go."
And the last thing, grammatically, they still use the present tense. So I'm like, "Okay, are you still working as the entry-level person? But you're telling me that you're this level now. Why is it still in present tense?" And so they're not thinking about that. They're thinking of the document as the outline. Yes, you have your name, your address and all that kind of stuff. And you don't really even want to put your address on there. But all these different things that they assume is the resume, and it's not the resume.
Carol:
Right. Yeah, I love that. So too many pages, having objective statements, trying to plop your old job description into your resume. And I love that you talked about with... Because your job does evolve and honestly, most people create job descriptions that aren't even real, anyway. They're a guess of what they think the person should be doing and really in the role's when people figure that out. But I love that using present tense and no addresses, right? No anymore.
Nickquolette:
No. Especially for safety reasons because you don't want someone showing up at your home. We've had situations where women have had people show up at their homes because they have their full address on there. It's just a safety measure. And then, it can also weed people out discriminatorily based on your zip code. If you're saying where you live, your address, where you live within that zip code, not just a zip code itself, but you can be weed out just because of where you live. So you want to try to get those identifying factors out of there, so it actually leaves the content as much as possible. But yeah, you just don't want to have all those additional things because when you are evolving with the organization, your job evolves. You want to make sure that you show your evolution because that's also a skill. How adaptable and flexible are you to changing environment?
Carol:
That is so fabulous. I love that. I mean, this is some goals here. So are there words that people shouldn't use? Because I know as us older people, we have a vernacular that's not maybe current, with the times. How we describe things or talk about things or reflect things, that may also be a red flag, I think. Are there any kind of thing like words or phrases that you always recommend do not use?
Nickquolette:
I would say this in general for everyone. When I see a resume built with fluffy words, very, very, very good, successfully done this and all of these -ly words, they really don't mean anything. I'm like, "Why you got say successfully done this? Is this how you did it? Tell me the end result. I mean, just taken out.
And also writing too much. And that makes those sentences so long and so bulky that they run out of the room. That's why it goes to the third and fourth page. And just not articulating or conveying what you're actually presenting. So those fluff words for anyone, those are the words that I eliminate off the bat. You will rarely see it. Any resume that I write that has anything with a -ly at the end of it, rarely... Greatly this and appreciate this. I'm like, "What? No, we don't use that language." We need almost telegraphic language. And that's what I use. Telegraphic, get to the point and eliminate all of the fluff words and in-between words and thinking about, "How can I say it in less words so it's concise and to the point?" Because we're talkers, we want to talk everything out. And with our younger crews, they know how to text and make it concise, but we want to see everything. No.
Carol:
Right. Right. Well, and if you're putting that you were successfully great at doing something, you're not doing what you suggested before, which is being results-oriented of just really stating what you brought to the table and the contributions that you made to your last places of employment, right?
Nickquolette:
Right. Because a resume should not be philosophical. I need to understand what are you doing? And I even coached my clients, too, the interview prep. When they answer my little interview questions I give them, they send it back. And they're telling me philosophically, I said, "I don't want to hear your philosophy. I want to know what you did. What did you do to affect this result?" So that's how sometimes we say, "Well, philosophically or we're saying stuff." Okay, but you had to get some type of result from your labor. So think about what have you done and how can you make that so that they see that you can do it again? That's the whole point of it. And then make it a concise enough where they see, "Okay, what's the creme de la creme of everything?" Because what I do is write master resumes where they choose and they have so much great stuff. I'm like, "Make sure you have enough bullets that you can pick and choose, but do not send this resume with all these bullets. Pick the best of the best."
And I'm always listening the creme de la creme at top. And any kind of weaker stuff that doesn't really matter, I eliminate it. It doesn't matter. So I don't need the minuscule things to what you do. I need to know how you are moving the needle in your role, in your job duties to earn the company the money, the reputation, the revenue, the savings, whatever it is in your role, because they're paying you for a job to get done, not just to fill a spot. What are you doing?
Carol:
Yeah. And so, as you speak about that, I'm sure you get probably pushback on this. You have all of these years of experience and people probably get really antsy about you cutting out pages two through eight on their resumes. So how can they express a 30-year career in a way that's concise and to the point of sharing results that doesn't trigger or flag the fact that this is an older applicant?
