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  YouMap

  Find Yourself. Blaze Your Path. Show the World!

  A step-by-step guide to discover and land a job you’ll love.

  Kristin A. Sherry

  © Copyright Kristin A. Sherry 2018

  Black Rose Writing | Texas

  © 2018 by Kristin A. Sherry

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

  The final approval for this literary material is granted by the author.

  Second digital version

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Print ISBN: 978-1-68433-143-7

  PUBLISHED BY BLACK ROSE WRITING

  www.blackrosewriting.com

  Print edition produced in the United States of America

  Edited by Beth Crosby

  YouMap® logo design by Crystal Davies, Davies Designs

  Praise for YouMap®

  ●●●

  “We’re all born without life and career instructions. For many it’s a complicated puzzle whose pieces never seem to fit together the way we’d like, leaving us unhappy and discouraged. With YouMap® Kristin Sherry has created THE instruction manual for solving the puzzle and hitting the career bullseye. She’s created a life-changing framework that uses science to design the art of the possible. Using her methodology I guarantee you will love yourself, your career, and yes, Mondays!”

  KEN TASCH, Chairman & CEO, Richard Dudgeon, Inc. and author of Business Brainfood: A Real-World Playbook for Business Mastery

  “YouMap is a gem. It reads as if Kristin Sherry is sitting right next to you, helping you to identify your personal strengths and to clearly see how you add value to others; then, it teaches you how to communicate that in the best way possible.

  It's full of wisdom, yet remains--dare I say--downright fun to read.

  Reading this book is like hiring a masterclass coach—and then benefiting from the coach’s top-tier network. A brilliant storyteller, Kristin Sherry teaches us through one interesting, insightful, real-life example after another.

  Regardless of your personality type, age, or current career path, I guarantee you’ll find lessons in this book that will help you enjoy your work more—and make you better at what you do.”

  JUSTIN BARISO, popular Inc.com columnist and author of EQ Applied

  “I usually struggle to enjoy “business self help” books. Either they’re brilliant and I’m annoyed I didn’t write them or they’re mediocre and I’m annoyed they’re selling more than mine. They rarely speak to me as someone who runs a small business but spend most of my time with corporates. But this book was a joy to read. It really is relevant to anyone negotiating their way in the world today.”

  DAWN METCALFE, Managing Director, PDSi and author of Managing the Matrix and The HardTalk™ Handbook

  “Navigating the myriad of career resources available to people in career transition can be daunting and overwhelming. With this book, Kristin provides a framework and an accompanying process that makes you feel like you are being guided and supported through your career journey. Having worked in the career development field for 20 years with very diverse clientele, I can honestly say that this book has something for everyone! This is a resource that I will use with clients, students, (my own teenage daughters) and anyone else that is contemplating a career move.”

  MARNIE GROENEVELD, Manager, Career Development Services, Manitoba Institute of Trades & Technology

  “Best job search and career development book since I first read Dick Bolles’ book, "What Color Is Your Parachute" in the 1970s which sold over 10 million copies. Today, Kristin’s YouMap book is the most simple, thorough and practical guide. If you are unemployed, misemployed, or happily-employed working without purpose or meaning, get YouMap and find your way today.”

  BRIAN C. RAY, author of Created for Good Works and founder of Crossroads Career Network

  “What a fantastic book! Kristin Sherry has done an excellent job putting together the content to help people discover themselves, then use their newfound power of potential to blaze their own path in this world.

  I see how people at any stage of their career, from the newly-graduated college student to the mid-career professional, can use the plan from this book to determine how they can use their talents and skills to be everything that they want to be!”

  PAUL CARNEY, entrepreneur, speaker and author of Move Your Æ: Know, Grow, and Show Your Career Value

  “YouMap: Find Yourself. Blaze Your Path. Show the World! will quickly become your “go to” resource for personal growth and career development. Kristin Sherry simply and yet brilliantly “maps” out your strategy for a successful career and happy life. Run, do not walk, to get your hands on this book! As you transition throughout the different stages of your career and life, this book will be a gift that keeps on giving!”

  DR. PATTY ANN TUBLIN, Amazon best-selling author and CEO & Founder, Relationship Toolbox LLC

  “I have been hired by three companies, two of whom were multi-billion dollar companies, to complete turnarounds for failing communications departments. I credit in large part to my success in using assessments to identify each team member's strengths and passions. It wasn't about kicking people off the bus; it was about switching seats to place each individual in a position to provide their talents which in turn contributed to success. We went from the poorest performing to the highest performing departments in short order. When Kristin Sherry introduced YouMap, I immediately responded by telling her that every, and I mean every, company should invest in YouMaps for their associates. What a roadmap it provides to get the best out of everyone, and ensure they can be successful on behalf of those they serve.”

