myplantosucceed.com Blog

Would this be you? I am all for education. I believe education makes one well-rounded, increases ones credentials, and in some (not all) cases, increases ones opportunities in the job market. If you are reading this, you should know that I produce resumes for individuals from all ends of the occupational spectrum. I have also worked in the corporate environment for over 20 years.
I have worked amongst extremely qualified, driven and bright high-school graduates with amazing experience to mediocre and complacent college and post-college graduates. I have also worked with high school graduates with no ambition who obtained their educational training the “free-way” in public school, to college educated individuals who have obviously learned how to make it work for them by using their many years of expensive and paid for education.
This leads me to draw certain conclusions. Don’t be fooled by an “MBA”, “PhD”, “BA”, “BS” (no pun intended on this one) title.
In my resume writing profession, I have encountered many who have amazing credentials: Bachelors in Business Administration with a Masters in Finance or a Masters in Computer Science, for example. Yet, these people are in low-level positions. Not low-level for someone who has a HS diploma or even an Associates with several years of experience. I mean low-level for someone who paid so much for “school training” but are doing nothing to get their education to “pay their way through life”. There are many students out there who are being misinformed, who have not yet attained any hands-on experience (i.e., those who went straight from HS to college to grad school but have not yet worked) who have been told that the more degrees they obtain, the more money they will make. This is somewhat true but not absolute. This is true for those who know how to make the right connections, network and know how to self-market themselves and negotiate their way to an entry-level position that is moving fast up the ladder. This is NOT true for those who obtain all of their fancy education and go out and stand in the middle of the work world and expect the dream, high-paying job to fall into their lap while exhibiting a mediocre personality, mediocre drive, and below average communications skills.
I have also worked with people who have completed HS or college, with a few years of hands-on work experience under their belt who have decided to go back to school because they felt as if they could not get ahead and were stuck in a dead-end job. Now again, allow me to reiterate, I am NOT against anyone furthering their educational goals. But people….do it for the right reasons. If you are a HS graduate making $35,000 as an Accountant and you have had your job for several years and believe that once you complete your degree in Accounting and go and hand it to Human Resources, who will then increase your salary by $10,000, you are sadly mistaken.
My occupation by trade is in the Information Technology and Finance field. I don’t have an MBA or a Masters in Computer Science but believe me, that I have made a S*load more money than many that have worked alongside me with the fancier credentials but did NOT know how to TALK and sell themselves into a better position.
What we need to focus on is soft skills. Listening, talking, and communicating. Your fancy graduate degree may get you notice on “paper” and may grant you the interview invitation, but while you are interviewing or are gearing up for that promotion in an already established job and you don’t know how to “A-R-T-I-C-U-L-A-T-E” or communicate the needs of the organization or how your skills can contribute to the organization, “fuhgedaboudit” , as we say in my treasured home-state of the N-Y-C. You can bet Bob, the High Schooler, with the C average, years of experience, a great talker, motivator, “out-of-the-box” thinker is coming to take all you’ve worked so hard for and believed to be yours.
Let me also clarify: If you are one of the workers that just sits in the back and develops masterpieces and complex algorithms for your organization, that degree with no communications skills on your part, may just make it. But if you are in a high visibility position and in a position to discuss ideas, elaborate on the business, communicate to senior management and yet, you have no personality or do not know how to TALK, “fuhgedaboudit!”