Muhammad Ali was truly the greatest ever. He has always inspired greatness with his confidence, his precision in the ring, his courage to stick up for what he believed in, and his compassion.
He was so great. It was as if he was almost immortal — that is why his death is somewhat of a shock because of his public persona. However, his death last week helped me reflect on a few things happening in my life, including my struggle to find a job. After attending a couple of free provincially-funded government sessions — provided by BGS Career and Corporate Services — to help me succeed in my job search, I am learning I lack one thing that Ali was so good at: confidence.
It has been a massive struggle for me to talk about what I have accomplished for my past employers in order to convince someone to hire me, or to show my passion on why I enjoy what I do, which is essentially to share and tell stories.
It’s been frustrating to say the least, but looking back at all the old footage of Ali’s press conferences and fights on YouTube, it has given me a new outlook on my search. For starters, I am terrible at talking about how great I really am, or why I can help an organization succeed, or what I can bring to the table.
You almost need to bring that Ali-champion-like attitude to your job search by pretending you are a champion (yes, my eyes rolled after writing that sentence too). You need to have that mindset. And to help you maintain that kind of attitude, think about all of the great things — big or small — that you accomplished for your past employers.
For me, I had to think long and hard about everything that I accomplished at all of the positions I held. During my time at the Edmonton Sun as a night city editor, I never directly won an award or anything, but during a big news day when four armoured guards were shot — including three killed — at the University of Alberta’s HUB Mall June 15, 2012, I played a role in that coverage that helped the newsroom win an award among all Sun Media newspapers for best spot news coverage that year. What I did was a small effort, but looking back, it was huge. I was on vacation that day and I was struggling with some sort of infection or allergic reaction. My boss called me for help, and I — without hesitation — came in to the newsroom that day to help out, even with my arms being so swollen and me looking like I had ebola. Realizing this, along with other accomplishments, it has given me the need to overhaul this website to reflect my successes, along with changing how I write my resumé, cover letters, or how I approach another job interview. With that said, rest in peace Muhammad Ali; you’ve already inspired me to be great.
1 Comment
paul aumack
6/8/2016 01:54:07 pm
Good post buddy and words to live by. I find confidence is the one thing employers pick up on quite quickly. I tend to let my personality exude my confidence just as much as my accomplishments. Leave a Reply.Archives
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