We are inundated with information!
Much of this information is useless, some even harmful! Email, texting, social media, the list goes on and on. Almost everyone has discovered a penchant for “forwarding” irrelevant videos, pictures, songs, prophesies, propaganda, thoughts-of-the-day, prayers-of-the-day, motivational messages and dire warnings of what will happen if we do not forward this trash to other people!
By the time we filter out what we don’t want to read, we barely have time to read what’s important. This brings me to the next innovative phenomenon of the 21st century: compartmentalization. Chunking has become a way of life. Instead of looking at the whole picture, we chunk it. We divvy it up into bite-size pieces. Not judging a book by its cover is OK for those of us who still take time to read content, but for the rest? Well, often the book cover will just have to suffice!
For one moment, think of yourself as a book! The book is your story. It is the way in which you want to be perceived! But unless someone actually reads your “book”, you will be perceived by its cover! Whatever is displayed on the cover of your “book” is what people will see and learn about you. You will be judged on whatever is on the cover! Your perception is now reduced to a simple snapshot of its content.
Now think of your book cover as your resumé!
No matter how well your resumé is composed, whether you wrote it or had it prepared professionally, it is only the cover of your book – a one-page synopsis of your story. And in today’s culture of information overload, your resumé had better be an abridged and abbreviated synopsis of your story or it will not be read! Fortunately, there are many books, articles, courses and resources available to create a compelling resumé. But while a compelling resumé will get you the interview, a compelling perception will get you the position!
Your resumé and your perception is the one-two punch required to ace the screening interview for a job or career. Your resumé may delineate all your qualifications required for the position. It may be the perfect response to the job description. But if your perception does not match the responses you give to the interviewer, your demeanor and deportment make your responses come across as insincere. Your mannerisms are an expression of your persona and form an integral part of your response pattern, your non-verbal communication pattern. Your body language, your facial expressions, your breathing and your voice intonation, they are all a part of the perception that you portray in the moment.
If your perception does not match the person who may be considered to be the successful candidate, it doesn’t matter how well rehearsed your speech is about your strengths and qualifications. If your eye contact signals a lack of confidence, it doesn’t matter how ambitious you may claim to be. If your closed body language displays an unintentional warning for others to keep their distance, it doesn’t matter how people-oriented you may claim to be. Your perception must be that of an achiever, not a deceiver!
© 2014 Allan N. Mulholland, CPC
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