Welcome to Sidekick by Kickresume — your trusty companion to all things career (that won’t bore you to death).
TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS YEAR
Now could be the best time for a career change ever
There’s hardly a better time to think about a career change than the beginning of a year.
And there's hardly a better year than 2024 to underscore our dynamic era, a year that holds a mirror to the rapid pace of change we've all come to understand.
Anyway, the point is — change is ultimately easier than you (and we, and most of our friends) might think. But if you’re not convinced yet, let us tell you about people who changed their career and succeeded.
We're not talking about a cosmetic, 5-degree move to the right kind of change either. Gear up for a full-throttle 180-degree spin, such as:
- M&A attorney becoming a software company founder,
- Salesman becoming artist becoming engineer becoming product manager,
- Real estate agent becoming a golf pro,
- Banker becoming a sales director,
- A COO becoming a shaman.
All of them are real-life stories. Read the stories of Rebecca, Charles, Doug, Ron, and others, with a commentary from psychologists, researchers, and career experts.
DO A LITTLE SOUL SEARCHING
Wait, but, how do you pick a career that actually fits you?
If you’re wondering how to pick a fitting career but the usual career advice mumbo jumbo leaves you cold, you might like this post by Tim Urban.
It isn’t him giving you career advice in the traditional sense. Instead, he comes up a framework that can help you make career decisions that actually reflect who you are, what you want, and what our rapidly changing career landscape looks like today.
At least, that’s what he says it is. I, for one, would describe it as a soul searching guide for all those who are feeling confused yet inexplicably ambitious.
What’s more, Tim is using MS Paint for illustrations. Honestly, career advice doesn’t get any better than that.
Oh, and if you haven’t heard about Tim Urban’s blog Wait But Why yet, know that it’s so good that it influences the likes of Elon Musk. You may want to add it to your bookmarks.
KEEP YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS
Do you want to read 1,000 more books before you DIE? Reading 30 minutes a day is all it takes
Did “read more books” appear on your new year resolutions list? Congratulations. You’re just like everybody else.
But that’s not a bad thing, because…Reading is like riding a bicycle. It has literally no downsides! Everybody should be reading!
Which brings us to this random video about books we found on YouTube.
Max Joseph used to read about one book per year. That’s about 2 minutes of reading per day. He calculated that at his current speed, he would only finish about 55 more books before he dies.
In other words — about one tiny bookshelf.
By reading 30 minutes per day he can easily increase the number of books he’s ever going to read by about 1,000.
(Wonder what 1,000 books look like? Here, I googled it for you.)
The moral of this story? Whatever your new year resolutions are, start small and stick to them. It all adds up eventually.
Watch the full story here: BOOKSTORES: How to Read More Books in the Golden Age of Content.
(SOMEWHAT) RELATED READS THAT YOU ALMOST MISSED
- Don’t have a single purpose or passion? That’s OK
- 100 Hottest Skills to Include on Your Resume
- 200 People’s New Year Resolutions from 2014
YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS CAREER ADVICE
Hear! Hear! Kickresume’s resident HR expert Christy Morgan is about to dispense useful resume advice.
What are the most common resume design mistakes?
“My advice regarding resume design is pay attention to margins, don’t get too scared of white space and use it effectively, and don’t make it look like a wall of text. Use a standard and clean font, 11 points is generally best.”
What are the most common content mistakes?
“Not including the right content, or more specifically, not focusing on relevant content. We generally just focus on the last 5-10 years. Also, people put in the job descriptions things that aren’t relevant to the job they’re applying for.”
What mistakes would make you reject a candidate?
“None. I’d always try to be as unbiased as possible and look at the actual content. I might be a bit put off by things like“I’m the most fabulous manager that ever existed”or something like that. But then again, you look at the evidence and what they actually have in their resume.“
Want more? Check out our article Recruiter Reveals: This Is What an Ideal Resume Looks Like.
- Editor in Chief
Martin Poduska is a resume expert and career advice writer at Kickresume. He leads Kickresume’s team of writers and is the main person responsible for upholding the standards of expertise and quality on the blog. In addition to having written nearly 100 in-depth, painstakingly researched resume advice articles, as chief editor he has also edited and revised every single article on this blog. Tens of thousands of job seekers read Martin’s resume advice every month. Martin holds a degree in English from the University of St Andrews and a degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Amsterdam.