Nickquolette:
And what I do, I am very good with that cover letter. I always tell people that there's a fight in the industry. Do you use a cover letter? Do you not use a cover letter? I love the cover letters. Now, if something that they did 30 years ago that aligns with the role and what they're trying to do, I can use a cover letter because there's no dates. However, I'm not going to put that date and all that kind of stuff on the actual resume. And I may strategically put in other experience but I'm not going to build that out because sometimes that other experience could be dated. People don't do data entry anymore. Come on now. You can now just use your phone to record something and it types it out for you. So it depends on what is the role. And if the role is obsolete, I don't even use it.
Now, there is a lot out there. Is it 10 years? Is it 15 years? I always look at what is the end goal that you need, so you feel this whole process I'm taking you through is a win. So I'm never going to say 10 years, 15 years and all this kind of stuff, because if people go out there and they watch all that stuff on YouTube and just go by that, that is not effective, because every individual person needs a strategy. So I'm always looking at, "Okay, so what is the end goal? What do you want to do?" So it's my job to look at all the information you've given me. A client gave me 60 pages of documents to weed through and I was able to pull out the best of the best and get it to a two-page resume because I don't need all of that.
I'm glad you kept all of that and maybe you can use some of that for your interview. But right now we just want to showcase what can you bring to the table for this role? So it's about the strategy. And that's what people don't understand, that there's a strategy to resume writing that writes the story strategically so that they can get that interview. Because if your resume is not landing interviews, there's nothing wrong with you. There's something wrong with the resume.
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah. And so I'm glad you mentioned that. So phrases like data entry or Microsoft Office Suite, are there other things that are telltale signs that you're dated?
Nickquolette:
Yeah. Word. WordPerfect. I saw that on a resume. My gosh. Do you remember that?
Carol:
I do remember that.
Nickquolette:
Oh, my gosh. When I saw that on that, I'm like, "No, no. We don't do WordPerfect anymore."
Carol:
That was the early '80s.
Nickquolette:
Yeah, exactly. And if you are actually in a higher-level role, I don't want to talk about the fact that you know how to do Microsoft Office Suite because guess what? You should have people doing that for you. And I love it, one of my clients, she's a director. She said, "Well, I need to go learn how to do PowerPoint." I said, "No, you don't." I said, "You've got people working for you to do PowerPoint." "What?" She said, "Nickquolette, I never thought about that. I'm thinking I have to go learn PowerPoint," Because she was an older employee thinking that she had to go learn this in order to be marketable. I said, "No, honey. When you get higher, they will have people who work for you to do that. You don't need to learn about no PowerPoint."So it's about that thought process on what skills do they need and what are they trying to do? So, stop thinking from college graduate or entry level and now think advance. What can I bring to the table to continue my career and also help this organization. I'm seeking out for an opportunity or even a promotion within the organization to showcase that I can do that job at the next level. That's what you want to do. So that's all about strategy. That's why you don't need 3, 4, 5 pages.
Carol:
Right. What about the look of the resume? Is there anything that, too, also could be a telltale sign that this is maybe somebody who's outdated, in terms of the look of the resume as well?
Nickquolette:
Just the basic black and white resume. Again, have their full name at the top, their full address, and they got their phone number, they cell phone number, they got all these different phone numbers. I'm like, "Okay, we don't care. Just give us the one that's the most important which is mostly the cell phone number. You just have too many different things on there." And oh, gosh, the email. If you got AOL, then maybe not. Hotmail, maybe not.
I have had some of my clients who change over to Gmail. Yahoo is still pretty much okay, but really, I want people to do Gmail or Google, because that can be your email that you use only for your job search. Even if you still want to use your Hotmail and you get all your coupons and all that kind of good stuff there in your AOL, that's fine. But when you're doing a job search, you want to have Gmail. That's just it.
So yeah, I've seen Hotmails, I've seen AOLs. I'm like, "No." And then they want to use their play name. We're not using play names. I need you to give me a more professional name. And my other client that gave me the 60 documents, he had all this at&t.net. No, no, no. We don't want that. I need you to give me a Gmail because I don't know who this email is. Make it simple. Use your first name and your last name and that's it. And if you have a common name, there's also a strategy to make sure that it's not the same that everybody else has. And oh my gosh, now we're speaking of emails, do not put your year that you were born in your email address.
