The WAYA™ blog

     One year ago, I wanted to learn PhotoShop.  So I went to the local camera store and asked the clerk which of their books he’d recommend.  He referred me to a woman who supposedly knew PhotoShop in depth.  Instead of buying a book, I hired her as a consultant and yes, she was good.  Sandra D. helped me a lot, and I learned she had recently graduated from the University of California with a degree in Fine Arts.  But the world wasn’t waiting for her.  She was unclear on what she wanted to do.  So she’s selling cameras at retail.  She and her fiance don’t think they can marry for at least several years when, hopefully, their student loans are paid down a little more.

     Okay, in the same month I had a New York trip where I made several stops, so I hired a chauffer and a limo.  During the day we got to know a bit about each other.  This driver, Larry F., had a degree from Farleigh Dickinson in Sociology, earned seven years before, and was hoping to get his student loans paid off in the next decade.  Meanwhile, he lived with his parents, drove a limo during the day and worked some evenings in his parents’ restaurant.

     Weeks later, it seemed switching to energy-efficient lightbulbs might be a sensible thing to do.  I traipsed down to a nearby lightbulb store, and got a couple dozen.  The sales clerk, Angela S., was helpful.  We talked.  It turned out that she’d gotten her degree a year ago from Appalachia State in Advertising.  Now she’s selling lightbulbs in San Diego.  I don’t have any idea how many advertising jobs there are in Appalachia, but have some suspicions. 

     Those random examples are three reasons why college seniors and college juniors should take the WAYA profiler.  It’s designed to force some thinking about careers, and which areas fit an upperclassmen’s set of skills.  Too many kids are drifting through college, accruing nothing tangible except debts.  That’s criminal.  Lives are wasted. 

     Well, after mentoring upperclassmen at Berkeley, Harvard, Iowa State and San Diego State it became obvious that some need no help, but too many others were confused.

     Some had no clue as to whether they should seek out big organizations or small ones.  And that’s more important to satisfaction and success than the industry, title and maybe even the pay.  Yet after trying out fourteen career tests, I discovered that not a single one tries to discover the answer to that basic question.

     So we created the WAYA profiler.  (That’s an acronym for WhoAreYouAnyway.)  It’s different.  First of all, it doesn’t take every characteristic, like, say, extroversion, and tell you that you’re a hermit if you score in the 49th percentile…and then label somebody who hits the 51st percentile as a Presidential candidate.  (WAYA does measure your extroversion three ways, by the way, and even your energy, which no other career test attempts, plus eighteen other traits.  But your profile will just may ignore many traits, since they’ll fall into the middle of that “bell shaped curve.”  Your WAYA profile will focus on those rare places where you’re near the top or bottom.  Those traits matter.)

     That’s the other thing that’s unique about the WAYA profiler.  It ignores those characteristics where you’re mainstream, and, focuses on what makes you unique.

      Hey, that’s what the world cares about.  No other career assessment does this.   

     People who have time don’t have money or power.  People who have money and power don’t have time.  Which group do you want to attract?  That’s why college seniors should keep their resume down to a single page.

     It’s not a piece of paper that’ll ever get you a job.  All it does is get you an interview, and that’s critical.  If you bore them to death with detail, you’ll never hear back, except from those who aren’t in any position to help you.

     That’s the first mistake most college seniors make.  The second, and this is frightfully common, is a boring objective line.  “Seeking a position with a dynamic company that can utilize my skills and education.”  Gag.  Get specific.  Say “Entry level marketing job in Northern Kentucky” or “Inventory trainee in healthcare products,” etc. 

     Yes, you can change that line for different situations, but, hopefully you know yourself well enough to not have too many targets.  Having several is fine.  Too many try to write the objective line to fit every situation which means they fit nobody.  The WAYA analysis helps you pin down the few areas that should be your targets.  Take the WAYA profiler to get this first line right on your resume.