  GRETCHEN FIERLE, leadership author, Fish Rot from the Head Down

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Praise

  Acknowledgments

  Who This Book is For

  Foreword

  Introduction

  Find Yourself

  Four Pillars of Career Satisfaction

  Discover Your Strengths

  Discover Your Values

  Discover Your Motivated Skills

  Discover How You’re Wired

  The YouMap® Career Profile

  Create Your Own YouMap® Career Profile

  Case Study: Antonette, The Pharma Sales Rep

  Blaze Your Path

  Introduction to O*NET

  Career Interest Profiler

  O*NET Occupational Database

  Job Boards and Job Descriptions

  Informational Interviews

  Volunteer Work

  The Side Hustle

  Stretch Projects

  Job Shadowing

  Mentoring

  Internships

  Work Attribute Preferences

  What I've Learned by Looking at Trees

  Show the World!<
br />
  Targeting Opportunities

  Networking & Informational Interviews

  The Personal Networking Sheet

  Employer-Focused Cover Letters

  Resumes Employers Want to See

  Focusing Your Resume through Reflection by Patricia Edwards

  Your Resume Tells a Story by Kerri Twigg

  The Anatomy of an Amazing Resume by Kamara Toffolo

  The Academic CV by Lisa Jones

  All-Star LinkedIn Profiles

  Crank Up Your Job Search with LinkedIn by Donna Serdula

  Supplementary LinkedIn Sections by Lisa Jones

  How to Wow Interviewers

  Final Thoughts

  About the Author

  Want to Work with Kristin?

  Follow Kristin on Social Media!

  Tools & Resources

  What's Next?

  Contributors

  BRW Info

  Acknowledgments

  All my thanks, first and foremost, to God for blessing me with the most amazing opportunities, such as writing this labor of love.

  Thank you to my mom, dad, mother-and father-in-law, my extended family, friends, and colleagues who have always been so incredibly supportive of my book projects, and of me. I am so grateful to have a wonderful network of supportive people in my life!

  I am grateful to Patricia Edwards, Kerri Twigg, Kamara Toffolo, Lisa Jones, and Donna Serdula for lending their deep expertise to this project. I appreciate each of you more than you know! What a tremendous amount of talent is packed into this group of people.

  Thank you to my wonderful clients, Antonette and Anna, who gave me permission to tell a portion of their story in this book.

  To my tremendous right hand, Stephanie Hall. If you didn’t keep so many balls in the air with Virtus Career Consulting, this book would not exist. I couldn’t have done this without you helping keep the business running!

  Thank you, Beth Crosby, for lending your editing talents, yet again, to another one of my books. I appreciate your tremendous gift and how easy you are to work with.

  My sincere appreciation to Jeff Haden for graciously taking time from his busy schedule to read this book and write the foreword.

  Thank you to fellow author and friend, Justin Bariso, for introducing me to Jeff Haden, and for helping me grow as a person through his daily writing about emotional intelligence.

  A huge thank you to my beta-readers Paul Carney, Roxanne Arriaza, Caroline Laird, Dawn Metcalfe, Jana Shields, and Marie Shadden who took time and care to give valuable feedback on the book.

  I’d also like to thank my many connections and followers on LinkedIn who have been so supportive of my content contributions on the LinkedIn platform over the years. There are too many to list individually, but you and I know who you are!

  A special thank you to my friend in sunny Cyprus, Pantelis Fouli, who helped me start on the road to good health this year.

  I would be remiss if I did not thank author Ken Tasch, who offered to introduce me to his (and now my) publisher, Black Rose Writing.

  Last, but never least, my best friend and incredibly supportive husband Xander for reading everything I write and being the greatest human being I’ve ever known.

  Who This Book is For

  This guide is for those trying to figure out what they do best, identifying who needs it most, and clearly conveying it to future employers, clients, or customers:

   High school and college students seeking clarity to choose a career path

   Career changers unsatisfied in their current career

   Ambitious careerists who need a competitive edge to get to the next step in their careers

   Workforce re-entrants such as stay-at-home moms and dads and caregivers to elder parents

   Unemployed job seekers who need help getting unstuck

   Retirees seeking direction for the final phase of their careers

   Self-employed business owners who need help discovering what they do best to differentiate themselves in a sea of competition

  Foreword

  When I saw Joe (not his real name, like the names that follow) my stomach lurched. The last time I’d seen him was twenty years ago.