Carol:
Oh, right.
Nickquolette:
I have seen that. And I know exactly what year and I even tell my younger clients this, "Do not put your birth year at the end because that will bite you in about 20 years." So no. Do not do that. People do that all the time. Do not put your birth year or anything like that. No.
Carol:
Okay, that's a really, really good tip. So let me ask you the relationship between resume and LinkedIn. I see now, on resumes, people add their LinkedIn address and it's often encouraged to have your LinkedIn address. So if you're going to lead people there and then they go to LinkedIn and it's a regurgitation of the resume, how do the two work together? What's your philosophy and thoughts and how do you work with your clients around that?
Nickquolette:
And that is all strategy as well. I'm not going to put everything in-
Carol:
Particularly not to flag ageism, particularly on the LinkedIn as well.
Nickquolette:
Exactly. Because you don't have to put every single job that you've ever done. And for some reason, we in our generation think that if we show any kind of gap there's something wrong. We got to show that the job that we've had way back when. I always use the example... I am so proud, Dr. Carol, that I won the best cashier of the year with a trophy at McDonald's because I was the fastest drive-thru girl ever. And I am so proud of that still to this day. But I am not going to show that I started working at age 16. I mean, that's irrelevant, right?
Carol:
Yeah.
Nickquolette:
But some people say, "I don't want them to think that I didn't have a job." I said, "I'm pretty sure they know you've had a job, but who cares about stuff that happened back then?" And I used to also sell Yellow Pages. Why would Yellow Page... Now why would I put that on my resume today? People don't do that. So it's about, what is the strategy? So even on LinkedIn you're not going to do that.
And then LinkedIn is not the same as a resume because a resume is the implied I, me or my. Your LinkedIn is social media and you can say I, me or my. And that's what I see people that's different on their LinkedIn. When I see it, they took their resume and they put it in there and it's very so professional. I mean, everything is just so they got everything buttoned up to the neck, therefore, thou art, thou this. And I'm like, "What? Let's talk real language, people." They want to know you as a person and it's okay, but they come with their suits in the LinkedIn profile because remember, we used to have to wear pantyhose.
Carol:
Right.
Nickquolette:
Pantyhose and suits in the office. They do that same mentality with their documents because they're still thinking so buttoned up. And it's not that serious when it comes down to LinkedIn. You can still convey your value and show you have a personality and it's even better that you do it that way because they may get to know you a little bit better. And they're going to search that before they even ask for your resume anyway. So it goes hand in hand. And what the LinkedIn does is really powers up your resume and it actually can work for you while you sleep. And I love LinkedIn. I'm a LinkedIn guru. I love write my resumes, but boy, that LinkedIn is my jam.
Carol:
Yeah, I love that. And so you would say guard against writing things like 27 years of experience doing this or including the years that you graduated and other things like that, that would really trigger someone counting on their fingers how old they think you are, that may inhibit your ability to be considered for an interview.
Nickquolette:
Yeah. And also, it depends on the strategy too because if they're looking for someone with a lot of IT experience, you maybe want to play on that. So sometimes they're looking for a high-level IT thing and they're saying, "Well, we're looking for somebody with 10-plus years of experience." That's a strategy that I am going to incorporate because that's what they're looking for. But if you're just looking for an opportunity and you're like, "You know what? I don't want to put all that in there." No, you don't. Eliminate it. Always think about what is your end goal? What are you trying to do? Ageism is still there, you have to weigh that. But what are you trying to do? Do they need your maturity and your skill set and want you that many years in the industry or not? So what purpose is it for you to say that in your documents? Also your cover letter? Also your LinkedIn? So it's very strategic.
Carol:
So moving into a little bit of the interview phase, and not going too deep into it, but what came to mind is that, okay, you do this stellar resume, you took the 60 pages, you got it down to 2, it's highlighting their best features, it's making them look incredibly amazing, but then they go into the interview, because maybe they don't believe all the beautiful things that you put on that resume, so how do you help them show up in the interview in a way that matches the brilliance that you did in the resume? Because I think sometimes there may be a little mindset issue of, they get the resume back from you and they're looking at it like, "Is that me?"