  The day I fired him.

  Time is unkind to all but seemed especially unkind to Joe. His face was etched with lines and his eyes, once bright, were flat and lifeless. He shuffled over. I hesitantly reached to shake his hand.

  “Hi Joe,” I said. “How are you?”

  He glanced away. “I guess I’m doing all right,” he said.

  Then he asked to borrow a twenty.

  ●●●

  I was a manufacturing supervisor in the late 1990s when our department implemented an employee-empowerment program designed to shift as much responsibility as possible down to the team level. In time, employee committees became responsible for scheduling vacations, evaluating team members, and making hiring decisions. We became coaches and “facilitators” rather than supervisors.

  I definitely supported the shift. I started on the shop floor, so I knew first-hand that employees at every level are always capable of handling greater responsibility than normally given. Plus, responsibility yields accountability, and accountability creates engagement: Empowerment fuels a powerful cycle that can take on an awesome life of its own.

  And perhaps unsurprisingly, with a little training and guidance, some employees turned out to be far better leaders than many supervisors.

  Still, at first most of our employees were skeptical. How much responsibility would we truly delegate? How much authority would we truly give up? At the first sign of trouble, would we stop guiding and start dictating?

  In response, we went too far too fast, erring on the side of granting greater employee authority so they could learn to trust our commitment.

  ●●●

  Two weeks after Joe was hired, Mike, the evaluation coordinator for his team, came to my office to discuss Joe’s performance.

  “He’s terrible,” Mike said.

  I asked for examples. We identified weaknesses and deficiencies. We brought Joe in to review his evaluation and list areas for improvement. It was standard stuff. Some employees are slower to catch on, others just need a reality check, but most come up to speed.

  Two weeks later, Mike said Joe’s performance had not improved. We put him on a performance plan, listing skills he needed to display and specific performance targets he needed to reach. Joe said he understood.

  Later, though, Joe came to me and said, “I know I’m a little slow, but I also think they’re too hard on me. It’s not that I can’t do the job. I think the real problem is they don’t like me.”

  I found ways without being obvious to see better for myself, like hanging out on the line talking to operators while keeping one eye on Joe. (After all, I couldn’t make it seem like I didn’t trust the team’s input.) He was definitely slow. Still, Mike’s assessment seemed a little harsh.

  Yet the team worked with him all day every day. No matter how hard I tried I would never know Joe’s performance as well as they did. (Which, of course, was the reason we wanted employees to evaluate each other; the people who know your performance best are the people who work beside you.)

  Two months into his 90-day probationary period Mike said Joe’s performance was still sub-par. We brought Joe in, gave him a formal warning, and explained exactly what he needed to do in order to meet job requirements. We created a pl
an to provide additional training. He said he was trying hard but would try even harder.

  A month later Mike turned in Joe’s 90-day evaluation. “He doesn’t cut it,” he said. “We need to fire him.”

  “That’s a big step,” I said. “Are you sure?”

  “I am,” Mike said. “All of us are. Check out the individual reviews from the rest of the team.”

  According to their evaluations it was clear Joe hadn’t met requirements. While I still had doubts, the proof was in front of me. The system had spoken. Joe needed to go.

  I fired him.

  He cried.

  He said he had tried really hard. He said he knew he didn’t fit in, but he couldn’t help it. He told me he had never fit in, not in school, not with friends, not at jobs. He didn’t know why but he always seemed to be the outsider. He felt his work wasn’t the problem for other employees; working with him was the problem.

  He begged for one more chance.

  I told Joe we had given him a number of chances and unfortunately there were no chances left. I walked him to the plant entrance (we had to escort fired employees from the building, a “walk of shame” I always hated because it only served to further humiliate a person already devastated), shook his hand, and wished him well.

  But I never forgot Joe. Unlike some other employees I fired, I sometimes questioned whether I had done the right thing. Sure, based on our system I had done everything “right,” but had I actually done the right thing? Had I ignored the intuition that comes from long years of experience?

  Had I let Joe become a victim of our drive towards empowerment?

  ●●●

  What makes it worse is that some months earlier I facilitated a promotion committee meeting made up of employees using evaluation data to rank employees eligible for an open machine-operator position.