Nickquolette:
That's exactly what happens.
Carol:
And they show up in the interview, there's a disconnect in the mind of the interviewer because they see this great resume but then the person showing up doesn't seem like the same person. So how do you help them to get their mindset and to translate what brilliance you put on the paper into real life?
Nickquolette:
And my whole process involves all levels of coaching because when I'm talking to them about their resume at the end and I'm telling them how to utilize that, how to show up and everything, I'm building their competence along the way. And then if they say, "Okay, I want to go to the next step and be able to articulate this resume during the actual interview prep," I talk to them about how their skill set will translate and actually coach them on how to own it, because sometimes it is a bit of... I call it the triple C. It's not only just the career coaching, it's the counseling, because it is a mind block because they're like, "Well, all of this is great, but I'm just so scared to get in there and say it." I'm like, "Why not? It's you. Did you tell me not the truth? Because I'm just articulating what you've given me."
Just own it. And I hate to say this, but Dr. Carol, I find it mostly with women, because what happens is that we always think we just do. And so we use the word just. I'm like, "No. You've earned the right to say that you have made this impact in this organization and here is why." So just kind of giving them the way to say it and own it and changing their mindset to actually own the information that they gave me. I'm like, "You gave me this. I didn't make this stuff up. So this is you." Because when they do get the resume, their career documents back, they're like, "Oh, my gosh. I can't believe that this is me." And it's like, "Oh, my."
I say, "Yeah, this is everything you told me." I'm the [inaudible 00:33:02] and I just make it such that the recruiter will see that as well, or the hiring manager. But you can say it, too. So it's about coaching them on how to say it. And I have a method called the R star method and it's the R rockstar method. And I teach them the method on how to be able to say the information effectively so that they feel confident. And then the interviewer, the hiring manager can see that yes, they really got the skill set. So I take it to that next level.
Carol:
Yeah. What tips can you give to our listeners today that maybe a strategy or a tool that they could hold onto that would help them really lean into understanding how to see the value in themselves to present that in the interview?
Nickquolette:
If they can look at their professional summary of their resume, that really is the ellipse, the whole thing of what they're presenting and think of how can I say this as an opening statement, in the interview so that they can see me in this role. That's what they can do. Understand it, being able to showcase examples from that which is already articulated in a resume and then be able to present that, that's what they can lead with. That professional summary is basically their opening statement even in an actual interview.
Carol:
That's awesome. Such great tips. Such great tips. So let me ask you. And it's something I ask everybody, what does it mean to be a career rebel to you? Particularly if you're midlife and you're dealing with ageism and you're trying to step into that next level or higher level or something completely different in your career, what does it mean to you to be a career rebel?
Nickquolette:
Okay, so the word rebel means to take up arms and to basically push back, rise up. So I want you to rise up, take up arms. And when I say take up arms, get all the professional help that you need so you can develop that courage, that confidence and everything. And also what I call the tactical piece of it, the actual documents to support what you bring to the table. So that's what a career. One who's not afraid to invest in themselves, to get themselves to the next level and help them build the confidence that they need.
Carol:
I love that. That's such a great idea, definition. I appreciate it. Listen, thank you so much for being here and sharing so much wisdom that I'm sure the listeners can take away with and just change the game, in terms of how they even think about what's possible for them in their career in midlife. So thank you so much.
Nickquolette:
And thank you so much, Dr. Carol, for having me. It's been my pleasure to be here with you.
Carol:
Absolutely. Well, there you have it, rebels. Another episode of the Midlife Career Rebels sharing some really great tips and strategies on how to change and advance your career in midlife. Even if you think you're too old or your resume may be called out, you have some great information and tools to do that. I'm going to put information about how to contact Nickquolette in the show notes so that if you want to get that stellar resume and get support in the process to really step into that next iteration of your career and really prepare yourself, to really own the brilliance that you bring to the table, I highly recommend that you reach out. So we'll have all of her contact information in the show notes for you.
And if you are wondering what's next for you, if you're on the path to maybe doing a career change, but right now you don't have the clarity about what you want to do next, I invite you to sign up for a free 30-minute consultation with me and let's have a conversation about where you are and how to bridge the gap to get to where it is that you want to go. In the interim, please have an amazingly rebellious week and I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.
